The Note Card System

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The Note Card System
Adapted from http//depts.gallaudet.edu/englishwor
ks/writing/notecard.htmlorganization

• Once you have finished your preliminary research
  you must organize the information and your
  thoughts.
• To make it easy on yourself, use the index card
  system.

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In order to keep your ideas in order, and to
remember where you found them, there are four
items to include. Although they are numbered
1-4, we will look at them out of order.
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3.  Main information

• Use three methods of taking notes (information)
  from your sources
• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing
• Quoting

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Main Information, continued

• Paraphrasing means to put in your own words. Make
  sure to
• shorten the information and make it more clear.
• have coherence demonstrate understanding.
• change at least every third word.
• Use paraphrasing most.

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Main Information, continued

• Summarizing is like paraphrasing, just shorter.
• Try paraphrasing the lead sentence of the
  paragraph.
• Then simply list the ideas of the paragraph.

• Direct quoting. Use for
• Conciseness
• Memorable language
• Accuracy/Authority.

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Main Information, continued

• If you are consistent at this stage
• You will save time when it is time to write the
  paper.
• You will be certain not to accidentally
  plagiarize someone else's work.
• You will choose the topics for each note card
  later.

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Main Information, continued

• You have index cards with two different colors.
• Choose one color for historical background and
  one color for effects.
• Decide which one of the categories your main
  information fits into, then put your info onto a
  card with that color.

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 4. Page numbers

• You will need page numbers on your note cards for
  citations throughout your research paper. Use
  them even when you are not quoting directly.
• Websites generally do not have page numbers. You
  may write N.P.

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2. Source number

• Refers to the book, magazine, web cite, etc., in
  which you found the information.
• Using the numbers from your working bibliography,
  specify which source provided the information on
  the card.

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Workingbibliographysheet

• Remember!
• Your working bibliography is not a complete works
  cited page. You will still need to use correct
  MLA citation format for the formal works cited
  page.

Source Numbers!
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1.  Card topic

• With this method, you categorize the information
  you find by topic. For each topic, you could have
  cards from different sources.
• For the research paper, we also divided your
  cards by color one color for history and one for
  effects. Topics are smaller divisions within
  colors.

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Card Topic, continued

• You make up the name of the topics think of them
  as the main idea of the card.
• Make the titles after you make all your note
  cards.
• You should have about 5-6 topics for a five page
  paper. That means (generally) about two cards for
  each topic.

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Card Topic, continued

• For example, if you are writing a paper on the
  poet Langston Hughes, you may have topics such
  as
• Hughes' upbringing
• Hughes and the
• Harlem Renaissance
• Hughes' influences
• Hughes' poetry
• Hughes' political beliefs
• Hughes' influence on
• America

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Card Topic, continued

• It may seem tedious to divide note cards into
  topics but it serves two purposes
• It keeps you focused in your research.
• Each card topic will become a body paragraph in
  your paper.