[nabs-l] research and accomodations

[Glenn III]

Hi Ashley.
You had a lot of questions, so I hope this is useful for some of what you
were asking about organizing information for citation.
for a quick background, I am high-partial, and in school, I was taught to
use sighted research methods; using a notecard for each
point/note/citation, paraphrase the note, collect cards together, etc.
 Returning to college many years later, I found that method wouldn't work
both because I couldn't see what I used to, and everything now being
electronic, I'd prefer an electronic (and accessible) method. the biggest
logistical challenge is, like you say, when different sources have similar
information that is hard to recall and keep straight. What I've found works
pretty well (at least when I have a paper that I have enough time to
research more leaseurly, and which I know pretty specifically what I'm
looking for is this.
I start with picking good sources, then in a document file (I use MS Word,
but a simple text file may work even better for you, so, I'll use text for
the example), I'd make basically an indented paragraph for each source,
then below the line identifying the source, I can take notes as I review
the source material. every point i think worth noting, I make a new line
and write the note (which works well for finding that point later, since
each piece of information is on an individual line, arranged in a neat
list, already paraphrased, similar to the old notecard method to avoid
accidental plagarism). If you start each line with, say, the page number of
the information you're citing, then that's both a good marker for each data
point, if you later want to add another note you noticed, just search for
the page numbers where it belongs and add it in, and you'll need those page
numbers for your in-line parenthetical citation. So, all the sources for
that paper are in one accessible document that you can review later if you
need to refresh your memory, where all the info for each source is in its
original logical (i.e., word/language) arrangment, and you can include
whatever you need to make that a works cited. So, I think of it as a
Bibliography with notes.
It's simple, accessible, needs no special software, is searchable, and
helps with good research method (e.g., you paraphrase the same way you
would with notecards, to digest and synthesize, rather than copy or
plagarize content, or over generalize from a broad reading that cannot be
traced back to specific citeable points in the source), and for someone
like me, without a steel trap mind, it is a pretty good way to keep all
that information straight in my mind, especially when sources are similar,
and so I can read, take notes, digest everything to get the big picture,
construct my argument/outline, and still be able to go back and find my
supporting details.
Is that any help?

-Glenn Moore III
State Secretary,
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
(find our calendar at nfbofillinois.org/?page_id=158)
nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org>   "Live the Life You Want"