EVALUATION  OF SOURCES AND NOTETAKING

 

EVALUATING YOUR SOURCES

You should weigh your evidence at every step in your research.  Your sources might include a wide variety of items: books, articles, Internet sites, interviews that you have performed  with persons connected to the topic, photographs, and so on.  Not every source is equally reliable and accurate.  Be on the lookout for potential bias.  For example, the official web sites of the National Rifle Association or the American Civil Liberties Association  will be accurate on some points but slanted in others.  Or consider the memoirs of Richard M. Nixon, wherein he reminisces about Watergate.  Nixon’s memoirs could be very valuable in some respects, but you will need to check them against other sources and determine which parts should be kept or rejected. 

Whenever you read a book or article, try to find out anything you can about the credentials of the author and the reputation of the press (in the case of a book publisher) or the periodical (in the case of a newspaper or magazine).   When you read a book, you should be able to discern the level of research that the author performed.  For example, consider two biographies of Joan of Arc.  One is by a reputable medieval historian who has studied the topic for many years, traveled to the locations about which he writes, consulted relevant documents in archives, and read sources in their original languages.  The other is by an amateur who apparently has never traveled to France, gives few footnotes or endnotes, cites no archival sources.  Which book will probably be the more valuable for you?

In short, don’t automatically believe everything you read or hear.  Whenever possible, try to corroborate important facts found in one source with at least one other source.  Regardless of your topic, it is unlikely that all your primary and secondary sources will agree on every point.  If the discrepancies are important, take not of them in your paper.  Mention that “A” and “B” maintain one thing, while “C” and “D’ argue something else.  Your job then is to give your reasons for a) siding with “A” and “B”,   b) siding with “C” and “D”,  c) concluding that both sides make some valid points, or d) deciding that the evidence is so confusing that no clear inferences can be reached.

NOTETAKING

The most important point to make about notes is that you must take them!  Unless you have a photographic memory that also has a built-in cataloging system, you won’t be able simply to read some books and articles and then write your paper from memory.  Nor can you sit down to write a paper and merely have a series of books and photocopies articles scattered across your desk for consultation.  You can’t write a good paper unless you have already done the hard work of going through all written materials, analyzing the parts that relate to your topic, and taking notes.

How should you take notes?  Each person has his/her own system.  Some take them on 3 x5 or 4x6 cards; some take them on sheets of paper or in notebooks; some put their notes on computer; some take extensive notes in the margins of books and articles (providing, of course, that the books and articles are not library property).  Whatever your system, your notes should share these characteristics:

·                      They are accurate.  (You want your name spelled correctly, and you want to be quoted accurately. Thus you should do the same for people about whom you are writing.)

·                      They are well-organized.  When you reach a particular sub-topic within your paper, you’ll want to be able quickly to retrieve all the notes relating to it.

·                      They give the name of the source and the page number.  Weeks later you won’t want to spend hours trying to find the page number where you found a juicy quotation.

·                      They are analytical.  When you take notes, don’t just copy down what you’ve found in a book or article.  If you have a particular thought about something you have just read, jot it down.  Be sure on your note to distinguish between what the source says and what your own thought is.  If you jot down your thoughts as you take notes, you’ll be making things easier for yourself when the time comes to write the paper.

 

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