Overview: Welcome to NoodleTools! This article will get you logged in and pointed in the right direction, after which you can dive deeper with our other tutorials.


This article applies to: 

✔︎ NoodleTools School Subscription

✗ NoodleTools Individual License

✗ NoodleTools MLA Lite

✗ NoodleTools Express

Instructions


Step 1: Create a new account


1. If your school has Google, Microsoft 365, Clever or ClassLink SSO enabled with us...


Click the appropriate button on the right side of the login screen (more help via links here): 


2. If your school does NOT use one of the above SSO options for access...


Click the Register button on the login screen. Depending on how your school has configured authentication, you may be prompted for a school username and password after clicking Register. If you do not know that login, ask your teacher or librarian for assistance.


To complete registration, you will enter your email address and password for yourself and provide a few other details to complete your user profile.


Step 2:

After you log in, the Projects screen will open.


Step 3:

On the Projects screen, click the green New Project button. Enter a project title and select a citation style and level. Click Submit. The new project appears at the top of the Projects screen. 




Hints:

To share your project with your teacher, see "How to share a project with your teacher."


To collaborate on the project with your classmates, see "How to work on a collaborative project with other students."


Step 4:

NoodleTools has two main components -- source citation and note-taking. In general, you'll want to add a source citation first, then take notes for that source. This makes it simple to link your notes to the proper source.


Click the project's title or click the blue Sources icon (book stack) in the "Contents" column. To cite your first source, click the green New Source button on the Sources screen. You'll be prompted to select "where" your source is (i.e., in print, on a website, in a database, etc.) and "what" your source is (i.e., a book, a magazine, a web page, etc.). After you make your selections, a new form appears.



Depending on the citation type selected, a Show Me tutorial may be available to help you evaluate the source. The lessons are differentiated based on which level you are in (Starter, Junior, or Advanced). Below is an example of a slide from the Show Me tutorial for Website, Junior level. Click Continue to move to the next screen.



Step 5:

Fill in the citation form with information about your source, then click Save. The new citation appears on your Sources screen.




There are alternative ways to create a citation, depending on what type of source you are citing:

  • Cite a book or other nonperiodical source by entering an ISBN number (or searching by the title or author's name).
  • Cite a journal article or report by entering a DOI.
  • Cite an article in a database via the database's Export to NoodleTools option.
  • Copy and paste a pre-formatted citation into NoodleTools via Quick Cite.


Step 6:

When you are ready to add notes to a source, the simplest place to do that is on the Sources screen. Click the "New" link in the "Notecards" column. The saved notecard will automatically be linked to that source.



When you have multiple notecards, you can switch over to the Notecard Tabletop screen to organize, pile, and/or tag them. You can also start an outline (click the "Outline" checkbox at the top of the Notecard Tabletop screen) when you are ready to think about the structure of your final paper or project.


Hint:

Need more help? Check out our full list of tutorials!