Note Card Method for Research

• For each source, you will have a source card and then several note cards

• The source card will help you locate the source if you want to look at it again and help you create your bibliography later on

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Example of Source Card

Ciardi, John. “Robert Frost: The Way to the Poem.” Saturday Review. 12 April 1958: 13-15t.

Periodical

Types of Notes

• Quotation Note:– Use when you want a quotation, author’s exact

words in quotes with page number– When you’re not sure whether or not you’ll use

author’s actual words– Choose author’s words for• Accuracy• Authority• Conciseness• Vividness

Example of Quotation Note

Ciardi 15

“Can one fail to sense by now that the dark and the snowfall symbolize a death-wish, however momentary, i.e., that hunger for final rest and surrender that a man may feel, but not a beast?”

• Paraphrase or Summary Note– Paraphrase restates an author’s ideas in different

words– Its purpose is to clarify or interpret a passage– Summary condenses the information– Double-check your note to make certain you

haven’t accidentally plagiarize

Example of Paraphrase Note

Ciardi 65

Frost often said to Ciardi and in public lectures that after working all night on a long poem, he remembered the experience and wrote down the poem as it flashed into his mind.

• Outline note– When only factual information is taken from a

source, rough notes in outline form can be enough

Example of Outline Note

Ciardi 14

Questions the poem raises—What is speaker’s errand?Why describe the owner of the woods?Why did the speaker stop?

• Combination note– Contains both quotation and summary– Encourages the blending of quoted material with

the writer’s (your) own words– Be careful to close quotations– Quote brief passages rather than long blocks of

material

Example of Combination Note

Ciardi 13

This poem, which is “one of the master lyrics of the English language,” appears to be a simple narrative, but it suggests deeper meanings.

• Personal Note– Write reminders to yourself on note cards– If you have a connection or point for analysis that

you do not want to forget, write it down on a note card!

Example of Personal Note

Check letters to the editor—how much protest?What did Frost think of Ciardi’s article?Check biographies.

Let’s try one as a class!