Note-Taking Techniques

Note-taking
Techniques
1. Quoting
• Quotations must be identical to the original, using a
narrow segment of the source. They must match the
source document word for word and must be
attributed to the original author.
Note: Use direct quotations only if you have a good reason.
Most of your paper should be in your own words.
Reasons for Quoting
• To show that an authority supports your point
• To present a position or argument to critique or
comment on
• To include especially moving or historically significant
language
• To present a particularly well-stated passage whose
meaning would be lost or changed if paraphrased or
summarized
Reasons for Quoting
• To show that an authority supports your point
• To present a position or argument to critique or
comment on
• To include especially moving or historically significant
language
• To present a particularly well-stated passage whose
meaning would be lost or changed if paraphrased or
summarized
Example (Short quotation)
• Menard (2002) characterizes language as “a social
weapon” (p. 115).
• Hertberg (2002) notes that “treating the

Constitution as imperfect in not new,” because of Dahl’s
credentials, his “apostasy merits attention” (p.85).
Example (long/block quotation)
2. Paraphrasing
• -putting a passage from an author into “your own
words.”
• Your own rendition of essential information and ideas

expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
• Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
• Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
• Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision
using this material.
• Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately
expresses all the essential information in a new form.
• Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have
borrowed exactly from the source.
• Record the source (including the page) so that you can credit it easily if you decide
to incorporate the material into your paper.
Example
"Paraphrasing is a very important skill for most English
tests."
"For many tests of English, being skillful at

paraphrasing is extremely important."
Making sense…
Notice how the paraphrased version (sentence 2)
changes some vocabulary (e.g., “extremely” for
“very”), changes the word order (e.g., “tests of
English” for “English tests”) and changes the
grammar (e.g., “being skilful at paraphrasing…” for
“Paraphrasing is a very important skill…”)
These are the three main ways to paraphrase and
by combining all of these methods, you can achieve
clear and accurate paraphrased sentences
Method 1: Use Different Vocabulary with the
Same Meaning
Method 2: Change the Order of Words
Method 3: Use Different Grammar
3. Summarizing
• involves putting the main idea(s) into your own
words, including only the main point(s).
• Summaries are significantly shorter than the original
and take a broad overview of the source material.
Example
• The original passage (the quote):
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in
taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations
in the final paper. Probably only about 10% of your
final manuscript should appear as directly quoted
matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the
amount of exact transcribing of source materials
while taking notes.
Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed.
(1976): 46-47.
Example
• An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct
quotation from sources to help minimize the amount
of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
Example
• So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don't
Want To
by Roger Sipher
Acknowledging
sources
Citation and reference
• A citation tells the readers where the information
came from. In your writing, you cite or refer to the
source of information.
• A reference gives the readers details about the
source so that they have a good understanding of
what kind of source it is and could find the source
themselves if necessary. The references are typically
listed at the end of the lab report.
The name-and-year system
• Citations: When you cite the source of information in the
report, you give the names of the authors and the date of
publication.
• References: The sources are listed at the end of the report

in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first
author, as in the following book and article.
No authors
• Use the title in place of author. Shorten title if
needed. Use double quotation marks for title of an
article, a chapter, or a web page. Use italics for title of
a periodical, a book, a brochure or a report.
• the observations found ("Arctic Voyage," 2014)
• the book Vitamin Discoveries (2013)
Two or more authors
• Within the text use the word and. If the authors'
names are within parentheses use the & symbol.
• Cole and Dough (1998) argued ...
• ...if they were left to their own devices.(Cole &
Dough, 1998)
Three to five authors
• Include all authors' last names the first time the
citation is used. If you use the same citation again
within the same paragraph, use only the first last
name followed by 'et al'. If you used the citation
again omit the year.
• First time: Cole, Dough and Ferris (1998) explained...
• Second time: Cole et al. (1998) proved ...
• Third time: Cole et al. demonstrated...
Six or more authors
Include only the last name of the first author followed
by "et al."
• (Wasserstein et al., 2010)
Groups
• Spell out the name in full the first time and
abbreviate subsequent times only if abbreviation is
well known.
• First time: American Psychological Association (1998)
explained...
• Second time: APA (1998) proved ...
Fabrication,
Falsification,
& Plagiarism
Research Misconduct
• “Fabrication” is creating data or results without
conducting research and reporting the data as
gathered through accepted research practices.
• “Falsification” is manipulating research materials,

equipment, processes or altering data in order to
misrepresent the research record as something other
that what is true.
Research Misconduct
• “Plagiarism” is defined as the unacknowledged use,
as one's own, of work of another person, whether or
not such work has been published.

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Note-taking

• Hertberg (2002) notes that “treating the

• Your own rendition of essential information and ideas

"For many tests of English, being skillful at

• References: The sources are listed at the end of the report

• “Falsification” is manipulating research materials,

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