note cards research paper

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The Note Card System

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When you are faced with starting a research paper, the most important part of researching and beginning to write is organizing the information and your thoughts. If you are not organized, it will take considerably more time to write the paper.

To make it easy on yourself, you can use an index card system as you gather information. With this method, you categorize the information you find by topic. For each topic, you could have any number of cards from several different sources. Later, as you write your paper, each card topic becomes a body paragraph (supporting idea) in your paper.

Researching

As you find interesting facts about your topic during your research, you should write them down. Each sentence or idea that you find should be paraphrased (summarized in your own words), and written on a card. In order to keep your ideas in order, and to remember where you found the ideas, there are four items that you should include on the index card, as you will see below.

Although it may seem tedious to give each note card a topic name, it serves two purposes:

The source title is the name of the book, magazine, website, etc., in which you found the information. In the previous example, the source was given a number , instead of writing out the entire title. You could write out the title on each card, or simply list your sources on a separate sheet of paper, like the example here. Number your sources on this list, and then use the numbers on the note cards to specify which source provided which fact.

Sample Source List

Remember, this is not a complete works cited, bibliography, or reference page. You will need to add the publication information and use the correct citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, etc.) for the formal works cited page.

Item number three is the paraphrased information that you found. It is helpful to paraphrase , or summarize , your research on the index cards while you are taking notes. If you are consistent in paraphrasing at this stage, then you will be certain not to accidentally plagiarize someone else’s work. You will also have less work to do when you are actually writing the paper. the image of a notecard with a mark on page.

It is important to be accurate with the page numbers on your note cards, as you will need them for citations throughout your research paper. Be sure you know which form of citation your teacher requires. (For information on citing your sources, look at English Works! handouts on MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian Style citations).

Once you have written the information down on the note cards, you only need to go back and organize your cards by topic. Group together all the cards that have the same topic (i.e. all the cards titled: “ Hughes’ Poetry ” should be together). When you finish, you should have your cards in piles, one topic per pile. You can have any number of piles and any number of cards in each pile. The length and detail of your paper will determine how many piles and cards you have.

Your piles may look like:

Make an Outline and Start Writing

Once you have separated your cards into piles, each topic pile should become a body paragraph in your paper. That is the key to this system. If every topic directly supports your thesis statement, then each topic pile should become a supporting idea, body paragraph, or part of a paragraph in your paper.

But before you actually begin writing, you should make an outline of the order you want to present these topics in your paper. (For help making an outline, see the English Works web page on Pre-writing and Outlines ). Once the outline is complete, use your note cards as guides and begin writing.

For further help on writing a research paper, refer to the English Works! web page Process of Doing a Research Paper , Guide to Developing Thesis Statements , and/or Guide to Writing Introductions and Conclusions .

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How to Write a Research Paper: Note Cards

Back from the library and ready to go

Read your sources and take notes.

After you've gathered your sources, begin reading and taking notes.

Use 3 x 5 index cards, one fact or idea per card. This way related ideas from different sources can be easily grouped together or rearranged.
On each index card, be sure to note the source, including the volume number (if there is one) and the page number. If you wind up using that idea in your paper, you will have the information about the source ready to put in your footnote or endnote.
If you copy something directly from a book without putting it in your own words, put quotation marks around it so that you know it is an exact quotation. This will help you to avoid plagiarism . (For more, see What is Plagiarism? ).
Before you sit down to write your rough draft, organize your note cards by subtopic (you can write headings on the cards) and make an outline.

Check out the differences between these two note cards for a research paper on baseball:

Good note card:

Bad note card:

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How to Write a Research Paper: Footnotes and Endnotes

How To Make Notecards For Research Paper In Most Effective Way

Many supervisors, mentors, and teachers recommend their students and apprentices use research note cards while writing research papers. Notecards could be a great tool to organize your word and elements of research.

Note cards might seem like an old and outdated research method, but they still work. They do more than be a tool for you. Notecards help you organize your thoughts that are beneficial in your research and beyond. Let’s talk about some tips and tricks on how to make notecards for research papers.

Table of Contents

Why And How To Make Notecards For Research Paper?

With research note cards, it is easier to track your citations. When citing a source in your dissertation, you can write the source’s name on the note card and add the page number where you found the information. This way, you can quickly find the needed information.

Before writing notecards, look at all the information to write your research document. Once you know basic ideas, gather the main points of your research. Preferably, a 3″ x5″ note card would do your bidding.

Also, notecards look fantastic, and even if they’re scattered around the room, they would add an aesthetic touch to your room rather than making it look messy. Writing notecards will help you stay organized and write a research paper fast .

Steps Towards Writing Notecards For Research

Here are steps to write perfect notecards for your research paper.

Get Yourself a Pack Of Fresh, Nice Smelling Notecards

When you think of how to make notecards for a research paper, the first thing that will pop up in your mind is: Where are the research note cards? For a dissertation, we will need a lot of them. Try to get some extra. That way, even if you grow short, you will have a new bundle to open and save time during your research process.

Gather More Ideas Than You Need

The more is always safe. It will be great to gather as many ideas and sources as possible when you have the best research topic . It is the quality of a great writer to always cite sources . It’s easier than ever to collect sources from the Internet as many as possible. The Internet is like an infinite library. When you have more data, sources, and ideas, you will have more choices to filter out the best. For example, you are writing an outline for your dissertation and adding critical points that you are about to discuss. You have twenty key points written on your notecards. When you reconsider and filter out the best, you will probably have half of them left, which is close to ten.

Shortlist The Sources

You have a lot of ideas and a lot of sources written on your notecards. Could you have a look at them again? Now you see that not all ideas sound impeccable anymore. You can take those notecards out, leaving you with the best of them. How easier was it with notecards? Imagine if you were doing this filtration process without notecards. You would have to write a whole new draft for this.

Use A Full Notecard For Each Idea

Remember we talked about getting extra notecards? Now you understand why. Every notecard must be devoted to a single idea. Using a separate note card for each citation, source, or quote would be best. Using one card for more than one idea will cause leaving out essential details. It will also confuse you and make you double-minded. Whatever the page number is, making index cards would always help. Whether you’re researching a 10-page research document or writing a thesis for a research paper , every notecard must consist of a single idea, be it your own words or some text from a resource.

Write Down The Quotes

In the history of research, quoting and paraphrasing can be great tools to make your paper authentic and reliable. Please use separate notecards to include quotes. A direct statement in quotation marks or creating a bunch of them can make your research look more authentic. Note cards will help you remember where or when you will use them.

Label and Number The Note cards

Labeling and numbering note cards help you avoid trouble and confusion. Imagine the mess if your notecards suddenly fall out of your table and get scattered. It would be like having all your work wasted. You will need hours to reorganize them. Labeling and giving numbers will help you sort them and use them at the exact moment you are going to need them. If your note cards are all labeled and aligned, they can tell you a lot about how to organize your research paper as well.

Include Every Attribute / Aspect

A notecard must include every aspect of the source or citation you will use. Let’s create an outline of those factors. A notecard will typically include these necessary points:

Name of The Author
The Topic / Title of The Citation
The Book / Paper that is cited
Exact Number Of The Page
Other contributors
Editions / Versions / Volume
Date of Publication

Let us discuss one trick that will help you beyond writing research papers . It will help you in real life too. Whenever you do or say anything, ask yourself first:

Is it necessary?

The same goes for note cards. Only include what’s necessary.

Don’t Use Abbreviations Or Acronyms

When we are talking about how to make notecards for a research paper, our writers will disapprove of using abbreviations or acronyms. One abbreviation might have more than one meaning. The same goes for acronyms. This can lead to confusion. Staying accurate is the ultimate goal.

