Without further ado, here's
WAIT!!
Put down that pen!!!
Without a plan, you can waste a lot of time writing down the wrong
information, and that will make it even harder to write a good paper
later. So, pick up your first resource
and…
1.
SURVEY
YOUR SOURCE: Before
you begin, “survey” your resource by
skimming through the material, paying attention to chapter titles,
headings, pictures and their captions, etc. to get an overview of what kinds of
information you are going to get from this source.
2.
QUESTIONS: Jot down some questions for yourself that you
will be answering on your notecards as you read this source. Make sure your questions have something to do
with your THESIS STATEMENT, because you want to take notes that will help you
prove your position in your paper. Depending
on how long the source is and how many notecards you need from each source, you
may be turning all of the headings and bold-face words into questions (if it’s
a short article), or you may have to be
very selective and choose only the main points or those that best relate to
your research project (especially true for a long book or a website that is
packed with information). You can either
write your list of questions on a sheet of paper, or you can put them at the
top of blank notecards so you know what information you’ll be writing on each
card. These questions are just for you, so they do NOT need to be complete
sentences. It can be as simple as
“Famine Causes?” or “Shogun Legacy?”
3.
READ: Now start reading through your source, keeping
an eye out for the information that will answer your research questions.
4. WRITE NOTES: When
you come to information that answers your question, jot it down on your note
card. Remember, note cards do not get complete sentences. Each notecard should have either one
“piece” of information, like one LEGO brick that can’t be taken apart, or
several related facts that need to stay together to make sense (the way a LEGO
figure’s head and arms COULD come apart, but they make more sense attached to
the body!). For example, one notecard
might look like this:
 |
| What Goes on One Notecard? Remember the LEGO Rule! Photo courtesy Instructables |
Causes of French Revolution?
n Government
went bankrupt b/c couldn’t agree on tax reform
n 1788-1789
food shortages
n Enlightenment
ideas about equality
n Louis
XVI was not a strong ruler
Or
like this:
U.S.
Education?
n Literacy:
99% over age 15 can read & write
n Free
K-12 paid for by fed, state & local taxes
n Compulsory
for children, ages vary by state
n Private
schools, colleges & universities optional but $$$
Here’s
an example of what NOT to do (listing random, unrelated facts on the same note
card):
Spain?
n Neutral
in both World Wars
n No
team sports at Spanish schools
n 40% of
adults are smokers
n Lunch
eaten at 2 PM, dinner at 9 PM
