The Note Card System
Adapted from
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/notecard.html#organization
Once you have finished your
preliminary research you must
organize the information and your
thoughts.
To make it easy on yourself, use the
index card system.
In order to keep your ideas in order,
and to remember where you found them,
there are four items to include.
Although they are numbered 1-4,
we will look at them out of order.
3. Main information
Use three methods of taking notes
(information) from your sources:




Paraphrasing
Summarizing
Quoting
Main Information,
continued

Paraphrasing means to put in your
own words. Make sure to:
• shorten the information and make it
more clear.
• have coherence – demonstrate
understanding.
• change at least every third word.

Use paraphrasing most.
Main Information,
continued

Summarizing is like paraphrasing,
just shorter.
 Try
paraphrasing the lead sentence
of the paragraph.
 Then simply list the ideas of the
paragraph.

Direct quoting. Use for:
 Conciseness
 Memorable
language
 Accuracy/Authority.
Main Information,
continued

If you are consistent at this stage
 You
will save time when it is time to
write the paper.
 You will be certain not to
accidentally plagiarize someone
else's work.

You will choose the topics for each
note card later.
Main Information,
continued

You have index cards with two
different colors.
 Choose
one color for historical
background and one color for
effects.
 Decide which one of the categories
your main information fits into, then
put your info onto a card with that
color.
4. Page numbers

You will need page numbers on your
note cards for citations throughout
your research paper. Use them even
when you are not quoting directly.

Websites generally do not have page
numbers. You may write N.P.
2. Source number
Refers to the book, magazine, web cite,
etc., in which you found the information.
 Using the numbers from your working
bibliography, specify which source
provided the information on the card.

Working
bibliography
sheet
Remember!
 Your working
bibliography is not a
complete works cited
page. You will still
need to use correct
MLA citation format
for the formal works
cited page.
1.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
______________________________
2.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
______________________________
3.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
______________________________
4.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
______________________________
5.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
______________________________
Source
Numbers!
1. Card topic

With this method, you categorize the information
you find by topic. For each topic, you could have
cards from different sources.

For the research paper, we also divided your
cards by color: one color for history and one for
effects. Topics are smaller divisions within colors.
Card Topic, continued

You make up the name of the topics; think
of them as the main idea of the card.


Make the titles after you make all your
note cards.
You should have about 5-6 topics for a
five page paper. That means (generally)
about two cards for each topic.
Card Topic, continued
For example, if you are writing a paper on the poet
Langston Hughes, you may have topics such as:






Hughes' upbringing
Hughes and the
Harlem Renaissance
Hughes' influences
Hughes' poetry
Hughes' political beliefs
Hughes' influence on
America
Card Topic, continued

It may seem tedious to divide note cards
into topics but it serves two purposes:


It keeps you focused in your research.
Each card topic will become a body
paragraph in your paper.