Now you can see that creating note cards for your dissertation is not rocket science if you have the right guide and Academic writing service . We also learned that note cards are not as old as some might say, and they can help you get the best out of your research. However, if you still need clarification about how to make notecards for a research paper, wait to lose your heart. You can contact us , and we can provide valuable insights we have learned while writing research over the years.

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Research Note Cards

Writing Research Papers
Writing Essays
English Grammar
M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Many teachers require students to use note cards to collect information for their first big term paper assignment. While this practice may seem old fashioned and out of date, it is actually still the best method for collecting research.

You will use research note cards to collect all the information necessary to write your term paper--which includes the details you need for your bibliography notes.

You should take extreme care as you create these note cards, because any time you leave out a single detail, you are creating more work for yourself. You will have to visit each source again if you leave out essential information the first time around.

Remember that citing every source completely and correctly is critical for success. If you don't cite a source, you are guilty of plagiarism! These tips will help you collect research and write a successful paper.

Start with a fresh pack of research note cards. Large, lined cards are probably best, especially if you want to make your own detailed personal notes. Also, consider color coding your cards by topic to keep your paper organized from the start.
Devote an entire note card to each idea or note. Don't try to fit two sources (quotes and notes) on one card. No sharing space!
Gather more than you need. Use the library and the Internet to find potential sources for your research paper . You should continue to research until you have quite a few potential sources—about three times as many as your teacher recommends.
Narrow down your sources. As you read your potential sources, you will find that some are helpful, others are not, and some will repeat the same information you already have. This is how you narrow your list down to include the most solid sources.
Record as you go. From each source, write down any notes or quotes that could be useful in your paper. As you take notes, try to paraphrase all the information. This reduces the chances of committing accidental plagiarism .
Include everything. For each note you will need to record author's name, the title of reference (book, article, interview, etc.), reference publication information, to include publisher, date, place, year, issue, volume, page number, and your own personal comments.
Create your own system and stick to it. For instance, you may want to pre-mark each card with spaces for each category, just to make sure you don't leave anything out.
Be exact. If at any time you write down information word for word (to be used as a quote), be sure to include all punctuation marks , capitalizations, and breaks exactly as they appear in the source. Before you leave any source, double-check your notes for accuracy.
If you think it might be useful, write it down. Don't ever, ever pass over information because you're just not sure whether it will be useful! This is a very common and costly mistake in research. More often than not, you find that the passed-over tidbit is critical to your paper, and then there's a good chance you won't find it again.
Avoid using abbreviations and code words as you record notes —especially if you plan to quote. Your own writing can look completely foreign to you later. It's true! You may not be able to understand your own clever codes after a day or two, either.
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10 Do's and Don'ts for Note Taking in Law School

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SCC Research Guides

Organizing Your Research

Research Note Cards

You may have used Research Note Cards in the past to help your organize information for a research paper. Research Note Cards have you write out quotes or paraphrased information on a note card and include information such as the topic of the source and where you found the source.

There are five parts to Research Note Cards:

This is going to be the main idea from your research assignment that your quote will connect to. Creating and organizing your information will make it easier to focus your research and complete your assignment.
This will be the name of the source that your information is from.
This will be either the quote or your paraphrased sentence(s) from the source. What evidence in this source did you find that will support your thesis statement?
This is the page number that you found the quote on. If your source does not have page numbers (like an internet source)you can either leave this blank of include the section of the online source that you found this information in.
Include the complete citation for your source on the back of the note card.

*Note: It is important to only put one quote or paraphrase per note card.

In the top left corner of the note card is the topic that the quote relates to in the research paper.

Underneath the topic in the top left corner of the note card is an abbreviated name of the source this quote came from.

In the center of the note card is the quote/paraphrased information from the source.

In the bottom right corner of the note card is the page number the information came from.

On the back of the note card is the full citation for the source.

*Note: Keep in mind, your note card might not be organized the exact same way as the example. That is okay, as long as you make sure you have all the information needed listed on the note card.

Because the quotes and paraphrases are on their own note card, you can group and reorder them in the way you want them to appear in your research paper.

Use the topic at the top of each note card to group cards by subject.
Put the groups in the order they should appear in your paper to support your thesis.
Within each group of note cards, order the note cards in the way they'll appear in each paragraph of your paper.
Think about the order information needs to be presented in order to build a case for your thesis.

Once everything is organized by topic and in order, you will have created a map or guide to follow when writing your paper. It may also allow you to spot holes in your reasoning or evidence -- you can then return to your sources (or find additional sources) to fill in the needed information.

Work Cited

"The Note Card System." Gallaudet University , 2021, www.gallaudet.edu/tutorial-and-instructional-programs/english-center/the-process-and-type-of-writing/pre-writing-writing-and-revising/the-note-card-system/.

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How to Do Research: A Step-By-Step Guide: 4a. Take Notes

Get Started
1a. Select a Topic
1b. Develop Research Questions
1c. Identify Keywords
1d. Find Background Information
1e. Refine a Topic
2a. Search Strategies
2d. Articles
2e. Videos & Images
2f. Databases
2g. Websites
2h. Grey Literature
2i. Open Access Materials
3a. Evaluate Sources
3b. Primary vs. Secondary
3c. Types of Periodicals
4a. Take Notes
4b. Outline the Paper
4c. Incorporate Source Material
5a. Avoid Plagiarism
5b. Zotero & MyBib
5c. MLA Formatting
5d. MLA Citation Examples
5e. APA Formatting
5f. APA Citation Examples
5g. Annotated Bibliographies

Note Taking in Bibliographic Management Tools

We encourage students to use bibliographic citation management tools (such as Zotero, EasyBib and RefWorks) to keep track of their research citations. Each service includes a note-taking function. Find more information about citation management tools here . Whether or not you're using one of these, the tips below will help you.

Tips for Taking Notes Electronically

Try using a bibliographic citation management tool to keep track of your sources and to take notes.
As you add sources, put them in the format you're using (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).
Group sources by publication type (i.e., book, article, website).
Number each source within the publication type group.
For websites, include the URL information and the date you accessed each site.
Next to each idea, include the source number from the Works Cited file and the page number from the source. See the examples below. Note that #A5 and #B2 refer to article source 5 and book source 2 from the Works Cited file.

#A5 p.35: 76.69% of the hyperlinks selected from homepage are for articles and the catalog #B2 p.76: online library guides evolved from the paper pathfinders of the 1960s

When done taking notes, assign keywords or sub-topic headings to each idea, quote or summary.
Use the copy and paste feature to group keywords or sub-topic ideas together.
Back up your master list and note files frequently!

Tips for Taking Notes by Hand

Use index cards to keep notes and track sources used in your paper.
Include the citation (i.e., author, title, publisher, date, page numbers, etc.) in the format you're using. It will be easier to organize the sources alphabetically when creating the Works Cited page.
Number the source cards.
Use only one side to record a single idea, fact or quote from one source. It will be easier to rearrange them later when it comes time to organize your paper.
Include a heading or key words at the top of the card.
Include the Work Cited source card number.
Include the page number where you found the information.
Use abbreviations, acronyms, or incomplete sentences to record information to speed up the notetaking process.
Write down only the information that answers your research questions.
Use symbols, diagrams, charts or drawings to simplify and visualize ideas.

Forms of Notetaking

Use one of these notetaking forms to capture information:

Summarize : Capture the main ideas of the source succinctly by restating them in your own words.
Paraphrase : Restate the author's ideas in your own words.
Quote : Copy the quotation exactly as it appears in the original source. Put quotation marks around the text and note the name of the person you are quoting.

Example of a Work Cited Card

Example notecard.

