Note+Taking

Your teacher will ask you to hand up your notes as **evidence** of your research process.

Below are 3 simple note-taking methods:

1. Highlight key words and phrases - you can do this manually with a highlighter pen and paper or electronically within Word documents. Numbering or colour coding the highlighted sections according to the sequence of points/paragraphs you plan to include in your report, will make writing your first draft easier. Then, on your second read through, **annotate** what you have highlighted. This means writing your own short notes in the margins describing why these sections are important to your research. For this type of note taking to be effective, only highlight the most important sentences and key words. Too many highlights make this system difficult to manage.

**or**

2. Create a word document with a 2 column table. Copy'n'paste the chunks of information into the first column. Highlight the key words and phrases and copy only those words and phrases into the second column; formatting them as bullet points. You can if you wish add a 3rd column (switch to Landscape page set-up) and rewrite the bullet points in your own words as part of writing your first draft.

**or**

3. Use an online note taking tool such as [|Memonic]. This is a free tool that lets you highlight important text on any web page and save it into folders (which they call 'sets') to help you organise your research. For example, you could set up sets for all the various aspects of your Research Project and organise your notes as you go. The good thing about Memonic is that once you have set yourself up an account, you can access your notes from any computer at any time. It also automatically records the URL under your highlighted text so that you will always be able to find it again. Read the document below for further instructions:



Taking notes is a checklist that helps you paraphrase and summarise what you read.

Above all, **always record your sources** - to help you find them again and to show the range of sources you have used. It also shows that you are conducting **ethical research** **.**