Tuesday, March 18, 2008

What Did We Do Today?

Today we passed a major milestone in our long research journey. Everyone turned in their twenty source cards and anxiously awaited the next leg of the marathon. This phase of the paper involves writing one hundred research cards derived from ten distinct sources. Each notecard should contain one distinct fact or single idea. The basic format is as follows: Card # in top left, Subject Heading in top center, Slug in top right, Note in center, and Cross Reference in bottom center. The note comes in four forms: quote, paraphrase, summary, and link (your own idea supported by research). The cross reference is a list of card #'s (max 4) that connect to the card at hand. The subject heading is a topic group or developmental idea that the note fits in to. The entire report should have about ten to twelve of these subjects. The researcher should begin forming ideas about his or her cross references and subject headings after completing 50-75 notecards. Finally, each researcher is required to write his or her thesis on a notecard and refer to it while preparing research cards. This is intended to prevent off-topic notes. Finally, and most importantly, the each notecard should be labeled with the researcher's name on the back.

Best of luck to you all in all your future research endeavours, and Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day.

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