Taking Notes Introduction Creating an early plan Taking notes Summarizing information Paraphrasing information Using direct quotations Talk About It Your Turn

Introduction As you proceed along your research journey, make sure you know where you’re headed so that you stay on the right path. But wait! How can you know that you’re on the right path?

Creating an early plan Before you go on any journey, you need a map. Creating an early plan will help you map out your research route. Remember that your early plan can be revised if you find that you have too little or too much information about your research topic.

Creating an early plan Your early plan will help you answer crucial questions about your research such as What information should I take from my sources? Which information has the most to do with my topic?

Creating an early plan Here is an example of an early plan for a paper on digital music and the recording industry. As you can see, an early plan is like a map for your research and should include Early Plan Topic: The effects of digital music on the recording industry in America Background Overview of technology Availability of free digital music Profit losses for recording companies Impact on artists Legal issues Possible solutions Early Plan Topic: The effects of digital music on the recording industry in America Background Overview of technology Availability of free digital music Profit losses for recording companies Impact on artists Legal issues Possible solutions Early Plan Topic: The effects of digital music on the recording industry in America Background Overview of technology Availability of free digital music Profit losses for recording companies Impact on artists Legal issues Possible solutions Early Plan Topic: The effects of digital music on the recording industry in America Background Overview of technology Availability of free digital music Profit losses for recording companies Impact on artists Legal issues Possible solutions a refined topic subdivisions headings

Taking notes Once you have a plan, you can begin to take notes from your sources. As you read through your sources, look for statistics facts examples expert opinions Focus on information that answers your research questions and fits into your early plan.

Taking notes Statistic: information in numerical form There are nearly five hundred online music services available in more than forty countries worldwide. Fact: a statement that can be proven to be true Digital music piracy is still a major concern for the recording industry.

Taking notes Example: a specific illustration of a general idea Portable digital music players have contributed greatly to the rise of digital music. Expert opinion: the ideas of someone who is an expert on your topic “The record industry today has evolved into a digital thinking, digitally literate business.” —John Kennedy, Chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry

Taking notes As you read through your sources, carefully evaluate the information you find. Ask yourself Does this information fit into my early plan? Will this information help me answer my research questions? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, you should record that information.

Summarizing information Summarizing is a critical note-taking skill. When summarizing information use only the author’s most important ideas put ideas in your own words and use your own sentence structure make your summary only about one-fourth to one-third as long as the original Summarize when you have to remember only the main idea of what you read or heard. Most of your notes should be taken in this format.

Summarizing information Below is an article on the efforts of the University of California to stop music piracy. On the next slide, you will see this article summarized.

Summarizing information Is this an effective summary of the passage? Explain why or why not. NO The University of California, Berkley said it's stepping up anti-piracy efforts. The name of this campaign is Learn before you Burn. Previously, students caught downloading music would be warned. Now, new residents caught illegally downloading music will automatically lose their in-room Internet connection for one week or longer. The University of California, Berkley said it's stepping up anti-piracy efforts. The name of this campaign is Learn before you Burn. Previously, students caught downloading music would be warned. Now, new residents caught illegally downloading music will automatically lose their in-room Internet connection for one week or longer. The University of California, Berkley said it's stepping up anti-piracy efforts. The name of this campaign is Learn before you Burn. Previously, students caught downloading music would be warned. Now, new residents caught illegally downloading music will automatically lose their in-room Internet connection for one week or longer. The University of California, Berkley said it’s stepping up anti-piracy efforts. The name of this campaign is Learn before you Burn. Previously, students caught downloading music would be warned. Now, new residents caught illegally downloading music will automatically lose their in-room Internet connection for one week or longer. uses author’s words includes unimportant details uses author’s words

Summarizing information Consider this summary. How does it differ from the first? UC Berkeley is trying to prevent music piracy by increasing penalties against it and educating students about the dangers of illegal downloading. UC Berkeley is trying to prevent music piracy by increasing penalties against it and educating students about the dangers of illegal downloading. UC Berkeley is trying to prevent music piracy by increasing penalties against it and educating students about the dangers of illegal downloading. uses student’s own words includes only most important ideas is about one-fourth as long as original This is an effective summary.

Paraphrasing information Paraphrasing is another very important note-taking skill. When paraphrasing a source, include both main ideas and details from the original source put the ideas and details in your own words and use your own sentence structure “ ” use quotation marks if you use any of the author’s actual words make your paraphrase about the same length as the original Paraphrase when you need to explain an idea in detail.

Paraphrasing information Here is another article on music piracy. You’ll see this information paraphrased on the next slide. New technology could help squelch digital music piracy A group of technology companies is creating a set of industry standards that could help put digital piracy protections directly into portable disk drives as soon as this summer. The plans are initially likely to affect removable data storage, such as Zip drives or the Flash memory cards used in MP3 players. But the standards could ultimately serve as a way to keep consumers from copying copyrighted files directly onto their hard drives, a daunting prospect for those who download music or videos from the Net.

