II.E. NOTE CARDS

        Taking notes has several purposes. A manageable system of index cards separates those impotant facts, ideas, statistics and quotations from the rest of the material and puts this information in a form that is convenient to use. Instead of piles of books and underlined xeroxed copies to shuffle through, all necessary information is literally in hand as you begin to compose.
        An index card system promotes organization. Index cards allow only small bits of information per card. Therefore, the cards can be ordered and reordered into a logical order before the paper is written.
        Another consideration is that note cards (properly done) provide the writer with all necessary information for citations of direct quotations or paraphrases. Your note cards contain the facts, statistics, quotes, paraphrases, ans ummaries that you will use to build the paper. Four by six inch or five by eight inch cards are suggested. Limit your writing to one side.
        Make sure that direct quotations are copied accurately and use quotation marks to distinguish them from paraphrases and summaries. When paraphrasing information, be careful not to take material out of context, twist the interpretation to suit your own conclusion, or use the exact wording of the author. This will help you maintain accuracy and avoid unintentional plagiarism.

Each note card must include four pieces of information for identification:

1. The last name of the author.  The first name is necessary only if you are working with books by two authors of the same last name. No title is necessary unless you have two books by the same author.
2. The page number.  The page number is very important for citation information when you write the rough draft.
3. The topic.   A one word summary or subject heading is placed in the upper right corner, under the code. This is sometimes referred to as a "slug". All information on the card should be about that topic only. If information about one subject from one source must be continued on several cards, repeat the heading and abbreviated source identification on each card and number them consecutively. These summaries or headings will help you to group cards on the same subject from different sources and to organize the paper when you write the draft.
4. Code number to help cross-reference notes to book.  Each note card must be connected to a specific book. One way to do that would be to write the title of the book on every note card. But that is far too much work. Therefore, researchers use a code system.