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Using Note Cards for MLA Research Papers

In today’s digital age, it seems strange that organizing your research sources would be done on index cards. Instead of a mobile app or Google Doc, writing your sources on separate 3″ x 5″ index cards may still be a better way to help organize your citation sources. Although some teachers provide Word document templates that follow the same pattern, note cards make it easier to sort through each source for your MLA 8 paper. Creating an outline for your paper helps direct the research process.

Using MLA Container System

The MLA container system uses nine elements that you need to include in your citation. Of course, you won’t necessarily have all nine MLA core elements for each source. However, follow the template to make sure you’re finding everything you need to create the works cited entry.

Title of source.
Title of container,
Other contributors,
Publication date,

The main purpose of creating works cited entries is to lead the reader to the exact source you used in your MLA citations in text. Designed to be flexible, MLA 8 provides a way to capture data such as the version and web location of your research sources.

The Note Card Technique

To create research note cards using index cards, follow these steps:

Create one note card for each source.
Write down all data necessary to locate that source, using the core element list.
If you are using a direct quote from that source, write that down on the index card and specify it’s a direct quote.
Write a summary of the source, similar to preparing a preliminary bibliography.

Incorporating Note Cards Into MLA Works Cited

When you’re finished collecting your sources and writing out the note cards, separate the cards into subtopics. As you write your paper, consult the research note cards to make sure you are citing quotations correctly. As you sort through your note cards and prepare your preliminary bibliography, discard any sources you decide aren’t relevant.

Understanding the Research Process

Researching a topic takes time. You’ll probably do a few searches for broader terms, then narrow those topics down to specific topics and subtopics. Wait until you get towards the end before you discard sources, just to make sure you have what you need. You will go through this process a few times before you find the exact sources you need.

Follow Teacher Guidelines

Most teachers have specific procedures they want you to follow. Follow their guidance, collect your sources, enter them into your research paper and organize properly in your works cited list and you are on your way to an excellent grade.

MLA Format and Citations

Preparing to Write MLA College Papers

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Citing an Introduction or Afterword in MLA

Citing an anthology in mla works cited pages, tips for writing good mla thesis statements.

13.5 Research Process: Making Notes, Synthesizing Information, and Keeping a Research Log

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Employ the methods and technologies commonly used for research and communication within various fields.
Practice and apply strategies such as interpretation, synthesis, response, and critique to compose texts that integrate the writer’s ideas with those from appropriate sources.
Analyze and make informed decisions about intellectual property based on the concepts that motivate them.
Apply citation conventions systematically.

As you conduct research, you will work with a range of “texts” in various forms, including sources and documents from online databases as well as images, audio, and video files from the Internet. You may also work with archival materials and with transcribed and analyzed primary data. Additionally, you will be taking notes and recording quotations from secondary sources as you find materials that shape your understanding of your topic and, at the same time, provide you with facts and perspectives. You also may download articles as PDFs that you then annotate. Like many other students, you may find it challenging to keep so much material organized, accessible, and easy to work with while you write a major research paper. As it does for many of those students, a research log for your ideas and sources will help you keep track of the scope, purpose, and possibilities of any research project.

A research log is essentially a journal in which you collect information, ask questions, and monitor the results. Even if you are completing the annotated bibliography for Writing Process: Informing and Analyzing , keeping a research log is an effective organizational tool. Like Lily Tran’s research log entry, most entries have three parts: a part for notes on secondary sources, a part for connections to the thesis or main points, and a part for your own notes or questions. Record source notes by date, and allow room to add cross-references to other entries.

Summary of Assignment: Research Log

Your assignment is to create a research log similar to the student model. You will use it for the argumentative research project assigned in Writing Process: Integrating Research to record all secondary source information: your notes, complete publication data, relation to thesis, and other information as indicated in the right-hand column of the sample entry.

Another Lens. A somewhat different approach to maintaining a research log is to customize it to your needs or preferences. You can apply shading or color coding to headers, rows, and/or columns in the three-column format (for colors and shading). Or you can add columns to accommodate more information, analysis, synthesis, or commentary, formatting them as you wish. Consider adding a column for questions only or one for connections to other sources. Finally, consider a different visual format , such as one without columns. Another possibility is to record some of your comments and questions so that you have an aural rather than a written record of these.

Writing Center

At this point, or at any other point during the research and writing process, you may find that your school’s writing center can provide extensive assistance. If you are unfamiliar with the writing center, now is a good time to pay your first visit. Writing centers provide free peer tutoring for all types and phases of writing. Discussing your research with a trained writing center tutor can help you clarify, analyze, and connect ideas as well as provide feedback on works in progress.

Quick Launch: Beginning Questions

You may begin your research log with some open pages in which you freewrite, exploring answers to the following questions. Although you generally would do this at the beginning, it is a process to which you likely will return as you find more information about your topic and as your focus changes, as it may during the course of your research.

What information have I found so far?
What do I still need to find?
Where am I most likely to find it?

These are beginning questions. Like Lily Tran, however, you will come across general questions or issues that a quick note or freewrite may help you resolve. The key to this section is to revisit it regularly. Written answers to these and other self-generated questions in your log clarify your tasks as you go along, helping you articulate ideas and examine supporting evidence critically. As you move further into the process, consider answering the following questions in your freewrite:

What evidence looks as though it best supports my thesis?
What evidence challenges my working thesis?
How is my thesis changing from where it started?

Creating the Research Log

As you gather source material for your argumentative research paper, keep in mind that the research is intended to support original thinking. That is, you are not writing an informational report in which you simply supply facts to readers. Instead, you are writing to support a thesis that shows original thinking, and you are collecting and incorporating research into your paper to support that thinking. Therefore, a research log, whether digital or handwritten, is a great way to keep track of your thinking as well as your notes and bibliographic information.

In the model below, Lily Tran records the correct MLA bibliographic citation for the source. Then, she records a note and includes the in-text citation here to avoid having to retrieve this information later. Perhaps most important, Tran records why she noted this information—how it supports her thesis: The human race must turn to sustainable food systems that provide healthy diets with minimal environmental impact, starting now . Finally, she makes a note to herself about an additional visual to include in the final paper to reinforce the point regarding the current pressure on food systems. And she connects the information to other information she finds, thus cross-referencing and establishing a possible synthesis. Use a format similar to that in Table 13.4 to begin your own research log.

Types of Research Notes

Taking good notes will make the research process easier by enabling you to locate and remember sources and use them effectively. While some research projects requiring only a few sources may seem easily tracked, research projects requiring more than a few sources are more effectively managed when you take good bibliographic and informational notes. As you gather evidence for your argumentative research paper, follow the descriptions and the electronic model to record your notes. You can combine these with your research log, or you can use the research log for secondary sources and your own note-taking system for primary sources if a division of this kind is helpful. Either way, be sure to include all necessary information.

Bibliographic Notes

These identify the source you are using. When you locate a useful source, record the information necessary to find that source again. It is important to do this as you find each source, even before taking notes from it. If you create bibliographic notes as you go along, then you can easily arrange them in alphabetical order later to prepare the reference list required at the end of formal academic papers. If your instructor requires you to use MLA formatting for your essay, be sure to record the following information:

Title of source
Title of container (larger work in which source is included)
Other contributors
Publication date

When using MLA style with online sources, also record the following information:

Date of original publication
Date of access
DOI (A DOI, or digital object identifier, is a series of digits and letters that leads to the location of an online source. Articles in journals are often assigned DOIs to ensure that the source can be located, even if the URL changes. If your source is listed with a DOI, use that instead of a URL.)

It is important to understand which documentation style your instructor will require you to use. Check the Handbook for MLA Documentation and Format and APA Documentation and Format styles . In addition, you can check the style guide information provided by the Purdue Online Writing Lab .

