Research Quotes: Organizing Information

One of the keys to good research is collecting large quantities of information, and then organizing that information into a coherent narrative that others can understand.
Requirements:

1. Direct quotes have quotation marks, indirect quotes (paraphrasing) won't.
2. Each quote must have the author's last name listed (following MLA in-text citation)
3. I encourage you to give a line or two of your personal thoughts about the quote, but this is not required.  (Something like "I like this quote because..." or "This indicates that..."
4. For each quote, include 1-3 keywords (think hashtags).  Something like "genre convention...." or "CHAT term..."

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Quick Note: If this feels like busy work, you’re doing it wrong. Seriously. Write down the weirdest / most interesting quotes you find. Don’t worry about how they’ll fit. That’s what the outline is for.

There are multiple options for this:

• ReggieNet Option: Simply post your quotes here in the discussion.
• Social Media Option: If you'd like, you can post your quotes to a social media platform (such as Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger, WordPress, etc.)  This can be a better approach in that it lets you use keywords or hashtags to organize your materials.  With this approach, you'll simply post a link to your social media page.  Note: I need to be able to see the page, so double-check your privacy settings.
• Index Card Option: If you prefer reading without the distraction of having to stop and type, then you can write your quotes on index cards or on paper.  Here in the discussions, you'll simply post scans or photos of your quotes.  (You can include like six index cards per photo, or one sheet of paper per photo.)

Recommended Weekly Approach:

1. Monday: find 15 good quotes from your sources.  I recommend picking your top sources (2 primary, 2 secondary, and 2 scholarly) and finding your quotes from those sources.
2. Wednesday: 15 more quotes.  Add on some more sources.  Some of your sources might only have a couple quotes, while other sources might have a lot of quotes.
3. Friday: Draft a quick outline based on the quotes you've found so far.  Don't make it formal - literally a list of "main ideas" sketched on the back of a utility bill.  This is just to clarify your thoughts.

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