Researching and Organizing Your Paper:The Note Card System

ORGANIZING - the most important part of researching and beginning to write is the information and your thoughts.

The index card system is a method you use to categorize the information you find by topic.

For each topic, you could have any number of cards from several different sources.

Later, as you write your paper, each card topic becomes a body paragraph (supporting idea) in your paper.

Researching

As you find interesting facts about your topic during your research, you should write them down.

Each sentence or idea that you find should be paraphrased (summarized in your own words), and written on a card.

In order to keep your ideas in order, and to remember where you found the ideas, there are four items that you should include on the index card.

Note Card

Note Card Information

The card topic is the title for the kind of information on the card.

The card topic is a name that you make up yourself. Kind of like the title, or main idea of the card.

After writing down the information, figure out how you could briefly categorize, or title it.

For example, if you are writing a paper on the life and works of the poet, Langston Hughes, you may have cards with topics such as: Hughes' upbringing Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance Hughes' influences Hughes' poetry Hughes' political beliefs

Note Card

Note Card Information

The source title is the name of the book, magazine, web cite, etc., in which you found the information.

The source is given a number, instead of writing out the entire title. You could write out the title on each card , or simply list your sources on a separate note card.

Number your sources on the source note card, and then use the numbers on the note cards to specify which source provided which fact.

Note Card

Note Card Information

The third item on the card is the paraphrased information that you found. 

It is helpful to paraphrase, or summarize, your research on the index cards while you are taking notes.

If you are consistent in paraphrasing at this stage, then you will be certain not to accidentally plagiarize someone else's work.

You will also have less work to do when you are actually writing the paper.

Note Card Information

Page numbers on your note cards, as you will need them for citations throughout your research paper.

Be sure you know which form of citation your teacher requires.

For information on citing your sources, look at English Works handouts on MLA, citations.

Note Card

Bibliography Cards

MLA FORMAT - Reference Format - "Works Cited" List your sources in an alphabetical order according to the

author's last name. If no author is listed, begin with the main word of the article or

book title (ignoring A, An, or The). Underline the title of books, magazines, or journals. Quote the title of articles, or any other work that appears within

a publication. Format each entry with a hanging indent. A hanging indent

means that the first line of the entry remains flush with the left margin, and the subsequent lines are indented 5 spaces to the right. Your word processing software will provide this feature easily.

The order of each entry is as follows: -- Author. "Article." Title of Book. City Published: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Bibliography Card – One Author, Book

Start Organizing

Once you have written the information down on the note cards, you only need to go back and organize your cards by topic.

Group together all the cards that have the same topic (i.e. all the cards titled: "Hughes' Poetry" should be together).

When you finish, you should have your cards in piles, one topic per pile.

You can have any number of piles and any number of cards in each pile.

The length and detail of your paper will determine how many piles and cards you have.

HOW DO I PREPARE A FORMAL OUTLINE FOR A RESEARCH PAPER?

A research paper is similar to a short argument paper in that there are usually anywhere from three to five major supports for your thesis statements.

However your major supports are now explained in a whole section (one to three pages)

Each major support (section statement) should be followed with several supportive paragraphs similar to the way in which you would organize a short argument paper.

No outline can be created without the student deciding what the thesis statement will be.

The thesis statement is the conclusion to your research question. Once you have a thesis statement, you can begin your outline.

An outline can sometimes be created by putting the thesis statement in front of you and then brainstorming all the reasons why this statement is true or valid.

Remember that most students are not writing a report; instead they are defending, validating, or supporting their argument.

Simply asking yourself, "Why is this thesis valid?" and then jotting down all the possible reasons the thesis may be defensible can give you a good start on an outline.    

Outlining

Brainstorming list: Note the following items are not in logical order as yet.

Reason: Tobacco companies created advertising campaigns to appeal to teenagers.Reason: Through research the tobacco companies have learned that the earlier a smoker starts the longer he or she is likely to smoke. Reason: Tobacco companies have offered a lot of promotional freebies that would appeal to teens, such as T-shirts and jackets, to further promote tobacco products to adolescents. Reason: Research alerted tobacco companies that they needed to target younger consumers. Reason: Tobacco companies created some cigarette products to appeal to teens by creating new brands that by name or chemical content of the tobacco would appeal to adolescents. Reason: Tobacco companies created advertising characters to appeal to teenagers.

Thesis Statement

Reason 1: Through research tobacco companies have learned that the earlier a smoker starts the longer he or she is likely to smoke. Reason 2: This research alerted tobacco companies that they needed to target younger consumers. Reason 3: Tobacco companies created some cigarette products to appeal to teens by creating new brands that by name or chemical content of the tobacco would appeal to adolescents. Reason 4: Tobacco companies created advertising campaigns to appeal to teenagers. Reason 5: Tobacco companies created advertising characters to appeal to teenagers. Reason 6: They have offered a lot of promotional freebies that would appeal to teens, such as T-shirts and jackets, to further persuade adolescents to smoke.

Revised Brainstorming List in Logical Order

Outlining

Roman Numeral Format I.

II.A.

B.1.

2.

a.

b.

Outline

 I. Introduce the issue or problem in research paper and state the thesis

statement.  A. Use capital letter headings to explain what points you will cover in your

introductory section.   B.    

II. Use the Roman numerals in your research outline to represent the major reasons why--section statement--the thesis is valid.

A. Use the capital letters in the outline to state what you will do in each paragraph to support the section statements.) B.         

1.Use the Arabic numerals in the outline to tell what details you will include in each paragraph of a specific section to support the section statement.   

2. 

Outline

When typing an outline using Roman numerals, be sure that the periods after the Roman numerals line up because the number of spaces to type different Roman numeral characters varies. If you do not line up these periods following the Roman numerals and the Roman numerals themselves, your outline will not be spaced correctly at other levels. The sections after the capital letters and the Arabic numerals will not line up.

Outlining

The next step in creating an outline is to start assigning Roman numerals to major sections. 

After assigning Roman numerals to major sections, which are the major reasons why your thesis is valid, you must begin to develop each section as though it were a separate argument paper using the capital letters for the paragraphs in each section and the Arabic numerals to explain what details will be used in each paragraph. 

Outline

 III. This research alerted tobacco companies that they needed to target younger consumers. 

IV. Tobacco companies created some cigarette products to appeal to teens by creating new brands that by name or chemical content of the tobacco would appeal to adolescents. 

V. Tobacco companies created advertising campaigns to appeal to teenagers. 

Outline

VI. Tobacco companies created advertising characters to appeal to teenagers. 

VII. They have offered a lot of promotional freebies that would appeal to teens, such as T-shirts and jackets, to further persuade adolescents to smoke. 

VIII. (Conclusion should restate section statements and show how the section statements prove the thesis is logical. Be sure to restate the thesis in the conclusion. Also, do not introduce new materials in your conclusion.)