How to Create Note Cards

1. How to Create Note Cards

2. Necessity of Note Cards • Your note cards should contain all the facts of your paper. Once you have the note cards, there is no need to continue looking through your research sources. • Organized note cards will result in an organized paper; sloppy note cards will result in a sloppy paper.

3. Note Card Process • 1. Find a fact in a source (book, encyclopedia, magazine, website) that will be helpful for your research project. • 2. Figure out the main point.

4. Note Card Process (Continued) • 3. Summarize, paraphrase, or copy the direct quote onto your note card. • If you summarize or paraphrase you MUST put the material into your own words. • Remember: you must give proper credit to the author if it is a direct quote!

5. 4. Write the number of the source on the top center of the note card. Remember, your sources are numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.). 5. Write the page number of the source on the bottom center of your note card. 1 Many people enjoy the powerful jazz music of the 1930s even today. 13

6. Organization 6. Organize your cards! They should be organized into the order in which the facts on the cards will appear in the paper. Consider your outline and organization/order!

7. Sample Note Card 2 (2nd source) • Emily Bronte changed the role of narrator in literature. 22 (It is from p. 22)

8. Types of Note Cards • Direct Quotation • Paraphrase/Summary

9. Use Direct Quotations when: • the author has phrased something particularly well. • the words express a meaning as no other words could. • an authority has concisely stated an opinion relevant to your topic. Creating Note Cards with Direct Quotations

10. Direct Quotations: How do I do it? • 1. Copy the quotation exactly as you see it; this includes spelling and punctuation. • 2. Be certain the quote still makes sense within the context of your paper! • 3. Don’t forget to introduce the quote! (Pack it and unpack it.) • 4. You MUST surround the item with quotes and include an internal citation!

11. Give it a shot! • Create a direct quotation note card: • First source from Time • Page 1; Written by Doris Kearns Goodwin • “As the years have passed, Eleanor Roosevelt's influence and stature have continued to grow. Today she remains a powerful inspiration to leaders in both the civil rights and women's movements.”

12. How did you do? • 1 Source number “As the years have passed, Eleanor Roosevelt's influence and stature have continued to grow. Today she remains a powerful inspiration to leaders in both the civil rights and women's movements.” Direct quote Page number 1

13. What is paraphrasing? A paraphrase is a detailed restatement of a source’s important ideas. • It reflects order, tone, and emphasis. • You will paraphrase MOST of the time. • Exclude your own opinions and interpretations.

14. Paraphrasing: How do I do it? • Read the excerpt carefully. • Determine the author’s purpose/ main idea. • Put the idea into your own words. • Read what you’ve written to ensure it reflects the author’s main idea/ purpose of the excerpt.

15. Give it a shot! Create a paraphrased note card. • “Dr. Weisskopf was one of the first physicists to warn of the possible dangers of atomic research. In 1939, he and Leo Szilard, another atomic physicist, recommended that physicists keep secret their findings on nuclear fission instead of publishing them in academic journals, out of fear that the information could help Nazi scientists build atomic weapons.” • New York Times; Page 1 • Second Source

16. Paraphrasing: How did you do? Source number 2 • For fear of Nazi misuse, Dr. Weisskopf, a pioneer in the development of atomic research, kept information about nuclear fission secret. Paraphrased idea Page number 1

17. The End • It’s question time! • ?