When you read each source (book, journal article, text on the Web) and as you look at each visual piece of evidence (map, chart, photograph), you need to decide whether you might want to use that information in your paper:

• From the sources that you consider relevant and reliable, write down the information that directly relates to any part of your research outline. See How Do You Know If a Source is Relevant to Your Theme and How Do You Know If a Source Is Reliable?
• If you have not yet figured out all of the parts of your research outline, read more background information: encyclopedia articles on your theme, textbook explanations, historical dictionaries, and other reference works. The reference librarian will help you find these books.
• Don't create notes that repeat the very same information from two sources. You should make certain, however, that the two sources agree on the point in question.
• Be sure that your reading is broad enough to create notes for each part of your research outline.
• If an author's point of view is important for your theme, be sure to take very good notes so that you can explain it to your reader.
• Unless a point is controversial or is of such great significance to your theme that you may want to quote it in your paper, it is best to paraphrase (put it into your own words) rather than copy it word for word.