Research Shortcuts

SHORTCUT 10. Prepare a Work File

SHORTCUT 10 Prepare a Work File Before you compile your first piece of data, prepare a file folder and a looseleaf or spiral-bound notebook, and always keep one inside the other. Paste or staple both your preliminary outline and your list of questions right inside the notebook or folder so they're protected. Also save them in backed up computer files so that if they're lost, you don't lose days attempting to recreate them. Divide your notebook into sections, one section for each question on your list. Tag the sections so you can flip quickly from one to another. Always keep a left-hand margin of an inch or more on every page of notes. Never write on the left-hand page in your notebook. This will keep your notes confined to one side of the page, and they'll be much easier to rearrange when you're preparing to write your paper. (The same students who cram notes onto both sides of bits and pieces of scrap paper, saving a dollar, are the ones who later spend several dollars in unneeded photocopies.) Several research guidebooks suggest that you keep your notes on index cards. You can even buy prepackaged cards that have printed title-and-author fill-ins at the top. There are also inexpensive computer programs that make, store, and print these cards. We recommend them only for super-organized people, the kind who never throw a jacket over a chair and have a drawer for everything they own. If you go the card route instead of buying a notebook, purchase the biggest cards you can find so you're not constantly shuffling them in search of the card on which one particular note begins or ends. Then key each card with the number of the question it answers. Label your file folder with a one-word or two-word project name, and put your name, address, and phone number on it 30 Copyrighted Material Prepare a Work File 31 and on your notebook as a safeguard. Into your folder will go all your photocopies and bibliography sheets (a key tool we'll tell you about next). If you work with cards, keep them rubberbanded and invest in a file envelope instead of a file folder to keep the cards safe. Copyrighted Material ...