Informational Notes

These notes record the relevant information found in your sources. When writing your essay, you will work from these notes, so be sure they contain all the information you need from every source you intend to use. Also try to focus your notes on your research question so that their relevance is clear when you read them later. To avoid confusion, work with separate entries for each piece of information recorded. At the top of each entry, identify the source through brief bibliographic identification (author and title), and note the page numbers on which the information appears. Also helpful is to add personal notes, including ideas for possible use of the information or cross-references to other information. As noted in Writing Process: Integrating Research , you will be using a variety of formats when borrowing from sources. Below is a quick review of these formats in terms of note-taking processes. By clarifying whether you are quoting directly, paraphrasing, or summarizing during these stages, you can record information accurately and thus take steps to avoid plagiarism.

Direct Quotations, Paraphrases, and Summaries

A direct quotation is an exact duplication of the author’s words as they appear in the original source. In your notes, put quotation marks around direct quotations so that you remember these words are the author’s, not yours. One advantage of copying exact quotations is that it allows you to decide later whether to include a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. ln general, though, use direct quotations only when the author’s words are particularly lively or persuasive.

A paraphrase is a restatement of the author’s words in your own words. Paraphrase to simplify or clarify the original author’s point. In your notes, use paraphrases when you need to record details but not exact words.

A summary is a brief condensation or distillation of the main point and most important details of the original source. Write a summary in your own words, with facts and ideas accurately represented. A summary is useful when specific details in the source are unimportant or irrelevant to your research question. You may find you can summarize several paragraphs or even an entire article or chapter in just a few sentences without losing useful information. It is a good idea to note when your entry contains a summary to remind you later that it omits detailed information. See Writing Process Integrating Research for more detailed information and examples of quotations, paraphrases, and summaries and when to use them.

Other Systems for Organizing Research Logs and Digital Note-Taking

Students often become frustrated and at times overwhelmed by the quantity of materials to be managed in the research process. If this is your first time working with both primary and secondary sources, finding ways to keep all of the information in one place and well organized is essential.

Because gathering primary evidence may be a relatively new practice, this section is designed to help you navigate the process. As mentioned earlier, information gathered in fieldwork is not cataloged, organized, indexed, or shelved for your convenience. Obtaining it requires diligence, energy, and planning. Online resources can assist you with keeping a research log. Your college library may have subscriptions to tools such as Todoist or EndNote. Consult with a librarian to find out whether you have access to any of these. If not, use something like the template shown in Figure 13.8 , or another like it, as a template for creating your own research notes and organizational tool. You will need to have a record of all field research data as well as the research log for all secondary sources.

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Resources for Researchers

Written to Support The Back Porch Guide to the Research Paper

I am no longer updating Resources for Researchers. Some materials are being transfered to stevenlberg.info .

Researching
Mini Lessons
Academic Integrity
Digital Literacy
The Back Porch Guide to the Research Paper

Types of Note Cards

Taking Notes, Organizing and Outlining

A breakthrough approach to note-taking that empowers thoughtful, reflective research.

Gather evidence on digital notecards that give you space to think.

Direct Quotation : Store source material for future reference. Highlight and annotate to ensure close reading.
Paraphrase / Summarize : Explain the source material in your own words. Check your understanding.
My Ideas : Reflect and engage. Articulate ideas, assumptions and questions. What do I wonder? How does it fit with what I know? How should I follow up?

Graphically organize your notecards to make connections and mental leaps.

Tag and pile. Sort, tag and color-code notecards to consider associations. Pile notecards in a stack to build commonalities.
Outline. Drag and drop notecards into the outline to provide evidence for each claim.

Ready to learn more?

View detailed tutorials on all of these features.

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9 Organizing Research: Taking and Keeping Effective Notes

Once you’ve located the right primary and secondary sources, it’s time to glean all the information you can from them. In this chapter, you’ll first get some tips on taking and organizing notes. The second part addresses how to approach the sort of intermediary assignments (such as book reviews) that are often part of a history course.

Honing your own strategy for organizing your primary and secondary research is a pathway to less stress and better paper success. Moreover, if you can find the method that helps you best organize your notes, these methods can be applied to research you do for any of your classes.

Before the personal computing revolution, most historians labored through archives and primary documents and wrote down their notes on index cards, and then found innovative ways to organize them for their purposes. When doing secondary research, historians often utilized (and many still do) pen and paper for taking notes on secondary sources. With the advent of digital photography and useful note-taking tools like OneNote, some of these older methods have been phased out – though some persist. And, most importantly, once you start using some of the newer techniques below, you may find that you are a little “old school,” and might opt to integrate some of the older techniques with newer technology.

Whether you choose to use a low-tech method of taking and organizing your notes or an app that will help you organize your research, here are a few pointers for good note-taking.

Principles of note-taking

If you are going low-tech, choose a method that prevents a loss of any notes. Perhaps use one spiral notebook, or an accordion folder, that will keep everything for your project in one space. If you end up taking notes away from your notebook or folder, replace them—or tape them onto blank pages if you are using a notebook—as soon as possible.
If you are going high-tech, pick one application and stick with it. Using a cloud-based app, including one that you can download to your smart phone, will allow you to keep adding to your notes even if you find yourself with time to take notes unexpectedly.
When taking notes, whether you’re using 3X5 note cards or using an app described below, write down the author and a shortened title for the publication, along with the page number on EVERY card. We can’t emphasize this point enough; writing down the bibliographic information the first time and repeatedly will save you loads of time later when you are writing your paper and must cite all key information.
Include keywords or “tags” that capture why you thought to take down this information in a consistent place on each note card (and when using the apps described below). If you are writing a paper about why Martin Luther King, Jr., became a successful Civil Rights movement leader, for example, you may have a few theories as you read his speeches or how those around him described his leadership. Those theories—religious beliefs, choice of lieutenants, understanding of Gandhi—might become the tags you put on each note card.
Note-taking applications can help organize tags for you, but if you are going low tech, a good idea is to put tags on the left side of a note card, and bibliographic info on the right side.

Organizing research- applications that can help

Using images in research.

If you are in an archive: make your first picture one that includes the formal collection name, the box number, the folder name and call numbe r and anything else that would help you relocate this information if you or someone else needed to. Do this BEFORE you start taking photos of what is in the folder.
If you are photographing a book or something you may need to return to the library: take a picture of all the front matter (the title page, the page behind the title with all the publication information, maybe even the table of contents).

Once you have recorded where you find it, resist the urge to rename these photographs. By renaming them, they may be re-ordered and you might forget where you found them. Instead, use tags for your own purposes, and carefully name and date the folder into which the photographs were automatically sorted. There is one free, open-source program, Tropy , which is designed to help organize photos taken in archives, as well as tag, annotate, and organize them. It was developed and is supported by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. It is free to download, and you can find it here: https://tropy.org/ ; it is not, however, cloud-based, so you should back up your photos. In other cases, if an archive doesn’t allow photography (this is highly unlikely if you’ve made the trip to the archive), you might have a laptop on hand so that you can transcribe crucial documents.

Using note or project-organizing apps

When you have the time to sit down and begin taking notes on your primary sources, you can annotate your photos in Tropy. Alternatively, OneNote, which is cloud-based, can serve as a way to organize your research. OneNote allows you to create separate “Notebooks” for various projects, but this doesn’t preclude you from searching for terms or tags across projects if the need ever arises. Within each project you can start new tabs, say, for each different collection that you have documents from, or you can start new tabs for different themes that you are investigating. Just as in Tropy, as you go through taking notes on your documents you can create your own “tags” and place them wherever you want in the notes.

