Content Literacy
Creating and Organizing Notes with NoodleTools (updated R. Musco 2-2017)
Information literacy topics:
Taking notes
Organizing source citations
References
Using technology tools
Objective: To understand and define the concept of a research “citation”, and to use a web citation generator (EasyBib) to create citations and bibliographic references, and organize notes.
Creating and Organizing Notes in NoodleTools
Introduction:
Brainstorming and discussion: What is a note? What is the purpose of taking notes?
Purpose of notes: Your notes should be focused on information RELEVANT to your topic.
A. Recording empirical facts (facts that can be proven)
B. Recording author’s opinions and conclusions
C. Recording your own synthesis of facts or author’s conclusions
Examples:
It is unreasonable to believe that people who have lived in two states, and so might still be registered to vote in both, ever actually try to vote more than once.
A 2012 study found that while more than two million people were registered to vote in more than one state, no evidence was found that these people actually voted more than once.
There is not a single study that shows that actual voter fraud--meaning votes being cast by people who are not--is more than a mathematically insignificant number of the total votes.
1. Create a new note in NoodleTools.
1.a. If you are in “Sources”, click on the “Notecards” tab.
If you are on the “Projects” page, click on your practice project to get to the “Dashboard” tab. Once there, click on the “Notecards” tab.
1.b. Click “+New” to create a new note.
1.c. Write a “Title” that represents the basic idea of your note.
1.d. Choose one of your source citations from the dropdown menu.
1.e. Cut and paste a “Direct quotation”, a “paraphrase or summary”, or an original “My idea”.
1.f. Take the time to create a well-written note NOW, that could get slotted right in your paper.
1.g. Be sure to add a “Tag” which should represent the specific topic or theme of the note. Be specific, because you will use tags to group similar notes together. Tags with more than one word should be in quotes.
1.h. Click “Save and Close”.
1.i. Create a second note in the same way for the same article, or another article. You need two notes for the next step. You may find that one note obscures the other on the desktop; just drag it off.
2. Group notes together by common topics/themes.
2.a. Drag one note on top of the other, and release it to create a “Pile” (terrible name).
2.b. Name your “Pile” . A “Pile” name can be a category/theme/topic that both notes address. We are pretending that the two notes deal with the same specific topic.
2.c. Click OK.
2.d. Create two more new notes, and make a new “Pile”.
3. Convert notes to outlines.
3.a. Click the “Add+” button to create a few headings. You can change the name of topics by double-clicking, and rearrange the hierarchy by dragging and dropping.
3.b. Now DRAG one of your piles, or loose notes, right on top of any outline heading on the right until the heading is highlighted, and DROP it there. It will now appear as a note in that heading of the outline. You can rearrange the notes in the outline by dragging and dropping.
4. Export or print notes.
4.a. On the Notecard desktop, click “Print” to export your saved notes.
4.b. Notice the export options. Choose one, and practice downloading exported notes. Note that choosing Google requires signing into your Google account.
8. Cite your sources within your paper. How? See notes in the Citations instructions.
