Some Information That Should Be Included on a Notecard

When you are faced with starting a research paper, the near important role of researching and beginning to write is
organizing
the information and your thoughts. If y’all are not organized, it will take considerably more fourth dimension to write the paper. To make it easy on yourself, you can utilise an index carte du jour organization as you gather information. With this method, you categorize the data yous find by topic. For each topic, you could accept whatsoever number of cards from several different sources. Later, equally you write your paper, each card topic becomes a trunk paragraph (supporting idea) in your paper.

Researching

As you detect interesting facts about your topic during your research, y’all should write them downward. Each sentence or thought that you lot find should be
paraphrased
(summarized in your own words), and written on a card. In social club to keep your ideas in order, and to think where you institute the ideas, there are
four items
that y’all should include on the alphabetize card, as you volition see below.
Here is a sample carte du jour:

The
menu topic
is the title for the kind of data on the bill of fare. The
carte topic
is a name that you make upwards yourself. Call back of it as the
title, or
main idea
of the menu. After writing downwardly the information, figure out how you lot could briefly categorize, or championship it. For example, if you are writing a paper on the life and works of the poet, Langston Hughes, y’all may have cards with topics such as:
Hughes’ upbringing Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance Hughes’ influences Hughes’ poetry Hughes’ political beliefs Hughes’ influence on America

Although it may seem tedious to give each note carte du jour a
topic
name, it serves two purposes:

It keeps you focused in your research. You lot will exist less likely to write down unnecessary information (facts that are not related to your topic) if you are careful to write down the topic for every card. It is necessary to have these topics once you begin organizing your inquiry.


The source title is the name of the book, mag, website, etc., in which you plant the information. In the previous example, the
source
was given a
number, instead of writing out the entire title. You lot could write out the title on each menu, or simply list your sources on a separate canvas of paper, like the instance here. Number your sources on this listing, and so use the numbers on the note cards to specify which source provided which fact.

Sample Source List


Remember, this is not a complete works cited, bibliography, or reference page. You will need to add the publication information and apply the correct citation format (APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, etc.) for the formal works cited page. Item number 3 is the
paraphrased
information that you found. Information technology is helpful to
paraphrase, or
summarize, your research on the index cards while yous are taking notes. If you are consistent in paraphrasing at this stage, so y’all will be sure not to accidentally plagiarize someone else’s work. Y’all will also have less work to do when you are actually writing the paper. the image of a notecard with a marker on folio. It is of import to exist accurate with the
page numbers
on your note cards, as y’all will need them for citations throughout your inquiry newspaper. Be sure yous know which form of citation your teacher requires. (For information on citing your sources, look at English Works! handouts on MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian Style citations).


Organizing

One time you have written the information downward on the notation cards, you only need to go dorsum and organize your cards by topic. Group together all the cards that have the same topic (i.eastward. all the cards titled: “Hughes’ Poesy” should exist together). When you finish, you lot should have your cards in piles, ane topic per pile. You tin have whatever number of piles and any number of cards in each pile. The length and detail of your paper volition determine how many piles and cards you take. Your piles may await similar:


Make an Outline and Get-go Writing

Once you have separated your cards into piles, each topic pile should become a torso paragraph in your newspaper. That is the key to this system. If every topic directly supports your thesis statement, so each topic pile should get a supporting idea, body paragraph, or part of a paragraph in your newspaper. But before you lot actually brainstorm writing, you should brand an outline of the order you want to present these topics in your paper. (For help making an outline, run across the English Works web page on Pre-writing and Outlines). Once the outline is complete, utilize your annotation cards as guides and begin writing. For further assist on writing a research paper, refer to the English Works! web page Process of Doing a Enquiry Newspaper, Guide to Developing Thesis Statements, and/or Guide to Writing Introductions and Conclusions.