Another powerful, free tool to help organize research, especially secondary research though not exclusively, is Zotero found @ https://www.zotero.org/ . Once downloaded, you can begin to save sources (and their URL) that you find on the internet to Zotero. You can create main folders for each major project that you have and then subfolders for various themes if you would like. Just like the other software mentioned, you can create notes and tags about each source, and Zotero can also be used to create bibliographies in the precise format that you will be using. Obviously, this function is super useful when doing a long-term, expansive project like a thesis or dissertation.

How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Discipline Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Organizing Your Research: Research Note Cards

Research note cards.

Research Source Table
Research Outlines
Recommended Resources
Ask a Librarian

There are five parts to Research Note Cards:

This is going to be the main idea from your research assignment that your quote will connect to. Creating and organizing your information will make it easier to focus your research and complete your assignment.
This will be the name of the source that your information is from.
This will be either the quote or your paraphrased sentence(s) from the source. What evidence in this source did you find that will support your thesis statement?
This is the page number that you found the quote on. If your source does not have page numbers (like an internet source)you can either leave this blank of include the section of the online source that you found this information in.
Include the complete citation for your source (whether it be MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) on the back of the note card.

*Note: It is important to only put one quote or paraphrase per note card.

Example Note Card

In the top left corner of the note card is the topic that the quote relates to in the research paper.

Underneath the topic in the top left corner of the note card is an abbreviated name of the source this quote came from.

In the center of the note card is the quote/paraphrased information from the source.

In the bottom right corner of the note card is the page number the information came from.

On the back of the note card is the full citation for the source.

*Note: Keep in mind, your note card might not be organized the exact same way as the example. That is okay, as long as you make sure you have all the information needed listed on the note card.

Because the quotes and paraphrases are on their own note card, you can group and reorder them in the way you want them to appear in your research paper.

Use the topic at the top of each note card to group cards by subject.
Put the groups in the order they should appear in your paper to support your thesis.
Within each group of note cards, order the note cards in the way they'll appear in each paragraph of your paper.
Think about the order information needs to be presented in order to build a case for your thesis.

Work Cited

<< Previous: Home
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Last Updated: Jun 21, 2023 10:48 AM
URL: https://uscupstate.libguides.com/researchorganization

Making Note Cards

Ask these questions:

How do I do it?

1. Write the subtopic heading of the note at the top of each note card. (see Tip Sheet 11: Creating Subtopic Headings )

2. Write only one main point on a note card

3. Only write information directly related to your Statement of Purpose. (see Tip Sheet 9: Writing a Statement of Purpose )

4. Write only essential words, abbreviate when possible.

5. Be accurate: double check direct quotes and statistics.

6. Identify direct quotes with quotation marks and the person's name.

7. Bracket your own words [ ] when you add them into a quote.

8. Use ellipsis points (...) where you leave out non-essential words from a quote.

9. Distinguish between 'fact' and 'opinion'.

10. Include the source's number on the card (see Tip Sheet 4: Making Source Cards )

11. Write the page number of the source after the note.

12. Use the word 'over' to indicate information on the back of the card.

Sample note card:

Understanding and solving intractable resource governance problems.

In the Press
Conferences and Talks
Exploring models of electronic wastes governance in the United States and Mexico: Recycling, risk and environmental justice
The Collaborative Resource Governance Lab (CoReGovLab)
Water Conflicts in Mexico: A Multi-Method Approach
Past projects
Publications and scholarly output
Research Interests
Higher education and academia
Public administration, public policy and public management research
Research-oriented blog posts
Stuff about research methods
Research trajectory
Publications
Developing a Writing Practice
Outlining Papers
Publishing strategies
Writing a book manuscript
Writing a research paper, book chapter or dissertation/thesis chapter
Everything Notebook
Literature Reviews
Note-Taking Techniques
Organization and Time Management
Planning Methods and Approaches
Qualitative Methods, Qualitative Research, Qualitative Analysis
Reading Notes of Books
Reading Strategies
Teaching Public Policy, Public Administration and Public Management
My Reading Notes of Books on How to Write a Doctoral Dissertation/How to Conduct PhD Research
Writing a Thesis (Undergraduate or Masters) or a Dissertation (PhD)
Reading strategies for undergraduates
Social Media in Academia
Resources for Job Seekers in the Academic Market
Writing Groups and Retreats
Regional Development (Fall 2015)
State and Local Government (Fall 2015)
Public Policy Analysis (Fall 2016)
Regional Development (Fall 2016)
Public Policy Analysis (Fall 2018)
Public Policy Analysis (Fall 2019)
Public Policy Analysis (Spring 2016)
POLI 351 Environmental Policy and Politics (Summer Session 2011)
POLI 352 Comparative Politics of Public Policy (Term 2)
POLI 375A Global Environmental Politics (Term 2)
POLI 350A Public Policy (Term 2)
POLI 351 Environmental Policy and Politics (Term 1)
POLI 332 Latin American Environmental Politics (Term 2, Spring 2012)
POLI 350A Public Policy (Term 1, Sep-Dec 2011)
POLI 375A Global Environmental Politics (Term 1, Sep-Dec 2011)

Note-taking techniques I: The index card method

I graduated with my PhD years ago and I’ve been a professor for a pretty long time, so I thought that maybe I needed to settle down and clarify my ideas of the process I follow to take notes. In this series, I will share my processes to take notes using different methods. The very first method I use is the Index Cards Method. Other authors have referred to the process Niklas Luhman followed ( Zettelkasten ). Hawk Sugano has shared his Pile of Index Cards (PoIC) method as well. Mine isn’t all that sophisticated, and since I combine my very analog Everything Notebook and notes in index cards with digital synthetic notes , memorandums , Conceptual Synthesis Excel Dumps , and Evernote , I don’t know that my system would be extraordinarily systematic. But here goes more or less how it works.

People have asked me if you could digitize (or make analogous) all my processes. Of course. What I call synthetic notes (summaries of articles, books) can be done in traditional index cards. And the reverse, you can digitally store these in Evernote. Make sure to note page number pic.twitter.com/6MyK9MWtyU — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 26, 2018

I produce at least 5 different types of index cards, which are more or less the same categories other folks have all agreed upon. Here are some resources on taking notes in index cards that I found useful as I was trying to make sense of my own system.

1. The Direct Quotations Index Card I use index cards to write direct quotations (with page number and full bibliographic reference) from articles, books and book chapters I find useful. This card is the analog equivalent of my Synthetic Note method .

I am more used to writing index cards of books than of articles. I usually write important quotations but other times I summarize chapters or the entire book. pic.twitter.com/tMUdmyabR3 — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

2. The Bibliographic Reference Index Card It’s rare that I do this one anymore because I have been using Mendeley and EndNote as reference managers for more than 15 years, but this was my study method and strategy to conduct research before: I would write the full bibliographic reference in a 3″x5″ index card. Then I would write a small paragraph on the back summarizing the entire book, or at least, the main idea behind it.

This is an example of “bibliographic index card” – it’s basically the full citation plus keywords. It is VERY rare that I use an index card purely for bibliographic data as I use Mendeley, but it’s still worth discussing. pic.twitter.com/w5MZ6fTfMZ — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 29, 2018

3. The One Idea Index Card I find that these are useful for when you’re studying for an exam, testing your ability to recall, or when you’re giving a talk without reading a set of Power Point slides (e.g. when you’re leading a seminar, using each card as a theme for the seminar). I also use them to remind me of key authors who discuss particular themes and topics.

Some people use the 3"x5" index cards to write one major idea (theme) and a couple of sentences about it, like I do: pic.twitter.com/kDiDFgBjDZ — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 28, 2018

As I said on Twitter, this is very rare for me to do, and I usually combine my own types.

Some people recommend writing JUST ONE IDEA/quotation per index card. I don’t do this. I use 1 index card per article, and per book chapter. If a book has 9 chapters I write one for each chapter (more of chapter is very dense). Note this paper by @rioconpiedras on nonhuman agency pic.twitter.com/IFbCMpNB28 — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

4. The Summary Index Card This type of index card is a summary of a particular journal article, or book chapter, more than of an entire book.

