[nabs-l] research and accomodations

[Greg Aikens]

I really like this description of how to take effective notes while doing research. Taking the time to do this during a first read saves so much time and effort when writing your paper. 

As for generating citations, there are several free online citation generators. One of these is EasyBib but I’m sure there are others. Some require a subscription to save info over several sessions, but you may have access to that through your school library. Otherwise, you can just generate the citations and save them in a word document for later use. 

Best,

Greg
> On Sep 1, 2015, at 12:44 AM, Glenn III via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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"
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