Because your entire research paper depends on the accuracy of your research process, when you take notes MAKE SURE YOU DO IT CORRECTLY. USE the information provided here and in your texts about taking notes and your research process. Whether or not you write a good research paper is largely dependent on the quality of your note taking; plagiarism is primarily a matter of poor note taking, and plagiarism in your research paper would result in a failing paper.

How will you use the note cards? In brief,

• You will use the questions in your working outline to locate information.
• When you find information that answers one of the questions, you will record that information on a note card by paraphrasing, quoting, summarizing, or a combination of these.
• When you've answered all your questions sufficiently, you will plan your final paper by organizing your note cards and putting together an outline for your paper which is based on the content of your note cards. Note cards also help you quickly see if you have taken enough notes and are ready to start writing.
• You will then write your first draft, taking the information directly from your note cards to build the text of your paper. (Your original sources are not used here; you write from your note cards.) It is very easy to write the paper since you do not have to juggle sources or stop to paraphrase. You simply read what is on the note card and incorporate it into your paper.
• When you use information from a note card, you will immediately reference it in your paper using the source note on your note card. This avoids plagiarism problems from mis-referencing and saves you have to search around for your citation information.

What needs to be referenced in your paper?

Everything. Every piece of information that you get from your sources will need to be referenced. "Well," you say, "that's going to be just about everything." Yes, it may be. If you are researching a topic that you didn't know much about, most of the information you collect will be new and will need to be referenced. When you write a report research paper, you are reporting on what you find from your sources, and whatever goes on your note cards will need to be referenced in your paper. Don't worry if it seems that just about everything in your paper will need to be referenced; that is the nature of your situation.

A common misconception students have is that only quotes need to be referenced. This is a absolutely not true!! Every piece of information from your sources--whether quoted, summarized, or paraphrased--needs to be referenced. The only information from your note cards that doesn't need to be referenced is your own personal comments.
 
 

Use the guidelines stated here as the definitive guidelines to supplement the information in your text, pp. 338-43; in the case of a discrepancy between this handout and your text, this handout supersedes what the book tells you.
 

Use index cards. Index cards make it easy to sort and organize. They are easy to work with. And they tend to remind you not to record huge segments of information from your sources.

Use ink. Ink is more permanent and easier to read. Pencil smudges and can cause problems. Pencil vs. pen won’t affect your grade for note cards as long as they are readable.

Write on one side of card. If your note is a bit longer than will fit on one side, clearly mark OVER, or something similar, before writing on the back side. Often finishing a note on the back is better than trying to staple two cards together. Clipping cards together doesn’t work well.

One source per card. Absolutely. No exceptions. DO NOT put notes from more than one source on a single card. It will only complicate things when you write your paper, and invites mis-referencing problems.

One item per card. Yes! This will prevent some potential major problems later on. This doesn't mean you are limited to one sentence per card; be reasonable, but putting separate ideas on separate cards makes organizing your ideas easier later on when you write the paper.

Identify the source precisely. Put a source ID in the upper right hand corner of the card. This should be exactly what is needed for your in-text citation; when you present the ideas on the note card in your paper, you use this source note as your citation. If it is correct on your note card, it will be correct in your paper.

Author and page number are the basics for MLA. Use your bibliographic citation to make sure your source note is accurate. This will help you avoid plagiarism problems and will save you a great deal of time when you write your paper. Use the Little, Brown Handbook for accurate citations.
Note: Don't put MORE than you need in your source note--it takes extra time and gets in the way.

Label each card. Your "slug," or subject heading (p. 339, #3), will go in the upper left hand corner of each note card. Keep it brief but specific to the card’s content. Although it may seem a logical thing to do, do not use your preliminary outline labels (Example: II.A.) since they will probably change and become useless (and for some other reasons).

Write a full note. Make sure your notes are complete enough to make sense to you a month from now. And yet, it is a good idea to record information in fragments and in lists, when feasible. Many plagiarism problems stem from using full sentences to paraphrase your sources. Using fragments often helps you record ideas "in your own words" more accurately.

Be especially careful when you quote not to just plop down a quote by itself (a naked quote). At the very least, identify who said it; provide a context for it. If you "quote out of context" on your note card, you may not know how to use that quote later when it comes time to write your paper. By the way, follow your book's advice on quoting, and do as little as is necessary. ABSOLUTELY be accurate when you quote. When you do quote, quote correctly. RULE TO FOLLOW: Copy EXACTLY when you quote, and enclose the quote in quotation marks; the only way you can change a quote is as explained in the pages from your texts.

Use quotation marks when quoting. Use them, and use the correctly. NEVER record a quote without quotation marks and tell yourself you will remember later that this was a quote!!

Put your comments on separate cards. Page 339, #4, refers to including your own comments on a note card. I caution you to avoid this; later, when you use this note card, there may be confusion over what was yours and what came from the source, leading to referencing problems in writing your paper.

To avoid problems, consider yourself a separate source. When you get an idea while you are researching that can go in your paper, fill out a note card with your idea and name yourself as the source. Don't try to save all your thoughts in your head; it gets crowded up there.

Keep everything. Even the note cards you ultimately don’t use in writing your paper.  You may find you need some of it later.