The Patient Scholar

Reflections on Learning and Teaching

Sun, 26 Oct 2003

English 101

This may seem a bit remedial, but I have been having trouble working out how best to use source material I have gathered for the proposal. I have decided to draw on instruction given in The Macmillan College Handbook, 2nd ed., by Gerald Levin. I have taken the following outline from chapter 40.

  1. Collect sources pertinent to your topic.
  2. Sort the sources into groups (an initial outline of the paper is useful in this regard).
  3. Create further groupings of the sources within the main groups (for example, one source may only be understood if preceded by another source).
  4. Take notes on the sources.

Taking notes on the sources is composed of two tasks:

  1. Create a bibliography card. This card will contain the full bibliographic information of the source (including, as I remember Booth et al., location information [e.g., library and call number, etc.])
  2. Create the note. The note will be a direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Accompany notes with thoughts, analysis, or initial interpretation of the source.