Taking notes from sources , footnotes and endnotes

Presented by

Ahmed A Hashim
Taking notes
No one can remember all the material they read , or keep Expert's A's opinion straight from
B's opinion . That is why you need to take notes .For very brief research papers , you can
usually gather information without taking notes , but with longer , more complex research
papers ,you will have to make note cards to handle the flow of information efficiently .

Why to take notes?

The purpose of note- taking process extends

beyond merely having all your raw material hand as you prepare to write. is to end up with
note cards that contain the essence of the material you have revised.

1) Being able to have copies of key sources at hand when your writing is fine, but it
does not eliminate your need to know your support material thoroughly.

2) You need to take note cards to handle the flow of information efficiently , figure on
making note cards ,

with any research paper more than a page or two long.

(Anthony C .Winkler and Jo Ray Metherell) suggest the following

steps
 1- It is preferable to use index cards 4*6 because it is easy to handle and easy to
arrange. This size is considered ideal because you do not want cards so small that
you cannot fit anything on them or cards so large that you will end up wasting most
of the space The benefit of the index cards is to see the key words on your topic.

2) Write in ink rather than pencil so that the cards can be shuffled without blurring the notes.

3- Write down only one idea or one quotation on each card . Cards with one single note
can be put in any sequence simply by shuffling . If a note is so long that

two cards have to be used , staple them together

4- Identify the source of the note in the upper left- handed corner of the card . Because
the bibliography card already lists complete information on the source , use only the
author's last name or keywords from the title followed by a page number . For
example '' Fulop- Miller , 10'' or '' Holy Devil 10, '' to identify a note taken from page
10 of Rasputin , the Holy Devil by Rene Fulop – Miler.

5- Jot down in the upper right – hand corner of the card a general heading for the
information the card contains . These headings make it easy to organize the notes by
shuffling the cards. (write the headings in pencil so that you can change the notes)

 Using your computer to take notes is especially handy for filling your ideas by
the major entries of your outline. For instance if Roman numeral I of a
research paper of a civil disobedience covers famous writers who favored that tactic, you
might create a folder titled '' pro civil disobedience'' within that general folder you could
nest individual files about writers like Plato .for this system to work you had better be
prepared to organize carefully.

 If you use computer for note – taking , we recommend that you device some
sort of labeling system to keep track of your notes where you found them .
One simple thing you can do is number each note sequentially. Another is to
insert beside the note more or less the same information that you would have
scribbled on a note card.

 After the note or before it , type in parenthesis either the complete name of the
source or enough key words from its title to identify it , After the title of the
source , put the relevant page number – where in the book or article or other
source the material appears, because you would have a bibliography card on
each source you do use. You do not need the complete reference listed here If
you do that , you save yourself having to retype

the citation earlier . All you have to do is to copy and paste the note into the bibliography

Most researchers who prefer copying to using note cards do not use bibliography cards
unless an instructor requires them , many instructors in fact , do , but few instructors do not
.They prefer copying to note- taking since copying is easier, you simply place the page on
the
copy machine plate , insert a coin , press a button – and you have your source ,
photocopying seems a painless than scribbling down on a note card.
A couple of suggestions if you are in the mood to use a copy machine rather to copy by
hand

a) Always write down details about the source on the top of the page immediately after
copying it .Get in the habit of photocopying the source's pages that include the
necessary bibliographic pages.

b) Be neat about the pages you copy . pages are bigger and messier than notes- cards
and many researchers who copy end up with a tangled snarl of unmanageable pages .
If you do not carefully note from where you copied a

source , you are likely to end up with an orphaned page

1-Writing Summary Notes

The summary note describes and rewrites the source material without great concern for style
or expression. Your purpose at the moment will be quick, concise writing without careful
wording. If the information is needed, you can rewrite it later in a clear, appropriate prose
style and, if necessary, return to the source for revision. Use summary notes for these
reasons:

• To record material that has marginal value

• To preserve statistics that have questionable value for your study • To note an
interesting position of a source speaking on a closely related subject but not on your
specific topic
 • To reference several works that address the same issue, as shown in this example:
The logistics and cost of implementing a recycling program have been examined in books
by West and Loveless and in articles by Jones et al., Coffee and Street, and Abernathy.

Success with the summary requires the following:

1. Keep it short. It has marginal value, so don’t waste time fine- tuning it.

2. Mark with quotation marks any key phrasing you cannot

paraphrase

2-
Parphrasing

According to (Laurie ,Rozakis .2007 )paraphrasing is the restatement of the original's words
. It often includes examples and explanations from the original quotations. A paraphrase
may be longer than the original , shorter than the original , or the same length. Paraphrase is
the most difficult of form of note taking . As a result , it is where beginning writers and most
likely to commit plagiarism- using someone's else words as their own . You can avoid this
by quoting words you copy directly and being very sure that you do indeed restate the
material in your own words.