I also write index cards of journal articles, particularly when I feel that they’re particularly powerful or relevant to my research. As you can see, this index card shows my notes of this article rather than direct quotations. pic.twitter.com/XTUHzmQdpJ — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

5. The Combined (or Content) Index Card

As its name indicates, the Content Index Card is a combination type of index card that includes direct quotations, draft notes and ideas, conceptual diagrams, etc. that are all associated with the main article, book chapter or book discussed in the index card. I use larger (5″ x 8″) index cards for those cases.

This is what some people call a “combined” or “content” index card. Note I included direct quotations (with page #s ) from Debbané and @rkeil ’s paper but I *also* write my own thoughts (e.g. “this paper converses with @andrewbiro and his social construction of scale paper” pic.twitter.com/dgkhh9lgpB — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

There are obvious questions that people ask me, so I’ll try to answer them here.

1. Can you do digital index cards? For sure. You can either do combinations as I do (physical index cards, then row entry in a Conceptual Synthesis Excel Dump row), or all digital (either in Evernote or simply in Excel, or synthetic notes or memorandums in Word or Scrivener as you may choose).

You can do digital or analog, or a combination, whatever suits you best. I combine, because I find that as I write on an index card, by hand, new ideas come to me. When I read full books, I write copious synthetic notes and then write a row entry in my Excel Dump. pic.twitter.com/IRCZSzgBls — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 26, 2018

When I designed my Conceptual Synthesis Excel Dump, I made sure to include a column with the Quotation and another with the Page Number. This is important because as we know, plagiarism is bad, terrible citation practice, and can lead to degree termination/career ending! pic.twitter.com/VDGgjAjZ2z — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 26, 2018

2. How do you store and classify index cards? I usually have boxes that fit my index cards, and add a plastic tab with the reference in Author (Date) format. Other people use different classification systems (by keyword, by topic, by author). I just recommend that the process be consistent across.

If you like the index card by hand method you may want to use plastic tabs and label each index card and store them in a box pic.twitter.com/QxNy1HW7Gr — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

3. When should I use memorandums and synthetic notes and Excel Dumps, when should I write in my Everything Notebook, when should I craft index cards?

This question has such a personal preference type of answer.

If I'm on a plane to Santiago, 8 hours by plane, my laptop battery lasts 3 hours, no chargers on plane – if I want to be awake and work on the plane, I need to write by hand, either in my Everything Notebook or on index cards. Also, if I feel mentally blocked, I write index cards — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

I'm always stressed and under pressure to write, submit, revise and publish papers, but I have slowly come to the realization that it's better to let my thinking simmer and evolve, and mull ideas over, and writing by hand helps me do exactly that. So, yes, I do write index cards. — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

Can all this process be digital? Sure thing. Even a combination can work. You could scan your index cards into an optical character recognition thingie and store the digital content into Evernote, tag it and easily search through your bank of notes. Or you could simply type them. — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

4. What size of index card should I use? This is again, a personal preference as I note in my tweet below.

I have index cards in 3 sizes: 3”x5” (for quick ideas, but could be used as bibliographic reference cards), 4”x6” (for quotations from journal articles and summaries), and 5”x8” (for full books or very dense articles and book chapters) pic.twitter.com/L9qZYStZa2 — Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) November 27, 2018

I do teach my students the Index Card Method of Note-Taking because I believe it is important to learn the old-school techniques, but also because I find that it helps me, and I strongly believe that if it helps ME, then it may also help THEM. In subsequent blog posts I’ll share some of my note-taking techniques when using my Everything Notebook, and other types of media.

You may be interested in my other posts on taking notes, which you can access by clicking on this link .

You can share this blog post on the following social networks by clicking on their icon.

Posted in academia , writing .

Tagged with index cards , note-taking , taking notes .

By Raul Pacheco-Vega – November 28, 2018

2 Responses

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I’m going to try this method. How do you store different sized cards? How do you find what you are looking for? Do you put tabs on them all?

Dear Dr @RaulPacheco-Vega. I would like to appreciate you for the frequent advice and for sharing useful material. To be honest, I bought index cards while I was working on my PhD but I never used them. I think it was because I was unfamiliar. After going through this blog post, I am thinking of getting them and I am hoping to share my experience soon

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Do You Use 3×5 Cards? Rethinking the Research Process

This past weekend, our department chair received an email from a local high school English teacher who asked, in short, should they be teaching students how to do a “traditional” research paper — including the use of 3×5 note cards — because some of his colleagues are strong supporters of it and others consider it “archaic.”

He wanted to hear a response from a college professor about how best to prepare students for the kinds of research that they would be doing in composition courses that they would be taking after high school. Below, I have copied and pasted the response that I offered him via email. And, now I ask you… What do you think — is it time to move away from “traditional” research paper writing processes?

— Hello ___,

Dr. ___ forwarded your question to a number of us in the English Department who are involved in teaching composition and English Education courses, and I offer you a reply based on my own professional opinions and, to the extent that I can, what I sense are the expectations of a typical college writing classroom.

Before I answer, I want to acknowledge the many tensions that are evident in the question that you ask — between the amount of skills you aim to teach students as they do research and the time you have to do it; between the “traditional” way of teaching and newer ways that have the potential to be both positive and possibly have unintended consequences; between what your community, students, and parents might expect an English teacher to know and be able to do and what you personally and what your entire department may think might be better for students.

Moreover, I am not sure of the context in which you ask it; are you someone who thinks this process is archaic, or are you someone who finds this method valuable?

Thus, I tread carefully when I answer this, noting this complicated context. But, you asked for comments and criticisms, so I will share them. I also invite you to write back, so we can continue this conversation.

So, at risk of sounding rude, my short answer is yes, the process of using 3×5 cards is archaic.

Here is the longer answer that looks at pedagogy, genres in writing, and technologies available for digital writing.

First, pedagogy. The established practice (as I remember it from my own K-12 schooling) of choosing a research topic, gathering info on note cards, creating an outline, and then writing a final paper is, as we all know, formulaic. The writing process is never this clear and, while we do need to guide students in the process, we also need to encourage them to engage in topics in a variety of ways. Along with thinking about models such as Macrorie’s I-Search paper or Romano’s multigenre research paper, I also encourage you to have students do research like real scholars, journalists, and writers do — by talking with people and engaging in multiple forms of media, all the while documenting their research process including the questions that they have, the stumbling blocks they encounter, and the “a-ha” moments they discover. By limiting our students’ experiences simply to taking notes from existing sources, we are not really teaching them how to be active and engaged researchers and writers. We need to open up the research process to them.

Second, genres. As mentioned above with Romano’s multigenre research, the idea of having students write on a single topic through different perspectives and multiple genres is one that has taken hold in the past decade or so, and is evident in a variety of curriculum documents (such as Michigan’s HSCEs ) and professional statements (such as Writing Now from NCTE ). Having students produce a traditional academic research paper is still a valuable skill, and one that they will need in college. Yet, to limit their writing about that particular topic to creating only a research paper very much limits their engagement with the topic and the ways in which they represent their thinking. To that end, we need to have them write in unfamiliar genres ( See Fleischer and Andrew-Vaughan ) and share their writing with other audiences besides us as their teachers. We need to make their research process more purposeful by inviting them to write about it for a variety of purposes.

Third, technology. This is a personal and professional interest of mine, so I will go into a bit more detail here. I want to note the concerns that many teachers have about the uses of technology, especially the internet, including their own inexperience and the capability that it can provide for students to plagiarize. These are real concerns, and I am not trying to down play them here. Instead, what I believe is that any teacher, with good professional development and collegial support, can learn how to teach with technology and avoid many of the pitfalls that they think it will cause. In other words, just because students might be tempted to plagiarize because of the technology, we shouldn’t give up on it before we even try.