Paraphrasing information Is this an effective paraphrase of the music piracy article? Why or why not? New technology could put digital piracy protections directly into portable disk drives. This could affect people who download content. New technology could put digital piracy protections directly into portable disk drives. This could affect people who download content. New technology could put digital piracy protections directly into portable disk drives. This could affect people who download content. gives main idea but leaves out supporting details uses the author’s exact words without quotation marks is not nearly as long as the original No, this is not an effective paraphrase.

Paraphrasing information Consider this paraphrase. How does it differ from the first? New technology is being created that will place “digital piracy protections” in portable devices such as Zip drives and Flash memory cards. Eventually, this built-in copy protection could keep people who use the Internet to download music and videos illegally from putting those files on their hard drives. New technology is being created that will place “digital piracy protections” in portable devices such as Zip drives and flash memory cards. Eventually, this built-in copy protection could keep people who use the Internet to download music and videos illegally from putting those files on their hard drives. New technology is being created that will place “digital piracy protections” in portable devices such as Zip drives and Flash memory cards. Eventually, this built-in copy protection could keep people who use the Internet to download music and videos illegally from putting those files on their hard drives. New technology is being created that will place “digital piracy protections” in portable devices such as Zip drives and Flash memory cards. Eventually, this built-in copy protection could keep people who use the Internet to download music and videos illegally from putting those files on their hard drives. uses the author’s exact words in quotation marks uses student’s own words includes the main ideas and details from the passage This is an effective paraphrase.

Using direct quotations Writers use direct quotations when they want to use an author’s exact words in their own work. When using direct quotations Limit your use of direct quotations. Less than ten percent of your research project should be direct quotations from your sources. Copy the material word for word and put quotation marks around each direct quotation. Quote an author directly only when his or her exact words and ideas are important.

Using direct quotations Here is information a student has found through his research. A recent study shows that teenagers are the largest demographic of offenders when it comes to digital music piracy. The results of the study show that 83% of the teens who categorized themselves as music listeners admitted to piracy, compared to 67% of adults from 18–29, and 32% of adults from 30–50. And of those teens, just over half of them said they knew it was wrong. So what is going on here? According to the survey, justifications for this behavior ranged from lack of a steady income, to lack of direct consequences for the actions, to an “everyone else is doing it” mentality.

Using direct quotations Is this an effective use of direct quotation? No “A recent study shows that teenagers are among the largest offenders when it comes to digital music piracy,” maybe because they don’t have a steady income to buy new music, or because they feel like everyone else is doing it. “The results of the study show that 83% of the teens who categorized themselves as music listeners admitted to piracy” and that most of them knew it was wrong. So what is going on here? “A recent study shows that teenagers are among the largest offenders when it comes to digital music piracy,” maybe because they don’t have a steady income to buy new music, or because they feel like everyone else is doing it. “The results of the study show that 83% of the teens who categorized themselves as music listeners admitted to piracy” and that most of them knew it was wrong. What is going on here? “A recent study shows that teenagers are among the largest offenders when it comes to digital music piracy,” maybe because they don’t have a steady income to buy new music, or because they feel like everyone else is doing it. “The results of the study show that 83% of the teens who categorized themselves as music listeners admitted to piracy” and that most of them knew it was wrong. So what is going on here? “A recent study shows that teenagers are among the largest offenders when it comes to digital music piracy,” maybe because they don’t have a steady income to buy new music, or because they feel like everyone else is doing it. “The results of the study show that 83% of the teens who categorized themselves as music listeners admitted to piracy” and that most of them knew it was wrong. So what is going on here? the quotation is not a powerful point quotations are overused the author’s words are not in quotation marks

Using direct quotations Is this an effective use of a direct quotation? The results of the survey showed that some of the reasons teens involved themselves in digital music piracy “ranged from lack of a steady income, to lack of direct consequences for the actions, to an ‘everyone else is doing it’ mentality.” The results of the survey showed that some of the reasons teens involved themselves in digital music piracy “ranged from lack of a steady income, to lack of direct consequences for the actions, to an ‘everyone else is doing it’ mentality.” quotation uses important words from author quotations are not overused This is an effective direct quotation.

Conclusion Now that you have created your early plan and mapped out your research route, you can document your sources. To help yourself stay on track, remember to update your early plan as you go.

Talk About It Discuss these questions with your classmates. How does an early plan help you prepare to write a draft of your paper? How do you decide what to write down when you are taking notes from a source? When does using a direct quotation add to your work? When does it take away from your work? Why is it so important to take accurate notes as you do your research?

Your Turn Read this news clipping; then complete the activities on the following slide. In an effort to steer its students away from piracy, the state university is now offering subscriptions to a popular online music service for an incredibly low monthly fee. In order to offer such a lucrative deal to students, the university had to first negotiate the deal with the service provider. “We were willing to take the risk and lower our prices so drastically in the hopes that it will reduce the amount of illegal file sharing currently occurring on college campuses,” said Christine Marks, the CEO of the company. Marks expressed her hope that this partnership would be the first step towards curbing digital music piracy.

Your Turn Using the article on the previous slide, create: a summary note a paraphrase note a direct quotation note

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