"Notebook" is a broad term that encompasses many different notetaking formats. The goal is to find something that works for you and write things down consistently. Whatever you use, practice adding everything to the same place so you always know where to find it.
- Physical notebooks like spiral bound or 3-ring binders
- Nontraditional physical materials like 3x5 notecards
- Digital tools like Word, Google Docs, or Evernote
- Take notes right in Zotero or RefWorks
In your notebook, consider:
- Who - who wrote it. Consider searching for other articles the authors have written or reaching out to them.
- What - title, journal, year, anything that tells you what it is and where it came from
- How - experiment and methods
- Question and answer
- What did the article ask? Look in the abstract and towards the end of the intro.
- Check out the conclusion and discussion. What did they learn? Why does this matter for future research?
- Implications for you and your project