With that in mind, there are at least two technologies that I think are useful for students as they begin to document their research process and create their bibliographies, both of which are free and students can use at home, school, or other places that they can access the internet. The first is Google Docs ( http://docs.google.com ) and, in particular, the web-based word processor that they can use to create documents and collaborate with one another. Using this online word processor, students can begin to create an annotated bibliography — either all in one document, or with each annotation in a separate document. They can invite you, as their teacher, or other students in as collaborators on the document, thus sharing their research process with you and their peers along the way. Moreover, students can be taught how to write summaries and gather quotes in these Google Docs, and then they can use these summaries and quotes in their own writing about the research by simply copying and pasting. You can find out more about Google Docs through this PDF from Educause and video from the Common Craft show .

The second process can be accomplished in a variety of forms, but would be either to use a social bookmarking site such as delicious.com or a bibliography management tool such as Zotero, a free plug-in for the Firefox Web browser ( zotero.org ). Like Google Docs, you can find out more about these from Educause ( Zotero and social bookmarking ) and videos ( Common Craft on Social Bookmarking and the video on the Zotero homepage ). Both tools are useful in different ways, and students could use both. If you had to choose one only though for the process of writing the research paper, I would strongly encourage you to explore uses of Zotero. I have taught my students in both intermediate composition and a senior seminar about Zotero, and all of them have found it useful for organizing their research as they go (including tracking bibliographic info as well as keeping notes, quotes, and summaries), creating annotated bibliographies and, ultimately, helping them be more effective researchers.

With these technologies, among a number of others such as wikis and social networks, I feel that students can become more active researchers. While these tools are meant to meet the same goals as 3×5 cards — trying to help writers organize their ideas and prepare to write a research paper — as you begin to use them and teach your students to use them, I think that the ways in which these technologies can enhance the research process and contribute to students’ growth as writers quite powerful. Moreover, there is the fact that we are being asked to teach our students digital literacies such as these based on the requirements of the HSCEs and suggestions of our professional organizations.

All that said, yes, there are there still professors who teach — and demand — a traditional research paper, including 3×5 cards. Yet, it is clear that there are more shifts in our field related to our pedagogical approach, the genres we ask students to write in, and the ways in which technology is influencing that process. I hope that my response here helps encourage you and your colleagues to think about the ways that you might engage students as readers, writers, and researchers.

Finally, if you would like any help with this through professional development services, I would be happy to talk with you more about this, and what we can offer you through our site of the National Writing Project, the Chippewa River Writing Project . I know that there are teachers in the Waverly district who have attended MSU’s site, the Red Cedar Writing Project, so you also have some people “in house” who might be able to help you rethink the research paper process.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions and I look forward to hearing your response.

6 thoughts on “Do You Use 3×5 Cards? Rethinking the Research Process”

Just wanted to say that I completely agree with everything you wrote in your letter. I am currently a college student studying to be an Elementary Teacher and I am currently learning about all of the different technologies that are available for students and teachers to use. To back up your reasoning I am finding and wishing that I learned more about online researching, databases, online bibliography tools ect. before I came to college. I am seeing more and more how beneficial using modern technology in the classroom, it truly does prepare students for the career world. Isn’t it a teacher’s duty anyways to prepare their students as best as they can for their careers? So aren’t we as teachers then supposed to be “up to date”? So yes, I really think that the tips that you gave were very insightful (I think all teachers should get some of these pieces of advice).

Oh and do you have any good tips when it comes to database collecting?

It’s amazing for me to have a site, which is helpful in favor of my experience. thanks admin

Excellent happy synthetic attention intended for details and can anticipate troubles prior to they occur.

I love to share understanding that I’ve accrued with the 12 months to assist improve team overall performance.

I love to disseminate knowledge that I’ve built up with the calendar year to help enhance team overall performance.

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Research Paper Note Cards: A Guide to Organizing Ideas and Sources

Tips on using note cards in an academic research paper. Originally created by JReese, modified by me. Uses MLA format. Read less

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1. Research Paper NoteResearch Paper Note CardsCards Mr. Proffitt, Hunters Lane High SchoolMr. Proffitt, Hunters Lane High School
2. WHAT GOES ON A NOTE CARD? • Information you did not know about your topic that you get from another author
3. HOW TO TAKE ANOTHER AUTHOR’S INFORMATION?? • Paraphrase • Summarize • Quote DON’T PLAGIARIZE!!!!
4. PLAGIARISM • It's like lip-synching to someone else's voice and accepting the applause and rewards for yourself. • IF YOU PLAGIARIZE, YOU WILL FAIL!!! …any time you take a writer’s words and use them as your own, you are plagiarizing
5. Using another writer’s words as your own… the right way! • Paraphrase/Summarize • Quote • Include your own thoughts about what the writer has to say ALWAYS GIVE THE CREDIT TO THE REAL AUTHOR!
6. PARAPHRASE/ SUMMARIZE • Summarize (compress/shrink down) in your own words • Translate and rewrite what the author is saying ·
7. PARAPHRASE Example of what you read: "I had to explain to him that I was deaf. I said, 'Wait; I can't hear; please talk slowly.' He looked at me and said, 'What?' I told him again I was deaf, and he said, 'Oh.' He pointed to a door and told me to go through that door. I followed his instructions. I opened the door and walked through it, closing the door behind me. I found that I was in the hallway near the elevator where I had just come up. I was shocked! He had rejected me without any explanation. I got into the elevator, and as it descended, I felt very letdown. I couldn't understand why he didn't give me a chance to explain that I could do the job well. It didn't require hearing!" -- Bernard Bragg, My First Summer Job, A Handful of Stories, 19
8. PARAPHRASE An Example of paraphrasing what you read • In A Handful of Stories, Bernard Bragg tells a story of trying to get a job. One time he told a potential employer he was deaf, and the man just pointed to the door. Mr. Bragg, not realizing the man was telling him to leave, opened the door and stepped out. Not until he went out the door did he realize he had been rejected because he was deaf (19).
9. QUOTE Use quotation marks “ “ to show EXACTLY what the author was saying (Do NOT use more than 4 lines) • Include Author’s Last Name and Page Number on which you found the information, directly after the quote For example, According to Hughes, “poetry rocks!” (Hughes, p. 2)
10. So, what goes on the Note Card?? • As you find interesting facts about your topic, you will write them down. • Each idea should be paraphrased (summarized in your own words), and written on a card.
11. Stay organized… • In order to keep your ideas in order, and to remember where you found the ideas, there are four items that you should include on the index card
12. 4 Items to include on card .
13. 1. Card Topic Topic is the kind of information on the card. Think of it as the title, or main idea of the card. After writing down the information, figure out how you could briefly categorize, or title it.
14. Card Topic For example, if you are writing a paper on the life and works of the poet, Langston Hughes, you may have cards with topics such as: – Hughes' upbringing – Hughes' influences – Hughes' poetry – Hughes' political beliefs – Hughes' influence on America
15. 2. Source Title • The source title is the name of the book, magazine, website, etc., in which you found the information. • You will want to also turn your card over and list ALL Catalog Card information (publisher, etc.).
16. Giving Your Source a Number • In the previous example, the source was given a number, instead of writing out the entire title, author, etc.
17. Write out the title for the source you are using on each card , or simply list your sources on a separate sheet of paper. • Number your sources on this list • Use the numbers on the note cards to specify which source provided which fact.
18. 3. paraphrased information • It is helpful to paraphrase, or summarize, your research on the index cards while you are taking notes. If you are consistent in paraphrasing at this stage, then you will be certain not to accidentally plagiarize someone else's work. You will also have less work to do when you are actually writing the paper.
19. 4. page numbers • It is important to be accurate with the page numbers on your note cards, as you will need them for citations throughout your research paper.
20. Sample Note Cards Organized by Card Topic
21. Citing my source!! Information for this presentation came from the following source • “Researching and Organizing Your Paper: The Note Card System.” English Works! at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. Published: 1997-present. Retrieved 7 March, 2006. <http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/ writing/notecard.html>
22. THE END!