You should paraphrase

1) material that readers might otherwise misunderstand. 2)Information that is important but
too include in the original form.
3-Taking direct quotation
direct quotation is word for word , you copy the material as exactly it appears in the
source . If there is an error in the source , you even copy that , writing (sic) next to the
mistake . showing that a note is a direct quotation by surrounding it by quotation
marks('' ''). In general quote briefly when you take notes . Long quotation is difficult
to integrate into your paper , because readers often find long quotations hard to follow
and boring to read.

What should you quote?

1) quote key points . these are passages that sum up the main idea in a pithy way.

2) Quote subtle ideas : look for passages whose meaning would be watered down
or lost if you summarized or paraphrased them .

3) quote expert opinions : they carry weight in your paper and make it persuasive.

4) Quote powerful writing : if the passage is memorable of the famous , it will give
your research

paper authority

4-Mixed quotation and paraphrase or

summary note
car
d

According to (Edward Bailey ,1978)You need to be very

careful when you are paraphrasing or summarizing that you don't accidentally quote

key words of phrases without using quotation marks ,presenting the exact words of an
author even as little as a key word or phrase without giving credit is plagiarism.
Whether it is intentional or unintentional , plagiarism must be avoided. According to
her the researchersuperscripted number , just after a paraphrased piece of information
. Subsequently, a cross-reference to this number is inserted at the bottom of the same page .
In fact, for dissertations and thesis , many writers use footnotes to keep track of their
citations, adding a short note of what exactly each one adds to the paper . Footnotes must be
placed , or at least must begin , on the page where they are referred to [indicated by a
superscript numeral in the text]. The text and footnotes are separated by a short rule. Each
footnote must begin on a new line , indented the same amount as paragraphs in the text .

Footnotes are
usually single –spaced , with a blank line between notes. Either of two styles may be
followed in numbering footnotes
.The simpler one is to use numerals on the line followed by a period, as in the first example .
The older style is to use superscript numerals like footnote numbers in the text , without
punctuation .The Turabian
they make an easier transition from the text to citation than do footnotes and arranged
sequentially in relation to where the reference appears in the paper. Like footnotes, endnotes
Serve two main purposes in a research paper:1) acknowledge the source of quotation,
paraphrase, or summary. 2) Choose endnotes when your footnotes are so long or numerous
that they take up too much space on the page, making your report unattractive and difficult
to read

What is the difference between footnotes and endnotes in Chicago writing style ?

The Chicago writing style was created for reference citations for your research papers . The
Chicago Manual of Style, divides citations into notes and bibliography entries . Notes are
either footnotes or endnotes; the only difference between the two is their placement in your
research work . Footnotes are found at the bottom of a page (i.e. in the footer) and endnotes
are located at the end of a complete document, or

sometimes at the end of a chapter or section .

A footnote is often a more abbreviated extension of an in- text citation while endnotes often
provide thorough details about the reference.

Advantages of using footnotes

1 – Footnotes are easier to read .

2- Readers are interested in identifying the source or note can quickly glance down
the page to find what they are looking for .

3- It allows the reader to immediately link the footnote to the subject of the text

4- Footnotes are automatically included when printing off specific pages.

Disadvantages of using footnotes

• many readers ignore substantive footnotes on the principle that information is

not important enough for you to include in the text, is not important enough
for them to read in a footnote.

• Footnotes can clutter up the page and , make it difficult to read.

• Adding a lot of information in one footnote may dominate the page and
distract readers from the main subject .
 • If there are multiple columns , charts or tables short footnote will be lost and
need to be moved to another place

Advantages of using endnotes

1- Endnotes are not distracting as footnotes because endnotes are usually located in a
separate part of the paper.
2- Readers can check all detailed and supplementary information in one located section
of the paper .

3- Readers can read all notes at once .

4- Endnotes do not clutter up the page .

Disadvantages of using endnotes

1- Readers must go to another part or section to get details information and this could be
distracting .

