For Books:
Is the book recent? If not, is the information I will be using from it likely or unlikely to change over time?
What are the author’s credentials?
Is the book titled toward entertainment, or is it in-depth and even-handed?
Is the book broad enough in its focus and written in a style I can understand?
Does the book relate directly to my tentative thesis, or is it of only tangential interest?
Do the arguments in the book seem sound, based on what I have learned about skillful critical reading and writing?
For Articles from Periodicals:
Is the periodical recent?
Is the author’s name given? Does he or she seem a credible source?
Does the article treat the topic superficially or in-depth? Does it take sides, or does it offer enough context so that I can make up my own mind?
How directly does the article speak to my topic and tentative thesis?
If the article is from a scholarly journal, am I sure I understand it?
When it comes to taking notes, all researchers have their own habits that they swear by, and they can’t imagine any other way of working. We still prefer to take notes on four-by-six-inch index cards, while others use a notebook or a computer for note taking. If you use a citation management program, such as RefWorks or EndNote, you can store your personal notes and commentary with the citations you have saved. Using the program’s search function, you can easily pull together related notes and citations, or you can create project folders for your references so that you can easily review what you’ve collected.
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Whatever method you use, the following techniques should help you maintain consistency and keep organized during the research process:
If you use a notebook or cards, write in ink (pencil gets smudgy), and write on only one side of the card or paper. (Notes on the backs of cards tend to get lost, and writing on the back of paper will prevent you from later cutting up and rearranging your notes.) Consider using an online tool to keep up with your notes and ideas, for instance, a Google Doc, private blog, or wiki.
Summarize, for the most part, rather than quote at length.
Quote only passages in which the writing is especially effective or passages that are in some way crucial. These will be easy to access and use if kept in an online venue.
Make sure that all quotations are exact. Enclose quoted words within quotation marks, indicate omissions by ellipses (three spaced periods: . . .), and enclose within square brackets ([ ]) any insertions or other additions you make.
Never copy a passage, changing an occasional word. Either copy it word for word, with punctuation intact, and enclose it within quotation marks, or summarize it drastically. If you copy a passage but change a word here and there, you may later make the mistake of using your note verbatim in your essay, and you will be guilty of plagiarism.
Give the page number of your source, whether you summarize or quote. If a quotation you have copied runs in the original from the bottom of page 210 to the top of page 211, in your notes put a diagonal line (/) after the last word on page 210, so that later, if in your paper you quote only the material from page 210, you will know that you must cite 210 and not 210–11.
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Indicate the source. The author’s last name is enough if you have consulted only one work by the author; but if you consult more than one work by an author, you need further identification, such as both the author’s name and a short title.
Add your own comments about the substance of what you are recording. Such comments as “but contrast with Sherwin” or “seems illogical” or “evidence?” will ensure that you are thinking as well as writing and will be of value when you come to transform your notes into a draft. Be sure, however, to enclose such notes within double diagonals (//), or to mark them in some other way, so that later you will know they are yours and not your source’s. If you use a computer for note taking, you may wish to write your comments in italics or in a different font.
In a separate computer file or notebook page or on separate index cards, write a bibliographic entry for each source. The information in each entry will vary, depending on whether the source is a book, a periodical, an electronic document, and so forth. The kind of information (e.g., author and title) needed for each type of source can be found in the sections on MLA Format: The List of Works Cited or APA Format: The List of References.
An enormous amount of valuable material is available online — but so is an enormous amount of junk. True, there is also plenty of junk in books and journals, but most printed material has been subjected to a review process: Book publishers and editors of journals send manuscripts to specialized readers who evaluate them and recommend whether the material should or should not be published. Publishing online is quite different. Anyone can publish online with no review process: All that is needed is sufficient access to the Internet. Ask yourself:
What person or organization produced the site (a commercial entity, a nonprofit entity, a student, an expert)? Check the electronic address to get a clue about the authorship. If there is a link to the author’s homepage, check it out to learn about the author. Does the author have an affiliation with a respectable institution?
What is the site’s purpose? Is the site in effect an infomercial, or is it an attempt to contribute to a thoughtful discussion?
Are the sources of information indicated and verifiable? If possible, check the sources.
Is the site authoritative enough to use? (If it seems to contain review materials or class handouts, you probably don’t want to take it too seriously.)
When was the page made available? Is it out of date?