Taking notes and quotes

Taking notes on scraps of paper, without complete and accurate reference to the citation, is a recipe for disaster. Frequently researchers find that despite their best efforts, they have copied a citation incorrectly, or incompletely, and are now unable to locate the source. It is always easier to locate the correct information if you know where you copied it. In some cases (commonly when the reference is from a book chapter), it may not be possible to relocate the reference without this information, and usually not in the time frame required.

Margie Wallin (Health Science Liaison Librarian) comments on a common experience of 'poor' information management

It is worthwhile interpreting your notes as you go along, so that they are not merely
a transcript of what you have read, but contain an intellectual element.
This not only helps with your later writing, but also reduces the danger that you have unknowingly plagiarised another author's work. In writing your dissertation or research report, you need to have linked and integrated any such ideas and concepts with your personal knowledge framework. Barzun (1992) suggests that you get into the habit as early as possible of performing this transformation. His suggestion is that you look at the work in a qualitative rather than quantitative way,

"... think of it in this way: am I simply doing a clerk's work or am I assimilating new knowledge and putting down my own thoughts?"

You might also want to add notes regarding the usefulness of the reference, or add keywords to represent areas covered which may not be immediately obvious from the title or source (e.g. chemical names, processes, theories, methodologies, relevant chapter in thesis, software etc.). Once again, these could become useful 'hooks'!

It is also handy to establish a consistent format for recording names, to prevent the occurrence of several versions of the same name. This is particularly important where there may be more than one entry for the same author (see examples below).

R.F. Samuels
Bob Samuels
Bob F. Samuels
Robert Samuels
Samuels, R.F.
Samuels, Bob etc

A good rule is to include as much information as possible!

It will save you time if you can remember to keep accurate records for:

• notes you have taken, including citation and page numbers,
• where you located each citation, and
• the search strategies you have used