1. Establishing a STRONG research foundation…
Notes in a Nutshell
Establishing a STRONG research foundation…

2. Why Note Cards?
Evidence of Research
Information Analysis
Organizational Tool

3. SOURCE CARD KEY SOURCE CARD NOTE CARD
Your research for History Day will REQUIRE successful use of three types of note cards:
SOURCE CARD KEY SOURCE CARD NOTE CARD

4. The Source Card
Contains the color/number code in the upper right hand corner
Contains properly formatted bibliographic information from Writer’s Inc. or citationmachine.net
Annotation is written on the back
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5. SOURCE CARD 1
Huie, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look Magazine. 24 January, PBS American Experience. 21 February,
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6. THE KEY SOURCE CARD
Contains the author, title, and number/color of all sources used
KEY SOURCE CARD
Huey, William Bradford. “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” 1 2
Pilgrim, David. “Jim Crow Laws.” 3
The Murder of Emmett Till.

7. THE NOTE CARDS
Contain the color/number of source in upper right hand corner to link the information to the source
Contain ONE idea (quotation, summary, paraphrase)
Contain the page number from the source where the information was taken

8. 1
Bryant and Milam used a cotton gin fan to sink Till’s body in the Tallahatchie River.
pg. 203

9. Quotation, summary, paraphrase?
QUOTATION: Used when you could not possibly say it ANY better yourself. Used to reference words previously spoken by someone else. Note WHEN and WHY the words were said.
SUMMARY: Used to condense large quantities of information—you’ve read a chapter in a book and gleaned important context.
PARAPHRASE: MOST USED! Read the information than write it in your own words—this is more than just changing a word or two…

10. ANNOTATIONS (record on the back of your source card)
Annotations provide evidence that you have read and understood your sources, they lend validity to your research, and provide a way for others to decide whether or not this source might be helpful in their research.
Part One: Do this now! Label your source and identify it as primary/secondary. Provide a description of the kind of information you found in the source.
Part Two: As you write your paper…Provide an explanation of how your source was used to support your thesis.

11. This magazine article was a primary source
This magazine article was a primary source. It is a detailed account of the murder of Till as told by his killers, Bryant and Milam. The article provided background information on the happenings of the day and also described in detail the murder of Till. This information was useful to me in my paper because it let me capture the feelings of the time period and his unjust death. I used their first hand account to fully understand the brutality of Till’s murder as discussed in the historical background of my paper.

12. The original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976):
A legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

13. WORK HARD !!!
RESEARCH