Sample Note Card
A note card is used to keep track of all of the information you find during your research. You will make a note card for each piece of information you find during the research process. Ultimately, the note cards you create will become the body of your research paper. It is important to create really great note cards now; this will make it very easy to write your paper late, because a bulk of the work will already be done!
This is the information you will need to create a proper note card:
*A label/topic heading for the note card. This is the topic of the piece of information (the ‘note’) on the card. For example, if I am writing my paper of Lou Gehrig and the information on my note card is going to be about his accomplishments, the label/topic heading would be something like ‘Lou Gehrig—Accomplishments.’
*A piece of information. This will be the main part of the note card. This is the information you find during your research that is relevant to your research topic. You should include only a small amount of information per card. If you copy the piece of information directly from a source, you need to put quotes around it. You should also include the page number you retrieved the information from; this will make it easier to find the information if you need to go back and look at it.
*The Source Symbol. This is the symbol you have chosen for the source where you got the information from. This symbol will go on all of the note cards that you create with information from that particular source. This will keep all of your information organized. If you ever have to refer back to the source, you will know exactly which one you got the information from. The symbol could be anything: a star, a heart, a circle, etc.
*Source Information. Along with the source symbol, it is also a good idea to include the author’s last name and a page number for the source you retrieved the information from (if available). You will ensure that you (or your teacher) will be able to go back and find where you found your information easily. These pieces of information will also help when you need to do your in-text citations for the paper.
**Use the Note Care Checklist to make sure that you have included all of the appropriate information on your note cards.**
Sample Note Cards
Here’s an example of a note card from the book I am using for my research on Lou Gehrig: