Step 6: Information Note Cards & Extending Outline

Step 6: Information Note Cards

NOTE CARD REQUIREMENTS: 75 (20 for each point, 10 for refutation, 5 intro/conc)

Once the student has collected, targeted, read and highlighted useful material, it is time to move important supporting material onto note cards. Note cards serve four basic purposes:

1. Documenting borrowed material (body of the card)
2. Organizing the supporting information by topic (heading)
3. Identifying the information source for borrowed materials (source number in corner)
4. Confirming the accuracy of borrowed information to avoid plagiarism

Procedure for writing note cards:

1. Upper left corner: topic heading
2. Upper right corner: source number
3. Lower left corner: author’s last name or first main word of title
4. Lower right corner: page or paragraph number
5. Middle: one idea from the source using exact wording from source
6. Optional: personal observations, comments, or questions in brackets

Efforts to reform spelling 1

President Theodore Roosevelt was a proponent of a revision scheme known as simplified spelling. In 1906 he began using some of the three hundred novel spellings suggested by a group called the Simplified Spelling Board, including “dipt” for “dipped,” “rime” for “rhyme,” and “tho” for “though.”

Wolman p. 4

Step 6: Extending the Preliminary Outline

The extended outline, when complete, will reflect the entire structure of the paper, including the order in which the supporting topics are presented. The time spent on the extended outline will facilitate the writing process.

Step 1: Organize your note cards by topic.

Step 2: Organize your note cards logically within your topics. (What pieces of information make sense together? In what order do they make sense?)

Step 3: Format your outline.

1. Everything should be 12 point Times New Roman Font.

2. Everything is double spaced.

3. Type your thesis at the top of the page.

4. Make a header with your last name, first initial of your first name, and page number (use lowercase roman numerals).

5. Never have a single sub-point. For every A, you must have a B. For every 1, you must have a 2.

6. Capitalize the first word of each line.

7. Keep numbers and letters under each other by indenting

8. Make a phrase outline, not a sentence outline.

9. Label the main points with Roman numerals (I, II), the next most important topics with capital letters (A, B), the next point with numerals (1, 2), etc.

10. Place a period after each symbol, and NEVER after each point.

Title: Subtitle

I. Introduction

A. Hook

B. Background/Significance

C. Thesis statement

II. First point of thesis

A. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

B. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

II. Second point of thesis

A. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

B. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

III. Third point of thesis

A. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

B. Supporting point

1. Detail

2. Detail

IV. Refutation/Alternate viewpoint

A. First opposing point

B. Second opposing point

C. Rebuttal

V. Conclusion