The chapter "Working with Source and Taking Notes" of the Research Writer book, by Rys, Meyer, Sebranek, talks about the tools and techniques that writers should use for their research. It also presents effective ways of approaching different sources. Notably, it highlights the importance of taking notes on the gathered sources; your research project actually depends on the way you read your resources and the way you take note on them. The authors present this chapter for students, researchers and writers. .
Summary .
The authors introduce the benefits of critical reading and note taking practices at the beginning of the chapter. Then, they present the set up of a working bibliography, which keeps track of resources. Also, the authors explain and list strategies in order to create a well developed note taking system. Furthermore, the authors define what critical reading is, and explain how to obtain valuable resources. It is mentioned that resources have to be read systematically and critically through some important steps. .
Evaluating the quality and reliability of resources, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, is an essential part that authors mention next. The authors additionally ask the readers to focus on multimedia. For instance, flow charts, graphs, maps and so on. At the end of the chapter, the authors guide readers as to how to record their notes while summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting source material.
Evaluation .
In general, the authors did a great job in presenting their purpose to the intended audience. But on one hand, the chapter lacks efficiency. For example, it is very long; there is a lot of additional information that is no need to mention. Because sometimes it bores the readers while they need something appeals to their interests. Moreover, there is no clear example of how researcher should take notes on resources. To me, I prefer showing examples while presenting the main ideas.
