Gathering Information

Gathering Information After you have written a statement of controlling purpose and have prepared a working bibliography, you are ready to begin gathering information for your report. Keeping your controlling purpose in mind, start searching through your sources, looking for information that applies. Do not read every part of every source. Concentrate on the parts that relate to your topic and your purpose.

Preparing Note Cards There are three basic types of notes: A direct quotation repeats the words of a source exactly. Quotation marks are used around the quoted material. A paraphrase states an idea expressed in a source, but not in the same words. A summary is a shortened statement of an idea in a source. It says the same thing in fewer and different words.

Preparing Note Cards Take notes on 4”x6” cards. Use cards of that size to distinguish your note cards from your 3”x5” bibliography cards. Use a separate card for each note so that you can rearrange your notes later on. Try to limit each note to one or two sentences on a single idea. Focusing on one idea on each card makes it easier to group and reorganize your cards.

Preparing Note Cards When you quote, it is extremely important that you copy each letter and punctuation mark exactly. In paraphrasing or summarizing, you need to make sure that when you put the material into your own words, you do not change the source’s meaning.

Preparing Note Cards Give a page reference for any information taken from a source, except an entry in an encyclopedia or a dictionary. Information from a single page – write the page number after the note. Information from two or more consecutive pages – write the numbers of the first and last pages (1-4). For consecutive numbers greater than 99, use only the last two digits of the second number (101-15). Information from nonconsecutive pages, write the number of the first page followed by a plus sign (76+)

Problems with Native Americans Titles: keep cards with similar titles together 1 Problems with Native Americans Southerners and frontier people felt threatened by the Native Americans because they knew that Great Britain was the ally of the Native Americans and was giving them aid. 15 Source number Page reference Notes

When to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize Direct quotation: Use a direct quotation when an idea is especially well stated in a source – that is, when a passage is very clear, beautiful, funny, or powerful. Also use a direct quotation when the exact wording is historically or legally significant or when you are reproducing a definition. Paraphrase: Use the paraphrase as your basic note form – the form that you always use unless you have a good reason to quote or summarize your source. Summary: Use a summary when a passage in a source is too long to be effectively quoted or paraphrased.

Effective Note Taking The following guidelines will help you improve you note taking skills: Keep you topic, controlling purpose, and audience in mind at all times. Do not record material unrelated to your topic. Make sure that summaries and paraphrases accurately express the ideas in your source. Be accurate. Make sure to copy direct quotations word for word, with capitalization, spelling, and punctuation precisely as in the original. Make sure that every direct quotation begins and ends with quotation marks.

Effective Note Taking Double-check statistics and facts to make sure that you have them right. Distinguish between fact and opinion by labeling opinions as such: “Dr. Graves thinks that…” or “According to Grace Jackson…” Quote only the important parts of a passage. Indicate words you have left out by using points of ellipsis (…). Use only the three dots when cutting material within a sentence. Always double-check page references. It’s easy to copy these incorrectly.

Avoiding Plagiarism One of the purposes of your working bibliography and note cards is to help you to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of intentionally or unintentionally presenting work done by someone else as though it were your own. Here is a simple test to determine whether something is plagiarized: ask yourself, Is this information, idea, or statement common knowledge? If the answer is no, then ask yourself, Did this information, idea, or statement come from a source outside myself? If the answer is yes, then you must credit that source. Failure to do so is plagiarism.

Developing a Preliminary Outline A preliminary outline will help you focus your search for information. Your preliminary outline should list some key ideas or subtopics that you expect to include in the body of your report. As you learn more about your topic, your preliminary outline will change and grow, but even a short, incomplete preliminary outline can be useful.

Sample Preliminary Outline Causes of the war Trade conflicts with Europe Problems with Native Americans Battles and events of the war British victories U.S. victories Peace treaty Results of the war National pride and independence Positive trade relationship with Britain