TAKING NOTES AND DOCUMENTING

SOURCES PROPERLY
Several things you need to watch out for.
• Identifying the main idea of the material
• Choosing the relevant ideas for your study
• Developing a system of note taking that works for you
• Putting your own ideas and insights in bullets
• Putting the information in your own words
• Using verbatim sparingly
• Recording the author`s or the researcher`s bibliographic information
Strategies in Note-Taking
• Selective and Systematic- select only materials
that you think will be use to you in the future
when you get to the writing stage. Put your
insights in bullets so that you know that those
are yours. Your insights will be useful when you
do your analysis later.
Strategies in Note-Taking
• Identify the purpose and Function of a text- Read the
title, abstract, or preface ( if there is one) in the material that
you chose. Afterwards, read the introduction or first
paragraph. Skim the text to read topic headings. Read the
graphic material (if any) and figure out its purpose in the
text. Remember that your purpose is to gather as much
materials as you can to get a good grasp of your chosen
research topic
 Strategies in Note-Taking
• Identify how the information is organized- most text are
arranged in a logical order, you can decide later which technique of
organization you would want to adopt.
Some logical hierarchies are:
- Past ideas to present
- Stage or steps of a process or event
- Most important points to least
- Well known ideas to least known
- Simple to complex ideas
- Largest to smallest part of something
- Problems and solutions
- Causes and results
Strategies in Note-Taking
•Include your thoughts- Write your thoughts at
the time that you are reading. Put them in bullets so
that you know that those were your thoughts.
So that you can review your thoughts make sure that
you are inferring a valid thought or conclusion on the
readings that you did.
Techniques to Note Taking
• Summary- to give a condensed and objective account of the main
ideas and features of the text. A direct quote can be used in this
technique. Consist of one to three paragraphs or approximately
reducing the text to 50%. The goal is to omit details that are not
important to your research.
• Do not forget to include the author, the tittle of the text, and the of
publication. Avoid including your ideas or opinions in the text. Save
the opinions at the end of the review of literature.
Techniques to Note Taking
• Précis – It is considered as the blueprint of the text. It
is a shortening of the text, in your own words,
describing the text as accurately and briefly as
possible. The mood of the material is very important
is a precis. Take care not to alter the mood to which
the original material was written.
Techniques to Note Taking
• Paraphrase-Restatement of the text or a passage
without any attempt at reducing the original material.
Its goal is to explain and clarify the text being
paraphrased. No direct quotation is needed, more
detailed compared to summary. Review the paasage,
state the ideas in your own words and define concepts
as necessary. Write for clarity but don’t change the
meaning of the concept, simplify your words.
Techniques to Note Taking
• Verbatim- Putting the copied text in quotation marks.
When you want to capture a passage of more than
four or five sentences, make sure that you out it in
block quotation. Make sure that you acknowledge the
author of the article you are copying when using
verbatim of a technique.