There is the skills part of notetaking which we covered in Lesson 4's Information Literacy Section: Incorporating Sources—knowing how to cite, summarize, paraphrase, and quote correctly—and then there’s the more interesting, harder part—making use of what you’re reading to discover what you think.

We do this by engaging in a dialogue with our sources, and this begins with notetaking. You want to listen and respond, collect and evaluate.It’s this movement back and forth between information and what you think of that information, between your observations of things and your ideas about them, between what you once understood and what you now understand, that will involve you in the process of knowledge-making rather than simple information retrieval and reporting. As you begin to understand the difference between knowledge and information, you will earn yourself a place in an academic community that values people with their own ideas.

One method of notetaking seems especially effective at encouraging dialogue between the researcher and his or her sources: The double-entry journal. The method is basically this: Use opposing pages of your notebook or opposing columns in a Word document. On each left side, compile your notes from a source—paraphrases, summaries, quotes—and on each right side, comment on them. Imagine the line down the center of the table as a lunch table. On the left side sits the published author. You sit on the right. Take care to listen to what the author says through paraphrase, summary, and quotation on the left, and then on the right respond with your own commentary, questions, interpretations, clarifications, or even feelings about what you read. Your commentary can be pretty open ended: What strikes you? What was confusing? What was surprising? How does the information stand up to your own experiences and observations? Does it support or contradict your thesis (if you have one at this point)? How might you use this information in your paper? What purpose does it serve? What further questions does the information raise that might be worth investigating? How does the information connect to the other sources you’ve read?

The most important aspect to remember is to use questions to keep you writing and thinking.

Another popular method of notetaking is the research log. It promotes a similar conversation between the writer and the source but with a few differences. The researcher starts with a monologue and always gets the last word. This method also may be more adaptable than the double-entry journal for researchers who prefer to write on computers. The standard format of the research log can serve as a template, which can be retrieved whenever you’re ready to take notes on another source. These notes can then be easily dropped into the draft as needed.The basic approach is this:

Take down the full bibliographic information on the source.Then read the article.
Your first entry will be a fastwrite that is an open-ended response to the reading. You could take the following stances or pose the following questions to guide this writing:

Begin by playing the “believing game,” exploring how the author’s ideas, arguments, or findings are sensible. Then shift to the “doubting game,” looking for gaps, questions, and doubts you have about what the source says.
What strikes you as the most important thing the author is trying to say?
What surprises you most?
What do you remember best?
What seems most convincing? Least convincing?
How has it changed your thinking on the topic?
How does it compare to other things you’ve read?
What other research possibilities does it suggest?

Next, mine the source for nuggets. These are quotations, summaries, paraphrases, or key facts you collect from the reading.
Finally, follow up with one more fastwrite. This is a second, more focused look at the source in which you fastwrite about what stands out in the notes you took. Which facts, findings, claims, or arguments that you jotted down shape your thinking now?

Whichever method of notetaking you prefer, keep in mind the following:

For everything you will use in your essay, always specify the source so that you know exactly from where you have taken a key point or a quotation.
Write summaries and paraphrases.
Quote sparingly. Remember that this is your paper—it will present your thesis rather than the thesis and arguments and analyses of someone else. Quote directly only those passages that are particularly effective, crucial, or memorable. In your finished paper these quotations will provide authority and emphasis.
Quote accurately. After copying a quotation, check your note against the original, correct any misquotation, and then put a checkmark after your quotation to indicate that it is accurate.

Use ellipses (. . .) to indicate the omission of any words within a sentence.
Use square brackets to indicate your additions to the quotation:

“Here is an [uninteresting] example."

Never copy a passage by changing an occasional word under the impression that you are thereby putting it into your own words. Notes of this sort may find their way into your paper, and this is what can lead to unintentional plagiarism.
Comment on your notes as you do your work and later as you reflect on what you have jotted down from the sources.