Developing Outlines and Writing Effective Notes
A section of Jamie Johnston’s sentence outline is shown in the fol-lowing example. As shown here, the thesis statement should appear as a separate item in the outline. It is the main idea of the entire paper, so try not to label it as Item I in the outline. Otherwise, you may search fruit-lessly for parallel ideas to put in II, III, and IV. (See also pages 218-219 on using the thesis in the opening.)
Outline Thesis: Prehistoric humans were motived by biological instincts toward warfare rather than cultural demands for a share of limited resources. I. The conflict of “noble savage” versus prehistoric warriors has surfaced in recent literature. A. Some literature has advocated the existence of harmony and peace among early tribes. 1. Rousseau argued for a noble savage in the 1700s. 2. The Bible speaks of the Garden of Eden. B. Recent research suggests that wars have existed since the dawn of life. 1. LaBlanc cites evidence from the Southwest Indians. 2. Yates reports on Chinese weapons from 28,000 Bc. 3. Ferrill has examined cave paintings. II. The evidence points clearly to the existence of prehistoric wars. A. Anthropologists have uncovered skeletal remains of captives who were executed. 1. Victims were skinned alive. 2. Victims were decapitated. 3. Massacres occurred in Europe, North and South America, Japan, and other parts of the world.
YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT
1. Look carefully at each of the sources you have collected so far—hooks, photocopies of journal articles, and Internet printouts. Try writing a summary or précis of each one. At the same time, make decisions about material worthy of direct quotation and material that you want to paraphrase or summarize.
2. Decide how you will keep your notes—and handwritten notes in a research journal or in computer files. Note: The computer files will serve you well because you can transfer them into your text and save typing time.
3. Write various types of notes—that is, write a few that use direct quo-tations, some that paraphrase, and some that summarize.
4. Conscientiously and with dedication, write as many personal notes as possible. These will be your ideas, and they will establish your voice and position. Do not let the sources speak for you; let them support your position.
5. If you have access to OneNote or some other notetaking program, take the time to consider its special features. You can create notes, store them in folders, and even search your own files by keyword, category, and reference.
6. It is easy and simple to use a general all purpose model, especially for a beginner researcher. However, to refine your writing skills, try to draft a different outline of your paper using more than one model, as given in pages 166-169. This will help you find out how comfortable you are with different types of models.
7. With help from the discussion in section 9i, choose the form of out-line that you think will be most useful for you. Use standard outline symbols in the process.
8. Consult the research schedule outlined at the end of chapter 1. By this time, you should have notes from sources and a plan for organiz-ing your research project as you pull your thoughts and resources together to begin drafting your paper.
