Overview: When you create a notecard, you (a) save the author's original words, phrases or images from a source you intend to use in your research and (b) think about how to express those ideas and expand on them in your own words. Create one notecard for one idea or fact, and link each notecard to a source citation.
This article applies to:
✔︎ NoodleTools School Subscription
✔︎ NoodleTools Individual License
✗ NoodleTools MLA Lite
✗ NoodleTools Express
Instructions
Step 1:
Navigate to either the Sources screen or the Notecards Tabletop View screen.
- Adding multiple notecards for a particular source? Use Sources.
- Already organizing notecards into groups and piles? Use Notecard Tabletop View.
Note: You can open the Notecards Tabletop View directly from the Projects screen by clicking the orange "Notecards" icon (in the "Contents" column).
Step 2:
Click the green New Notecard button if you are on the Notecard Tabletop View.
Or, if you are on the Sources screen, click the "New" link next to your citation in the "Notecards" column.
Step 3:
Enter information where applicable:
Title (required) | A few words describing the notecard's main idea. |
URL | The URL in your citation might not be a direct link to the content. You can add a different URL here if it helps you get directly back to the source. |
Source (usually required) | If you created your notecard from the Sources screen, this field is auto-filled. If you created your notecard from the Notecards screen, be sure to select the source citation here. |
| Page | If there are page numbers associated with the material you are entering in the "Direct quotation" field, enter them here (you'll need them for in-text citations or footnotes). |
Tags | Add short (1-2 word) tags to help you identify and label concepts within each notecard. Type a comma between tags (for example, typing frogs, climate change will add tags "frogs" and "climate change"). |
Direct quotation | What should I enter in the "Direct Quotation" field on a notecard? |
Paraphrase or summary | What should I enter in the "Paraphrase/Summary" field on a notecard? |
My ideas | What should I enter in the "My Ideas" field on a notecard? |
Step 4:
Click the Save and Close button when you are done.
Important note: Notecards are auto-saved as you type. Clicking Save and Close at the end saves a final time, but you can use the Manage Versions option to retrieve past saves, if your work is interrupted or your computer crashes. See "How to view the auto-save history of a notecard (and revert to a previous version)."