Sticky Notes

Here's how:

skim through books/articles and use sticky notes to mark sections you want to go back to when you are ready to make formal notes
record keywords, phrases or questions you have. Capturing this spontaneous thinking is important.
when you begin to see trends , similarities or sub-topics in your research, you could use a different colour for each one
same idea, only the colour indicates the source

Below is a Padlet sticky note wall. Sticky notes are grouped by topic. Each sticky note also indicates the source by number. These numbers correspond to numbered entries on the Works Cited sticky note. Right click on a note and then select "Expand Post" to bring it to the foreground.