Students recently learned how to take notes for research projects.

Listed here are the main tips they were shown.

Tips for Research Note-Taking

Taking notes in your own words serves two main

purposes: 1. Promotes better

understanding of the information.

2. Helps prevent accidental plagiarism. Unless you

are directly quoting a source, you don’t want to copy info word for word.

Take notes in your own words!

Next to each snippet of information you write down- write down the source.

It helps to also write down the source in the required format immediately upon deciding to use it, it helps you stay organized and saves time later on.

Always, Always Copy Down Sources

Write pieces of information on individual note cards.

Be sure to note the page numbers from which you found information.

It helps to color-code information. I keep a piece of paper with all of my sources on it, and highlight each source in a different color. THEN I highlight the top of each notecard with it’s corresponding source color!

To Stay Organized:

Try not to record information in too much detail- stick to key points and always paraphrase.

If you are using a direct quote, make sure it is important. Quotes should be used for things you can’t word any better than the original source.

Last but not least: Have fun with it! Always pick a topic (if you can) that you have some interest in, so research doesn’t become boring!

Final Pointers