How to choose a good title for a notecard

Overview: The title reminds you of the main idea without opening a notecard.

This article applies to: 

✔︎ NoodleTools School Subscription

✔︎ NoodleTools Individual License

✗ NoodleTools MLA Lite

✗ NoodleTools Express

Instructions

Type a unique word or short phrase in the "Title" field. If you already have the exact same title on another notecard, the software will remind you: "A notecard with this title already exists."

Step 1: Draft your title.

Capture the main idea in a few words that remind you of the content.

Tip: If you have trouble writing a title:

Reread the author's words several times. Rereading helps you understand information more deeply.

Annotate the author's words. Change the color of important phrases or highlight a sentence. Interacting with the text helps you analyze the information.  

Break up the author's quote. Limit your notecard to a single topic or idea.  If you've picked out several important ideas, consider splitting the author's quote into two notecards.

Step 2: Edit your title. 

Delete unnecessary words. In a project about honeybees, for example:

• Edit "The life cycle of a honeybee" by deleting the topic (honeybees), articles and prepositions (the, of a) to get the title "Life cycle."

Compress sentences.

• "Collect and share data with scientists" becomes "Collect data for science."

Target the unique idea in the title.  Then add tags or create piles to organize.

• "Fear of bee stings is a myth" could be either Fear or Myth.
• Or, if there are other notes about fears or myths, use Stings as the title. 
• Then tag or pile notecards with the general term (e.g.,"myths" or "fears) to organize them.