Once you have gathered together your resource material for your research paper it is time to start taking notes. This seemingly easy task is often times one of the hardest for students to do well. How to determine what to note down and what to ‘ignore’ is not always easy or obvious.  Here are a few tips to help you learn how to take good and effective notes.

The Most Important Point to Remember

The golden rule of note taking is understanding what you are trying to accomplish with your notes.  Often times everything in a book seems important and worthy of jotting down.  This tends to undermine the benefit of taking notes.  You then end up having to take notes of your notes - not a very efficient use of your time.  The real goal of taking notes is to capture that information which you will need to help you put together a quality outline (which you will eventually turn into a rough draft).

In general, this is the type of information that you will want to jot down:

1. The various ideas and positions relating to your thesis
2. Supporting facts, figures and statistic
3. Your Own Opinion and Questions
4. Relevant Biographical Information
5. Citations for Your Bibliography
6. Pertinent Stories and Events

By being aware of the type of information you need to find you will be able to keep your notes manageable.  It will also help you to do better research since you will be aware of what you are looking for when researching your topic.

With that said, let’s understand a bit better what it is you are looking for when researching your topic.

The various ideas and positions relating to your thesis

Whether you are arguing for a particular point of view or writing an overview of a subject, you will need to note the various arguments and opinions relating to your thesis.  Note the pros and cons of each position.

Make sure to paraphrase the ideas contained within rather than quoting them directly (unless you feel that a particular argument should be directly quoted).  By rewriting the ideas you find valuable you save time later on and better understand the ideas that you are paraphrasing.  If an idea or position is attributable to a particular individual then make sure to cite him or her as the source of the idea.

Supporting facts, figures and statistic

In order to build up a solid argument for your thesis you will need to provide useful quotes, facts, figures, stories, etc.  Therefore, when researching your paper you should note these bits of information down whenever you come to them.  However, don’t just note that information which can help you to better argue your position, also be on the look for those facts and figures which can help you to clearly explain and describe to your reader the issues and ideas contained within your paper.

Here is a list of possible information that you can use in your paper:

• Research data
• Important dates
• Pictures and diagrams
• Definitions of difficult terms or concepts
• Relevant Quotes

Your Own Opinions and Questions

Make sure to also note down your own ideas, thoughts and questions on your topic in general and on your notes in particular.  Don’t assume that you remember these ideas later on, jot them down now while they are fresh in your mind.

If an idea makes sense to you note why that is so.  If a particular argument seems weak then explain why.  Furthermore, if you don’t understand something or you don’t think that a particular position makes sense, note that down too.  A good question is as valuable as a good argument or idea.

Don’t underestimate the importance of your particular perspective.  In some ways, this is the heart of your paper - your take on the subject at hand.   Furthermore, by spending the time to develop your own ideas on the topic you will deepen your understanding of the various facts, figures and arguments that you encounter in your research.

Relevant Biographical Information

Ideas, facts and figures don’t exist in a vacuum - they come from particular people and organizations (some of whom are more trustworthy than others).  Therefore, it’s not enough to simply note who says what, but you also need to research and write down a short biography on your sources.  Note, in particular, any information which either establishes or undermines the value of their opinions or information.

Citations for Your Bibliography

When researching your subject make sure to note your sources as you go along. This makes creating a bibliography much easier later on (not to mention that it prevents you from accidentally plagiarizing other works). If possible, note your sources in the same format as your (future) bibliography. Again, this will save you time later on as your bibliography will be half-finished by the time you need to write it.

Making the Most of Your Notes

Good note taking skills doesn’t depend solely on knowing what to take notes on, but also understanding how to take notes.  Here are a few helpful suggestions:

Keep Different Types of Notes Separate and Distinct

As we noted above, there are different types of notes - notes for you bibliography, notes for your supporting arguments, etc.  Try and keep these notes separate and distinct so that you can easily access them later on.  For instance, writing your bibliography will be much simpler if you have all your citation notes in one place (as opposed to having to sift through all of your notes to find all of your citations).

Review, Edit and (Re)Organize Again Your Notes

While you take notes you will want to organize them intelligently - that is to say, in a way that will allow you to easily review and utilize your notes later on.  Then, once you have finished taking notes, review and analyze them.  Try to logically (re)organize your notes (this is easier if you take notes on a computer).  At the same time pare down your notes to the most important and valuable information.

By properly organizing and editing your notes you will make it much easier to produce a quality outline and first draft of your paper. For this reason you shouldn’t be worried about taking too many notes the first time through (so long as you don’t go overboard and write everything down as a note).  The first time through your goal is to note any and everything that may be of assistance to your note taking goals (see above).  The review process is then designed to turn those notes into a powerful resource tool for your paper.

Note the name of your source and page number so that you can easily return to your sources later on when reviewing your notes.

Often times we need to reread the original source when reviewing our notes.  For instance, if you don’t readily remember why you found a particular piece of information valuable.  By properly noting where you found something you can quickly and easily review the context surrounding your notes.

Don’t get bogged down by sources that you don’t understand

Often times you will not understand a particular idea or argument that you read when researching your paper.  This is only natural - particularly if you are new to a topic.   Create a section of your notes that relates solely to difficult to understand points and ideas.

Later on, when you have time, you can review those points with your professor, fellow student or any one else who may help you to understand them.   Don’t, however, get bogged down now during the note taking process with trying to understand them.   You don’t want to get side tracked.

If, after attempting to properly grasp the material, you find that you just can’t understand this particular source then don’t use it - even if it seems important.  You will only get yourself into trouble as you inevitably demonstrate your lack of comprehension of this particular point.

Understand Your Source Material Before You Start Taking Notes

While some people are able to take good notes as they read something for the first time, most of us need to have a decent grasp of the material before we figure out what we want to do with it.  If this describes how you best work then make sure to properly read and analyze your resources before you start taking notes.  You can, if you wish, make a brief note about information that you want to return to and take proper notes on later on.  But only do this if it doesn’t detract from your ability to properly understand what you are reading.

It’s true that this method takes a bit more time, but it pays off tremendously in the (not so) long run.

The 8 Steps to Writing a Great Research Paper

1. Pick a good, well-focused topic that you are interested in
2. Determine the goal and/or purpose of your paper
3. Gather together the best resources available on your topic
4. Study and take notes of your resources
5. Turn your notes into a well-organized outline
6. Write a rough draft
7. Revise (over and over again) your rough draft
8. Get feedback from friends, colleagues and experts (then rewrite again)

All Tutorials in This Series

1. How to Write a Great College Research Paper
2. How to Choose a Topic for a Research Paper
3. How to Narrow the Focus of Your Paper Topic
4. How to Determine the Purpose of Your Paper
5. How to Research a Topic
6. How to Take Notes for Your Research Paper
7. How to Write an Outline
8. How to Write a Rough Draft
9. How to Revise a Rough Draft
10. Getting Feedback on Your College Paper
11. Make the Effort to Write a Great Paper