How to Write a Research Paper: Note Cards

Homework Center – Writing Skills

Research Papers Establish your topic. Look for sources of information. Read your sources and take notes. Organize your ideas. Write a first draft. Use footnotes or endnotes to document sources. Write a bibliography. Revise the first draft. Proofread the final draft.

Back from the library and ready to go

Read Your Sources and Take Notes

After you've gathered your sources, begin reading and taking notes.

1. Use 3 x 5 index cards, one fact or idea per card. This way related ideas from different sources can be easily grouped together or rearranged.
2. On each index card, be sure to note the source, including the volume number (if there is one) and the page number. If you wind up using that idea in your paper, you will have the information about the source ready to put in your footnote or endnote.
3. If you copy something directly from a book without putting it in your own words, put quotation marks around it so that you know it is an exact quotation. This will help you to avoid plagiarism. (For more, see What is Plagiarism?).
4. Before you sit down to write your rough draft, organize your note cards by subtopic (you can write headings on the cards) and make an outline.

Check out the differences between these two note cards for a research paper on baseball:

Good note card:

Bad note card:

Back: Look for sources of information

Next: Organize your ideas

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