Hints for Taking Notes During Research

1. Use only the front side of your note cards or graphic organizer. This will make it easier for you to organize your information when you begin writing your paper or creating your final project.

2. Write a heading or a title on the top of each card or page. You may have several cards or pages with the same heading. This makes it easier to organize the information for your paper.

3. As you read the information for your research, briefly summarize in your own words. Try to stay away from writing complete sentences for notes. Put a bullet at the beginning of each piece of information. Just make sure that each piece of information you write down is related to the title or heading on the top of the paper or card.

4. Use a new page or card for each new heading or topic and for each book or resources.

5. If you are using separate note cards, each of your bibliography cards should have a number. Whenever you complete a note card, write down the number of the bibliography card from the source you used for notes. Write this number in the lower right-hand corner of the notepaper or card. This information will also be helpful for organizing information and for writing any endnotes.

What your note pages might look like…

Bibliographic information for these notes Bibliography Card #	Heading or Title or Topic Notes from one source More notes from the same source Even more notes from the same source Just another idea from the same source Bibliography Card #
Bibliographic information for these notes Bibliography Card #	Heading or Title or Topic Notes from one source More notes from the same source Even more notes from the same source Just another idea from the same source Bibliography Card #

Note Card Format