Notetaking
Begin your research in general information sources such as encyclopedias or indexes. Working bibliography cards (3 x 5 index cards) should list sources about your research subject that show promise about the topic. Each card should contain the author’s name, the title of the work, the publication information needed to complete a Works Cited entry, the library call number, and a note about the contents of the source. As you use a source, number it to simplify the notetaking process.
While gathering materials for your working bibliography cards, briefly skim some of the more promising books and articles. From these you will gain an initial familiarity with your general subject. You must now narrow the focus of your research by writing a preliminary thesis sentence. This narrowing process begins with notecards. Every note should relate to your preliminary thesis. Careful notetaking will thereby narrow the subject even more. These notes should be taken on 4 x 6 or 5 x 8 index cards. Begin with a preliminary outline, analogous to a grocery list developed before shopping.
The rough outline can show you where to concentrate your research efforts, but it cannot evaluate the quality of what you find. You must do that yourself by being curious and by tracking down facts. Be skeptical about accepting every source as absolute, especially Internet sources. Constantly review, verify, and double-check findings.
Use recent, reliable sources. Be aware of biased reporting, both in the writing of others and in your own drafts. For example, the New Republic presents a liberal view of society, while the National Review presents a staunchly conservative view. Consult your teacher to identify reliable scholars, or check an author's credentials in such references as Who’s Who in American Art, Contemporary Authors, or Book Review Digest. Understand the difference between primary and secondary sources. For literary topics, primary sources are the original works of an author (novels, poems, plays, short stories, letters, diaries, manuscripts, autobiographies). Secondary sources are about the author and about his or her works (journal articles, reviews, biographies, reviews).
Some student researchers do more copying than thinking. Convinced that they need scores of entries for their “Works Cited” pages, some waste time photocopying entire journal articles and carrying stacks of books home from the library. That sort of diligence is misplaced. The quality of your analysis in your finished paper is more important than how many notecards you accumulated. Thinking comes first. To that end, keep your thesis foremost in mind as you leaf through books and articles.
Follow these notetaking tips:
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Use ink. Penciled notes smear in time. |
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Use index cards, not large sheets of notebook paper. |
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Write one item per card. |
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Write on one side of the card only. |
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Write the number of the source on each notecard. |
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Place a very specific subject heading, or guideline, at the top of each card to speed arrangement of notes in your general outline. |
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Your note should paraphrase your source; whenever you copy a direct quote instead, be sure to use quotation marks. |