As students well know, keeping to a schedule is important when writing a lengthy academic paper. Before the hard work of writing can begin, there is a significant amount of research to undertake.
There are some practical things you can do throughout the research period of your paper which will save you time both immediately and in the long run, when you come to read your notes. Here are some tips for more efficient reading, note taking and organisation.
Focused Reading
So that your own opinions are not influenced by those of other authors, before you begin research make sure you have a concrete idea of what your objectives and arguments are.
Before you begin looking at or reading the source in hand, write down the key questions you hope it will answer. Constantly reminding yourself of this should stop you from straying and reading irrelevant material. Consult the contents and index to search for key words and only read the chapters which are pertinent to your research. Reading your sources cover to cover is a sure fire way to waste time and clutter your mind with useless information.
Not everyone has the skill of skim reading, but those who do save hours of reading time. Try to scan the page for key words.
How to Take Notes
Rather than writing full sentences and lengthy paragraphs in your notes, try to write in a shorthand or code you will understand. Historians write ‘C19th’ to mean ‘nineteenth-century’ in their notes. Other symbols which might save you time when note taking are:
∴ means ‘therefore’
w/ means ‘with’
w/o means ‘without’
Keep all sets of notes uniform, with the title of the work, the author and the publication date as a heading. All quotations should be written in the same way, either all underlined/in the same colour and with the page number it was taken from in the margin. Doing this means you can flick through your notes later and find what you’re looking for with ease.
A page of notes should be clear and easy to read, with plenty of space. Taking notes on a laptop can help those who struggle with indecipherable handwriting, and is also useful in maintaining uniform formatting.
Stay Organised
There is little point in taking notes if you can’t find them when you need them later. If you have chosen to write your notes by hand, be sure to keep them in clearly labelled folders. These can be categorised in whichever way suits you best, either chronologically, alphabetically by author’s initials, or by topic.
Once you have finished with a set of notes, take a moment to place them back in the file they came from. A tidy desk makes for a tidy mind, and saves on stressful searches for quotations at the last minute!
If you would like to have your own academic writing proofread, check out Proofread My Paper’s free proofreading service. Simply submit up to 500 words of your work today!
There are some practical things you can do throughout the research period of your paper which will save you time both immediately and in the long run, when you come to read your notes. Here are some tips for more efficient reading, note taking and organisation.
Focused Reading
So that your own opinions are not influenced by those of other authors, before you begin research make sure you have a concrete idea of what your objectives and arguments are.
Before you begin looking at or reading the source in hand, write down the key questions you hope it will answer. Constantly reminding yourself of this should stop you from straying and reading irrelevant material. Consult the contents and index to search for key words and only read the chapters which are pertinent to your research. Reading your sources cover to cover is a sure fire way to waste time and clutter your mind with useless information.
Not everyone has the skill of skim reading, but those who do save hours of reading time. Try to scan the page for key words.
How to Take Notes
Rather than writing full sentences and lengthy paragraphs in your notes, try to write in a shorthand or code you will understand. Historians write ‘C19th’ to mean ‘nineteenth-century’ in their notes. Other symbols which might save you time when note taking are:
∴ means ‘therefore’
w/ means ‘with’
w/o means ‘without’
Keep all sets of notes uniform, with the title of the work, the author and the publication date as a heading. All quotations should be written in the same way, either all underlined/in the same colour and with the page number it was taken from in the margin. Doing this means you can flick through your notes later and find what you’re looking for with ease.
A page of notes should be clear and easy to read, with plenty of space. Taking notes on a laptop can help those who struggle with indecipherable handwriting, and is also useful in maintaining uniform formatting.
Stay Organised
There is little point in taking notes if you can’t find them when you need them later. If you have chosen to write your notes by hand, be sure to keep them in clearly labelled folders. These can be categorised in whichever way suits you best, either chronologically, alphabetically by author’s initials, or by topic.
Once you have finished with a set of notes, take a moment to place them back in the file they came from. A tidy desk makes for a tidy mind, and saves on stressful searches for quotations at the last minute!
If you would like to have your own academic writing proofread, check out Proofread My Paper’s free proofreading service. Simply submit up to 500 words of your work today!