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Last updated 24 July, 2007

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How to Take Notes from Sources 

There are three ways you can take notes from your sources: summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. To be efficient and thorough at the same time, you should use all three methods while working on a research paper. That way, you're not spending too much time copying a lot of long quotes, nor are you forsaking excellent quotes that could really strengthen your paper.

Say you are writing a paper on the cultural impact of the Harry Potter books and you're taking notes from the attached article.

• First, remember to record the bibliographic information. Do this for every source you use. Whether you write the citation at the top of your notebook page or create a whole note-card for it, make sure you get all of the bibliographic info before you have to return the book to the library! Check The Little Brown Essential Handbook for Writers Part VI, Chapters 39-42 for the proper ways to cite different types of sources. Unless otherwise instructed you will use the MLA (Modern Language Association) style for your essays at Head-Royce.

Example: Motoko Rich. "Potter Magic Has Limited Effect On Youngsters' Reading Habits. " New York Times [New York, N.Y.] 11 Jul 2007, Late Edition (East Coast): 1. New York Times Online Edition. 24 July 2007. <www.newyorktimes.com>

• Whenever you write down any information from your sources, remember to note the page number(s) that you're using. Otherwise, you might not be able to cite the information correctly in your paper.
  
• Summarizing means taking the most important point from this paragraph and putting it into your own words. What if you wanted to summarize the first paragraph of this article?

Example: Adults have concluded that the success of the Harry Potter novels has led to a newfound love of reading in children. (Rich)

• Paraphrasing means translating the author's main points into your own words (not just summarizing one overall point). Here is how you could paraphrase the same first paragraph summarized above.

One supposed positive outcome of the Harry Potter phenomenon is how it has influenced children's reading habits. Many adults conclude that Rowling's novels have motivated children to seek fun from reading rather than from technology. (Rich)

• Quoting entails accurately copying important excerpts of the original source and placing quotation marks around the material. That way, when you write your paper, you'll know that those words are the original writer's, not your own.
  Note: Sometimes, you have to change some parts of a quotation so that it will make sense in the context of your paper. Use ellipses (. . .) when you take words out of a quotation; use brackets ([ ]) when you insert your own words.

Example: "Before Harry Potter, it was virtually unheard of for kids to queue up for a mere book. Children who had previously read short chapter books were suddenly plowing through more than 700 pages in a matter of days" (Rich). Example: "But some researchers and educators say that the series, in the end, has not permanently tempted children to put down their Game Boys and curl up with a book instead. Some kids have foud themselves daunted by the growing size of the books . . . . Others say that Harry Potter does not have as much resonance as titles that more realistically reflect their daily lives" (Rich).

• If you're quoting a person who is quoted in the source you're using, there's a special citation you need to use. Say you wanted to use the quote from Dana Gioia in the fourth paragraph of the article.

Example: "[The Harry Potter craze] got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading" (Dana Gioia quoted in Rich).

• Last but not least, stay organized. If you're using a notebook, make sure it's clear when the notes from one source end and the notes from another source begin. If you use note-cards, make sure you keep the cards for each source clipped or staple together.

Exercise: Say you wanted to take notes on the seventh paragraph of the attached article (starting with "Young people are less inclined to read. . . .").

How would you summarize that paragraph?

How would you paraphrase the writer's main points?

Which quotations would you pinpoint as the most helpful, revealing parts of the paragraph? Copy them down, making any appropriate changes.

About These Guidelines:
These guidelines were originally created as handouts by
The English 9 Team (Tim Carroll, David Enelow, Anne Farnham, Crystal Land, Andy Spear, Carl Thiermann, Margaret Yee) for the 9th grade I-Search Project

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