Making and Organising Notes

Making notes is an important part of selecting and analysing information. Follow the steps below, or if you prefer a more visual method of assembling information about a topic, try a graphic organiser.

Follow these steps:

Preparation

Break your topic into its logical parts to form a topic plan.
Have your topic plan handy, so you can check it and add to it when necessary.
Know basically what you are looking for, but be prepared to expand your concept of the topic and improve your topic plan as you discover more information.

Making and organising notes

Start a new page or section for each part of your topic.
Rule a 3cm margin so you can write down helpful ideas that occur to you about how you can use or organise the information you have recorded. Page numbers for the resources used can also be very helpful for re-finding and checking text.
Scan the information resource to check that it is useful. Look at the title, chapter or section headings, illustrations and captions. Read through chapter summaries or look for keywords and phrases at the beginning of major paragraphs.
Write down the full details of each resource on a draft bibliography page before you take notes, so that you can easily create an entry in your bibliography later. Skim through a section at a time to make certain that the information is valuable - look for keywords and phrases.
Write down the minimum words needed to capture the key idea of each point. Do not write sentences.
Only make notes about points that are both relevant and valuable to your topic. Re-read your assignment directions to make sure.
Look for supporting evidence for your points if appropriate.
Use your own words as far as possible. Do not copy sentences word for word.
Making notes is an important part of selecting and analysing information.

Example notes page for a research assignment on the disease malaria. The notes pages have been divided up for the parts of the topic, according to the topic plan:

Source	Description
World Book p. 80	Dangerous parasitic disease / serious large scale health problem tropical, subtropical areas / caused by microscopic oganisms 'plasmodia' transmitted by bite female anopheles mosquito / 4 types - different types of plasmodia
Encyc. of family health p. 993	One of most infectious diseases / modern air travel/tourism have increased problem / on increase in many parts of world / difficult to eradicate - changing mosquito populations / people can become partially immune, just get occasional fever - organisms stay in the body
Source	Symptoms
World Book p. 80	1 week after bite / victim suffers chills, fever, muscular aches, nausea - lasting 2 hours - recurs every 48 hours / body slowly weakens - die if untreated - 2-3 million die each year
Encyc. of family health p. 994	3 stages - cold chills, high temerature, profuse sweating / also flu-like symptoms plus vomiting and diarrhea / anemia, enlargement of liver and spleen

The notes from the second source consulted should add to the information already found in the first source. With your notes recorded and organised in this way it is easy to combine the notes from different sources into sentences and paragraphs in your draft report or essay.

Example of draft:

Introduction

Malaria is a life threatening disease that is a major health problem in many parts of the world. This assignment will present a study of this menacing disease. The first section looks at a general description of the disease and its symptoms. This is followed by information about the history of the disease, its causes and treatment. Finally, the assignment looks at the current situation and what the future may hold with regard to possible global eradication of the disease.

Description

Malaria is a highly infectious, parasitic disease that is mainly found in the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The disease is caused by microscopic organisms called plasmodia, which are transmitted into the human bloodstream by a bite from the female anopheles mosquito. There are four different types of malaria, which vary in their seriousness and depend on the type of plasmodia present. In many parts of the World the disease is on the increase. This situation has arisen because malaria is difficult to eradicate, as it depends on the spread of mosquito populations and because it can become a problem in other areas due to the increase in tourism to infected areas.

Symptoms

The symptoms of malaria have three stages. During the first stage the infected person experiences cold chills...

Steps to follow

Example of Draft

Graphic Organisers


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