Note Cards in the Computer Age

[jadedinnocent]

So none of you here probably know but I have been interested the past several months in writing non-fiction things - articles/essays/stories - which require research and note keeping.

Problem- as some of you may know I am not all that computer savvy. I grew up in an era where the INTERNET did not exist. Even during my final years of college the computer was still mostly a glorified typewriter, with some editing capabilities. I kept note cards for my references and information all meticulously numbered and color coded. Wrote a rough draft by hand and then typed it all in with my note cards by the computer for reference.

So... now am am not sure how this is done. It seems there must be an easier way. But I don't know how.

Can anyone who has written a term paper/research paper recently tell me the best way to go about this using a computer?

Thanks for you help!

[.::Sith::Bitch::.]

hey, what EXACTLY are you doing? Or trying to do....?

[jadedinnocent]

I guess I would describe it as writting short reasearch papers or articles that have factual information, that I need to do some reasearch about. Like what you do for a paper in late high school or college. Is that what you wanted to know?

I just don't know how to work on it with the computer. Maybe the note cards are still the way to go. I used to be excellent at reasearch papers in college.

[.::Sith::Bitch::.]

Okay, I see now what you're asking. Alright....

well, as for easier ways, it just depends on the person. Some people actually think that writing your references and such on note cards would be the easiest.

What I do is, I make an outline. I make an outline of my paper or article but WITH my notes and references included in it. And what I do is, take that outline and basically elaborate on it more and voila! My paper.

But to tell you the truth, there really is no "easy" way. It just depends. Some people are different. What may be easy for me, may not be easy for you.

PM or Email Reddevil. She's a pro at these things *nods*

[Reddevil]

No need to PM or Email, Reddevil is here! God, I felt like Superman when I typed that.

Now, when I write reserach papers (which is generally what I spend the majority of my time doing) I tend to go about it like one of those really annoying, organised people. But like Sith said, what works for one person may not work for another.

God I am going to sound so patheticly geeky now. If I do, someone please shoot me!

I find its best to decide what type of voice you're looking at for your paper first. As an example, I recently worked on a paper based around Organised Crime in London with main focus on The Kray Brothers. The voice I used was neutral, but themed around legal aspects. Which ment I could not use sources that weren't neutral, such as websites who's owners believed them to be innocent, or morally right.

Anyway, continuing on. One you've found what kind of sources you can and cannot use, start finding the sources. Don't just use the internet, use whatever you can. Internet, books, journals, articles. The list is endless. Make small notes from the information you have gathered, it doesn't matter if they are in any particular order because they are just notes. ((Of course, if they do make perfect sense then all the better *says the control freak*)).

Once you have your notes, type them up into a word document and then just expand on your notes. Turn everything into decent sentances, cut and paste so everything is in the correct order, make sure to get it read over by someone so it all makes perfect sense, and then Bob's your Uncle. You have an essay.

Did that help?

[jadedinnocent]

Thanks! It's good to hear other peoples ideas. Yeah I was one of those annoyingly organized people too with all my color codes note cards yet people usually wondered why I got an "A" when I had been working like that for weeks and they had thrown theres together a couple days before it was due and barely passed if they were lucky.

I'm one of those strange people who likes research and I miss that about no longer being in "school". I was th queen of research in high school and early college. People were shocked I could use the periodic tables/indexes and such. That was one thing my Junior High school taught me very well - how to use a library.

I definitely understand more now about certain aspects of paper writing like finding the "voice" you want to use.


So thanks again! I may have some other questions to bounce off you later.