Tutorial for ELA A30NOTECARDS

Mrs. T. Mitchell(Note: Read the articles titled “Best Choice to Carry Flag” and “Loss Stings for Upstart Americans”)

Identifying Source• In order for your cards to be useful you need to indicate your

source on the card. Since you have a full bibliography card, you do not need to rewrite all that information. You can use an abbreviated or shortened form.

• Place this information consistently in the top left corner.

Barnes, “Best Choice…”

The Information on the Card

• A direct quotation is anything taken word for word from the original. It is placed in quotation marks.

• Now you need to add a page reference if it is available so that you have it later if you use this quotation in your essay as is. The page reference goes in the bottom right.

• You also need to put a sub-topic on the card. The sub-topic indicates generally what type of information is on the card in relation to your rough outline or major divisions. You may leave this step until later when you see how you research is unfolding. The sub-topic goes in the top right corner.

Barnes, “Best Choice…”

“Joannie embodies the five tenets on which the Canadian team of 206 athletes was built: passion, resiliency, unity, confidence and readiness.”

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Traits of Olympic Athletes

Using Someone’s Exact Words

• Someone’s exact words also qualifies as a direct quotation. You need to make sure that you use quotation marks and that you note the name of the speaker to use in your paper.

• This type of notecard is formatted as follows:

Barnes, “Best Choice…”

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Choosing Flag-Bearer

“What Joannie has lived has moved all team members and what she did this week inspired all

those who had to perform.”

- Canadian Olympic Committee chef de mission Nathalie Lambert

• Note that the format is consistent but the sub-topic is different because the information addresses a different topic.

Summary Information

• This type of note-taking requires you to pull main ideas out of the article to use as background or overview information. It will probably not be used “as is” in your essay.

• Here is a sample of a summary notecard:

Barnes, “Best Choice…”

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Choosing Flag-Bearer

-Joannie Rochette would be excellent choice because she skated to win Bronze after her mother’s sudden death.- Other athletes like Alexandre Bilodeau could be

considered as well-Officials believe they should wait to make the decision to respect and consider all athletes

• Note that the format is consistent again and that the information is general and in point form. There are no quotation marks.

Idea Cards

• These cards are very informal and are your own ideas that you formulate about the information that you find in the research. These idea cards will help you to develop the “attitude” part of your thesis and a stronger tone in your writing.

• Idea cards are a good way to keep track of your insights that will grow as you continue to research.

• Here is a sample of an idea card:

Idea Card- Joanne Rochette was being considered for flag-

bearer for the closing ceremonies- I think it is tough to decide because there are many deserving people like Alexandre Bilodeau who won the first gold on Canadian soil- What about Sidney Crosby who scored the “gold-

wining-goal” for Team Canada?

Sample Notecards from Internet Article

• Here is a sample direct quotation from “Loss stings for upstart Americans”:

Pyette, “Loss stings…”

“Going into the dressing room after scoring late, every one of us was confident someone would score again and we were going to win it. It just

didn’t happen.”- Parise

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Attitude Before Overtime

• Note that you do not put lengthy web addresses on cards to indicate sources. Keep it simple.

• Here is a sample direct quotation that is not someone’s direct speech:

Pyette, “Loss stings…”

“The American’s battled back from two goals down. They put a scare in the sea of Red. They had

American troops on their minds, GM Brian Burke’s son Brendan in their hearts, and magnificent Ryan

Miller in net”

American Come-Back

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• Here is a sample of a summary card:

Pyette, “Loss stings…”

- confident they would score first in overtime- Canada had given up two goal lead and had given

up leads earlier in the tournament- Americans had a better record in pool play- believe Ryan Miller would hold Canadians

Americans ThoughtSuperior

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• Here is a sample Idea Card:

Idea Card- The American team was in shock when Crosby

scored- strong challenge by Ryan Kesler about hockey being “Canada’s Game”- tension between Luongo and Kesler who play on

same team in NHL (Vancouver)- Americans seemed to feel entitled