DIGITAL NOTE CARDS

RESEARCH PAPER

DIGITAL NOTE CARDS• The purpose of note cards in research writing is to help organize your

evidence as you find it. 

• Evidence is anything that supports your thesis

• Esp. quotations, text summaries and facts

• The note card provides all the critical information about that piece of

evidence: 

• where you found it

• how it supports your thesis

• the evidence itself

Research Paper

Research Paper

Research Paper

BENEFITS OF DIGITAL NOTE CARDS

• The great thing about digital note cards is the ease of quickly typing

paraphrases and summaries along with direct quotes.

• When you are ready to insert a quote into your paper, all you have to do is

copy and paste it from the note card into the body of your essay. 

• Also, when the time comes to compile your Works Cited page, you just

copy and paste the source citations from each note card and alphabetize

them on your Works Cited page.  

Research Paper

Research Paper

Research Paper

NOTE CARDS: A minimum of 30 digital note cards filled with informational notes from your sources and the source citation.

Card #Outline position (Roman numeral, letter and title): Source Citation (source # ):

Evidence and page number (quotation, summary, fact):  

How this supports my topic:

English 10

CARD #OUTLINE POSITION (ROMAN NUMERAL, LETTER AND TITLE):

•Number cards 1-30

•You will link this note to a specific point in your outline.

•Leave this blank for now if your outline is not finished or

may change.

•You can fill it in later as you organize your paper.

Research is fun!

SOURCE CITATION (SOURCE NUMBER):

• Following MLA standards, completely cite the source you are using.

• Remember: mel.org provides citations that you can copy and paste.

• HINT: once you write the citation on one note card, you can easily cut

and paste it into any other note cards for the same source.

• Source number: Number your sources in the order in which you

research (minimum of five sources).

• Example: the first source you find and use is source number 1. The second

source is number 2 etc…

Cite using MLA format

EVIDENCE AND PAGE NUMBER (QUOTATION, SUMMARY, FACT):

•This is where you actually take notes.

•If it is a direct quote or data, you can cut and paste (it will need

to be cited as a direct quote in your paper).

•Must use quotation marks for direct quotes.

•Otherwise, you should be summarizing and paraphrasing.

•Don't forget to include the page number(s). “ ‘Google' is not a synonym for 'research'.” Dan Brown (The Lost Symbol)

HOW THIS SUPPORTS MY TOPIC:

•This should be one to two sentences showing

the relationship between this note and your topic.

Make sure that all of your research is

relevant to your topic!

SAMPLE NOTE CARD:Card #1Outline position (Roman Numeral, letter and title): III. A. How capitalism affects the poor. Source Citation (source # 1): Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.

Evidence and page number (quotation, summary, fact): “But—you see, a bank or a company can’t do that, because those creatures don’t breathe air, don’t eat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don’t get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing, but it is so. It is just so.” (p. 41)

How this supports my topic: This quote supports my thesis because it shows how cold and calculating big businesses were to poor people during the depression. For large corporations it was just a matter of profit margins, but for the poor the hunger was real.

Research

Rocks!

I Digital Note Cards!