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Introduction
Once you have found your sources, you will want to make sure you gather and organize your notes and information for writing your paper. This process can be overwhelming, but it is a crucial aspect of effective research and writing. On this page, you’ll follow along as one professor shows you her own note-taking process. You’ll also learn to organize your notes to help you synthesize your sources. Finally, we’ll talk about when to save direct quotations.
Taking Notes
You may wish to take notes directly on your sources or you may wish to use a note-taking program. This video shows some examples of how to organize your notes so you are ready to write!
One Instructor’s Note-taking Process
There are lots of online programs to help you take notes. It’s helpful to find one that will let you search and tag your notes. Using a program that stores your notes in the cloud can help so that you never lose your material.
The video above shows you how to use Evernote. You might also consider Notability, OneNote, or Zoho. There are lots of note-taking programs, and the Writing Program does not require everyone to use the same one. Find something that works for you!
Note-taking tips
- Put things in your own words to help you process the information, especially if you are summarizing
- Put citation information in your notes to avoid accidental plagiarism
- Put quotation marks around any direct wording you write down from a source
- Tag your notes with topics so that you can easily find them later
Another Instructor’s Note-taking Process
Note-taking tips
- Collect your sources in a dedicated folder
- Use the Table of Contents feature to organize your notes
Synthesizing Sources
Some assignments will ask you to synthesize information from multiple sources. This skill is key for a large research paper. If you have tagged your notes, that is a good first step because you can already see topics that go together.
Another trick is to make a chart, or what North Carolina State Writing & Speaking Tutorial Services calls a “Synthesis Matrix.” To do this, list your subtopics on the left side of your table and your sources on the top of your table. Then jot down some notes on what each source said about each topic. Remember, not every source needs to deal with every topic. However, if you find that only one source deals with a topic, you probably either need a broader topic or some new sources.
Download this Synthesis Matrix Template; add to the table to create your own Synthesis Matrix!
Saving Quotations
When should you save direct quotes in your notes? That depends on the type of paper you are writing. If you are writing a paper where textual evidence is very important, then saving direct quotes is very important. However, if your paper involves a broad overview of the topic, you may end up doing more summary in your note-taking.
One tip is to look for particular ways of saying things that you can’t replicate. For example, if you wanted to compare how different authors defined artificial intelligence, comparing some direct quotes would help you do this. However, if they all define it similarly, you may be able to paraphrase the definition and put multiple sources in your citation. It just depends on what you find in your research!
Remember, you can always change a quote from your notes into your own paraphrase later. Just don’t forget the citation!
Summary
Taking notes is an important part of doing research. Consider it the bones of your paper. You can tag your notes or work on synthesizing your sources as a part of your note-taking. The more you do at this stage the easier it will be when you start drafting your project!
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