How to Study

card…and only one. If you encounter a very long quote or
string of data, you can write on both the front and back of a
card, if necessary. But never carry over a note to a second card.
What if you can’t fit the piece of information on one card?
Break it into two or more smaller pieces, then put each on a
separate card.
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Write in your own words. Summarize key points about 
a paragraph or section or restate the material in your own
words. Avoid copying things word for word. 
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Put quotation marks around any material copied 
verbatim. It’s okay to include in your paper a sentence or 
paragraph written by someone else to emphasize a particular
point (providing you do so on a limited basis). But you must
copy such statements exactly as written in the original—every 
word, every comma, every period. You also must always 
put such direct quotes within quotation marks in your paper
and credit the author. 
Add Detail to Your Note Cards
As you finish each note card, do the following:
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In the upper left-hand corner of the card, write down the
resource number of the corresponding bibliography card (from
its left-hand corner). This will remind you where you got the
information. 
Chapter 7 
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How to Write Terrific Papers
149

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Below the resource number, write the page number(s) on
which the information appeared. 
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Get out your preliminary outline. Under which outline
topic heading does the information on your card seem to fit?
Under your “I” heading? Under “III”? Jot the appropriate
Roman numeral in the upper right-hand corner of your note
card. (You can use capital letters or even regular numbers if
you prefer—just match whatever you used on your outline.) 
If you’re not sure where the information fits into your 
outline, put an asterisk (*) instead of a topic letter. Later, 
when you do a more detailed outline, you can try to fit these
“miscellaneous” note cards into specific areas.
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