1. How to take notes for a research paper:

2. 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.

3. 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

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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
Once you have the source information, then you may begin to take notes.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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