How to take notes for a research paper:

Before you begin to take notes: Once you pick a RELIABLE source, you need to write your source information down BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO TAKE NOTES. Figure out if you have a BOOK, A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE, A WEBSITE ON THE INTERNET, A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL, OR AN ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE.

If you have a BOOK: Write: Author’s Full Name Title Edition Volume Number and total number of volumes City of Publication Publisher’s Name Year of Publication Pages Used

For a Newspaper or Magazine: Write: Author’s name Title of article Title of newspaper or magazine Date of publication Page numbers

For an article on the INTERNET: Write: Author’s name Title of document Information about any publication in print form Title of the site Name of the editor Date of publication or update Name of Organization that sponsors the site Date you looked the page up Web address

For notes from a Scholarly Journal: Write: Author Title of the article Title of the journal Volume Year of publication Pages the article appears on

For notes from an Encyclopedia Write: Author’s full name, if there is one Article Title (what did you look up?) Encyclopedia Title Edition Volume number (if in print) Publisher’s name and / or sponsor of website Year of publication City of publication (if in print)

Encyclopedia (continued) Page numbers used (if in print) Date you looked up the page Web address (online) IF IN DOUBT ABOUT WHAT SOURCE INFORMATION YOU SHOULD WRITE, CONSULT www.easybib.com Once you have the source information, then you may begin to take notes.

Note how you transcribe your material Note how you transcribe your material. There are 3 ways to note information:   A. Quote: copy word for word from the source B. Paraphrase: translate line by line into your own words C. Summarize: sum up a large section of text in your own words **It is vital to note which way you use for each fact you take notes on. Marking your notes with a Q, P, or S is a fast and easy way to keep track.

Example: Quote: “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet.“ Paraphrase: Romeo, why are you a Romeo / Montague? Get rid of your name, and if you won’t and you love me, I’ll go against the will of my family. Summarize: Juliet wonders where Romeo is and if he will leave the traditions of his family to be with her. She is willing to go against her family if he loves her.

Note taking strategies: 1. Note cards: A. This method makes it easy to organize research into sub topics for your paper B. Each fact you find is written on a single note card C. Mark each note card with a source reference and the type of transcription used (Q, P, or S). D. Mark the pages used on the card too

Note taking strategies: 2. Photo copies/print outs A. This is a great way to save rewriting material B. Use a highlighter to mark the important sections of each page C. Be sure the source information, including pages numbers, are visible on your copies D. Remember that all of your material will be in quote form E. Remember that you should only print the sections of the pages that you need. You don’t want to print a 40 page article. Highlight and print your selection only.

Note taking strategies: 3. Notebook A. This is most similar to what you do in class and keeps all of your notes bound together B. Mark the source information before starting notes for any given source. Use your working bibliography to be sure you get all the needed information C. Be sure to note page numbers next to each entry as well as the transcription method (Q, P, or S), unless if it is an online source. D. It might be helpful to organize your notes so certain sub topics are easily distinguished to help in selecting subtopics for your paper