2- Using endnotes can be confusing sometimes if there are different chapters .Readers
might need to be able to find the correct endnote.
3-. Endnotes force readers to flip to the back of the paper or of each chapter to check every
citation. If you include substantive comments in endnotes readers may ignore them because
they cannot tell without turning back which notes are substantive and which only cite
sources
 Endnotes should be prepared as follows

(Anthony C .Winkler and Jo Ray Metherell) suggest these steps

■Begin the endnotes on a new page with the heading “Notes”

(centered).
■ Indent the first line of each note five spaces or one-half inch. Subsequent lines should
be flush with the left margin.
■ Number each note consecutively, with a space after the number. Use a full sized
number followed by a period.

■ Double-space throughout the list, and number all pages .

Footnotes should be prepared as follows :

- Begin every footnote on the page on which you reference it .

- Put a short rule between the last line of text and the first footnote on each page .

– If a footnote runs over to the next page, break it in midsentence , so that readers do not
think the note is finished and overlook the part on the next page .

– If you have more than one footnote on a page , begin each subsequent note on its own
line , with a blank line before it . see figure 1
Shortened Notes
(Turabian ,2007)suggests that shortened note should include enough information for readers
to find the full citation in your bibliography or in an earlier note. The two main choices are
author-only notes and author-title notes. In many fields, writers use the author-title form for
all shortened notes; in others, writers use the author-only form for most shortened notes, but
the author-title form when they cite more than one work by the same author. If a source does
not have an author (or editor), you can use a title-only note.

An author-only note includes the author’s last name and page numbers

(or other locator), separated by a comma and followed by a period

Harriet Murav , Music from speeding Train: Jewish Literature in post Revolution
Russia(Standard University Press , 2011) , 219 . Murav ,Speeding Train, 220. Or Murav,
220.

Ibid.
Ibid. is short for the Latin term: Ibidem ''in the same place.'' It can be used in footnotes or
endnotes in place of repeating all the bibliographic information for a citation. It may only be
used if it refers

to the data that appears in the immediately previous note.

Examples:

30. Buchan , Advice to Mothers, 71.

31. Ibid.,95.

32. Ibid.
In notes, ibid. should not be italicized; at the start of a note, it should be capitalized. Since
ibid. is an abbreviation, it must end with a period; if the citation includes a page number, put
a comma after ibid. If the page number of a reference is the same as in the previous note, do
not include a page number after ibid. Do not use ibid. after a note that contains more than
one citation, and avoid using ibid. to refer to footnotes that do not appear on the same page

Numbering the notes

In the text, use elevated (superscript) numbers for note references. All notes should be
numbered consecutively throughout the paper (1, 2, 3, and so on). Most word processors do
the numbering automatically. Note numbers are not followed by periods or enclosed in
parentheses. . They follow all punctuation marks except the dash, with no space before the
number Whenever possible, the note should come at the end of a sentence. Numbers set
between the subject and verb in a sentence are distracting. The primary rule: Place the note
number as near as possible to the end of cited material

Wrong William Faulkner12 used Yoknapatawpha County as a microcosm of the South as a

whole.

Right William Faulkner used Yoknapatawpha County as a microcosm of the South as a

whole.12
Sample footnote references to books
The accepted format for footnotes (or endnotes) consists of the following: the author’s name
in normal order, the title of the work in italics or underlined, full publication information
within parentheses, and appropriate page numbers. The first line of the note is indented five
spaces or one-half inch. All the examples are given in footnote format, with single-spacing.
They can easily be converted to endnotes by double-spacing within each note and between
and use of italics or

underlining. We prefer italics, but consistency is the important rule.

Don’t mix underlining with italics

a. Single author
1. Lester D. Langley, The Americas in the Age of Revolution: 1750- 1850 (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 87. b. More than one author
2. John C. Bollens and Grant B. Geyer, Yorty: Politics of a Constant Candidate(Pacifi c
Palisades: Palisades, 1973), 73.

For up to three authors, list each author exactly as the name appears. The first and second
names are followed by a comma, the second and third names by a comma plus the word
and. For more than three authors, give the name of the first author followed by et al., with
no comma in between.

c . Work in several volumes or parts

state the number of volumes after the title:

3. T. Walter Wallbank and Alastair M. Taylor, Civilization Past and Present. 2 vols.
(New York: Scott, 1949) d . double reference – a quotation within a cited work
4. Lin Piao as quoted in Jean Daubier, A History of the Chinese

Cultural Revolution, trans. Richard Seaver (New York: Random House, 1974), 83.

e . Edition

5 . Porter G. Perrin and Jim W. Corder, Handbook of Current English, 4th ed. (Glenview,
IL: Scott, 1957), 304- 305.

f . Translation

6. Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, trans. John Addington

Symons (New York: Washington Square, 1963),75-79
References
Turabian, Kate L. Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and
Dissertation. 7th ed. Chicago University Press, 2018.