Cite Sources and Take Notes

Note-taking Tips

1. Organize and Plan

• Organize Notes. Regardless of whether you use index cards or an online note-taking system (like Noodletools), keep all of your notes stored in one, easy‐to‐find location. Color coding notes for ideas or sections of your research will help keep your ideas organized as well.
• Know what kind of facts and ideas you need to record. Your notes should help you answer your research question. Read with this purpose in mind, and you will be able to sort out relevant ideas.
• Know what to look for in your research reading: facts and theories that help answer your question, and other people’s opinions about whether specific answers are good ones.

2. Don’t write down too much

• Each notecard should focus on one topic. Break up topics to make notes manageable, and give each notecard a different title/label so you can easily tell them apart.
• Copy exact words only when the ideas are memorably phrased or surprisingly expressed—when you might use them as actual quotations in your essay. Always use quotation marks around direct quotes from a work, to keep from unintentionally plagiarizing. Also record the author of a quote.
• Otherwise, record important information and ideas in your own words (paraphrasing) . Use bullets to save time.
• Leave space in your notes for comments of your own, questions and reactions as you read, etc. These comments can become a virtual first draft of your paper.