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10 Tips for Using Research Note Cards
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Example Of Note Cards In A Research Paper
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10 Note Taking Strategies to Write a Better Essay
Research Notecards

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The Note Card System
The card topic is the title for the kind of information on the card. The card topic is a name that you make up yourself. Think of it as the title, or main idea. of the card.. After writing down the information, figure out how you could briefly categorize, or title it. For example, if you are writing a paper on the life and works of the poet, Langston Hughes, you may have cards with topics such as:
How to Write a Research Paper: Note Cards
Learn how to use 3 x 5 index cards to organize your notes from different sources and avoid plagiarism. See examples of good and bad note cards for a research paper on baseball.
How To Make Notecards For a Research Paper Effectively
This way, you can quickly find the needed information. Before writing notecards, look at all the information to write your research document. Once you know basic ideas, gather the main points of your research. Preferably, a 3″ x5″ note card would do your bidding. Also, notecards look fantastic, and even if they're scattered around the ...
10 Tips for Using Research Note Cards
Start with a fresh pack of research note cards. Large, lined cards are probably best, especially if you want to make your own detailed personal notes. Also, consider color coding your cards by topic to keep your paper organized from the start. Devote an entire note card to each idea or note. Don't try to fit two sources (quotes and notes) on ...
Research Note Cards
Research Note Cards. You may have used Research Note Cards in the past to help your organize information for a research paper. Research Note Cards have you write out quotes or paraphrased information on a note card and include information such as the topic of the source and where you found the source. There are five parts to Research Note Cards:
PDF Taking and Organizing Notes for Research Papers
memory source. Students take notes to record information and to aid in comprehension and reflection. Note taking is an essential part of writing any research paper because they give you a better understanding of course material. While writing a research paper, you will need to gather and synthesize information from various sources. Knowing what ...
How to Do Research: A Step-By-Step Guide: 4a. Take Notes
Number the source cards. On each note card: Use only one side to record a single idea, fact or quote from one source. It will be easier to rearrange them later when it comes time to organize your paper. Include a heading or key words at the top of the card. Include the Work Cited source card number. Include the page number where you found the ...
Using Note Cards for MLA Research Papers
The Note Card Technique. To create research note cards using index cards, follow these steps: Create one note card for each source. Write down all data necessary to locate that source, using the core element list. If you are using a direct quote from that source, write that down on the index card and specify it's a direct quote.
Note-taking for Research
Use note-taking software. Word-processing and office software packages often include different types of note-taking software. Although you may need to set aside some time to learn the software, this method combines the speed of typing with the same degree of organization associated with handwritten note cards. Maintain a research notebook.
PDF Beginning the Research Paper—How to Make Note Cards
There are two types of notecards: source cards and research cards. I. Source Cards You will make one of these when you find a source that you are going to use in your paper. The purpose of this card is to record the bibliographic information. Here is an example: You won't have that many source cards—probably 4-7. But you need them! Source #1
13.5 Research Process: Making Notes, Synthesizing ...
Taking good notes will make the research process easier by enabling you to locate and remember sources and use them effectively. While some research projects requiring only a few sources may seem easily tracked, research projects requiring more than a few sources are more effectively managed when you take good bibliographic and informational notes.
Taking Research Notes: Types of Note Cards
Types of Note Cards. There are four different types of notes that you might write. Paraphrase. When you paraphrase a passage from your source, you put the author's text into your own words. Summary. A summary captures the author's point of view or argument. It could be anywhere from one or two sentences to a short paragraph.
Taking Notes, Organizing and Outlining
Graphically organize your notecards to make connections and mental leaps. Tag and pile. Sort, tag and color-code notecards to consider associations. Pile notecards in a stack to build commonalities. Outline. Drag and drop notecards into the outline to provide evidence for each claim. Direct Quotation: Store source material for future reference.
9 Organizing Research: Taking and Keeping Effective Notes
Before the personal computing revolution, most historians labored through archives and primary documents and wrote down their notes on index cards, and then found innovative ways to organize them for their purposes. When doing secondary research, historians often utilized (and many still do) pen and paper for taking notes on secondary sources.
Research Note Cards
You may have used Research Note Cards in the past to help your organize information for a research paper. Research Note Cards have you write out quotes or paraphrased information on a note card and include information such as the topic of the source and where you found the source. There are five parts to Research Note Cards: Part 1: Topic ...
Taking Research Notes Using the Note Card System and Ilaro
A research note card contains a single quote, note, or idea. Due to the physical size of index cards, there is a limit to how much you can write on on each card. But this limitation forces you to keep concise notes. ... A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th Edition by Kate L. Turabian. Websites.
PDF Research Paper: MLA Style
What are Source Cards? First, you will need a source card. This is how you will keep track of where you got each piece of information. *If any information is missing from your source, skip that portion of the citation and move onto the next available piece of information. See notes about "Publisher's Name" and "Publication Date".
Making Note Cards- CRLS Research Guide
1. Write the subtopic heading of the note at the top of each note card. (see Tip Sheet 11: Creating Subtopic Headings) 2. Write only one main point on a note card. 3. Only write information directly related to your Statement of Purpose. (see Tip Sheet 9: Writing a Statement of Purpose) 4. Write only essential words, abbreviate when possible.
Note-taking techniques I: The index card method
As its name indicates, the Content Index Card is a combination type of index card that includes direct quotations, draft notes and ideas, conceptual diagrams, etc. that are all associated with the main article, book chapter or book discussed in the index card. I use larger (5″ x 8″) index cards for those cases.
Do You Use 3×5 Cards? Rethinking the Research Process
So, at risk of sounding rude, my short answer is yes, the process of using 3×5 cards is archaic. Here is the longer answer that looks at pedagogy, genres in writing, and technologies available for digital writing. First, pedagogy. The established practice (as I remember it from my own K-12 schooling) of choosing a research topic, gathering ...
Research Paper Note Cards: A Guide to Organizing Ideas and Sources
Research Paper Note Cards: A Guide to Organizing Ideas and Sources. Sep 16, 2015 •. 2 likes • 2,806 views. AI-enhanced title. J. JasonProff. Tips on using note cards in an academic research paper. Originally created by JReese, modified by me. Uses MLA format.
39 Simple Note Card Templates & Designs ᐅ TemplateLab
The most common dimensions of a note card template are 3 x 5 inches. Aside from this, note cards are also widely available in other sizes: 4 x 6 inches, 5 x 8 inches, and ISO-size A7. The cards also come in an assortment of colours, in grid styles, ruled, and blank. There are special divider cards that have protruding tabs too, all of which you ...
SuperNotecard
SuperNotecard is an online writing tool that provides virtual notecards to help arrange facts or scenes, track details, organize paragraphs, and clarify your compositional process. Notecards help students organize facts, visualize an outline and ultimately transform their research into a paper. SuperNotecard works on various devices and gives ...
Introducing Meta Llama 3: The most capable openly available LLM to date
You can read more about our efforts in the model card. ... in multiple languages, a much longer context window, and stronger overall capabilities. We will also publish a detailed research paper once we are done training Llama 3. ... Please note that this data is based on an early checkpoint of Llama 3 that is still training and these ...