NOTE TAKER
TECH STEPS PROJECT
Social Studies CSO’s covered:
4.5
To chronologically organize and categorize the major events leading to and during the Revolutionary War; examine and
explain why and how these events influenced choice different groups during this period.
Reading / Language Arts CSO’s covered:
RLA.O.4.1.13 judge the reliability or logic of informational texts.
RLA.O.4.2.12 use strategies to gather and record information for research topics:
• note taking
• summarizing
• paraphrasing
• describing in narrative form
• gathering information from direct quotes, maps, charts, graphs and tables
RLA.O.4.2.13 select and use a variety of sources to gather information (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, informational
texts, electronic resources).
Learning and Technology Standards
21C.O.3-4.1.LS.1 Student identifies information needed to solve a problem or complete an assignment, conducts a search and
prioritizes various sources based on credibility and relevance, retrieves relevant information from a variety of media sources, and
uses this information to create an effective presentation.
21C.O.3-4.1.TT.10 Student selects and uses appropriate software, other technologies, and grade level appropriate search engines to
locate and acquire information from electronic resources (e.g., interactive books, multi-media encyclopedias, Internet sites).
Student evaluates information found for content and usefulness.
21C.O.3-4.3.TT.4 Student complies with county acceptable use policy. Student identifies the need for acceptable use policies (AUP),
discusses basic issues related to responsible use of technology and information and describes personal consequences of
inappropriate use, and begins to cite sources for information found through electronic searches.
Objective:
Students will be able to research and take notes on the events that led to the Revolutionary War: the Stamp Act, Sugar Act,
Intolerable Acts, Tea Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre.
Note Taker
with PowerPoint 2007, Word 2007
CONTENTS
Introduction
Challenge
Locate Information
Finding Information
Your Search Strategy
A Keyword Phrase Search
Evaluate the Results
Select Information
Your Resources
Note Card Headings
Your First Note Card
Complete the First Card
Check Your Note
Organize Your Notes
Reflect on Information Gathering
What's Next?
In the Classroom
Discussion
You are writing an information report. You have already chosen a topic and made a plan for your report.
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Perhaps it looks like this:
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How can a plan like this help you as you gather information?
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Challenge
Your challenge is to locate information, and to take notes in preparation for writing an information
report.
This is a digital note card like the ones that you will use to record information.
With a plan for your report prepared, you will:

Plan a search strategy

Conduct a search for information

Record source details in a bibliography
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Take notes on digital note cards
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Organize notes in slide sorter view
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BEGINNING HERE, MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS HAVE THEIR ACTIVITY EBOOK OPEN
Find Information
Before you can take notes about your topic, you must find suitable information.
Your teacher will lead you through a tutorial that will help you to learn about finding information in the
21st century.
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To read the Locate Information template, click this button:
Locate Information
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Begin with Your Topic
As a beginning researcher you should plan the words and phrases that you will use to search for
information.
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To open the Search Strategy template, click this button:
Search Strategy

Type your topic or research question at the top of the template.
Keywords

Type a list of keywords - words that are important to your topic. Think broadly.
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Can you think of other ways to say or spell these words? Type these in the area provided.
Plan Keyword Phrases
Use your keywords to plan keyword phrases.
Search Strategy
Topic: Type your topic or research question here. What events led to the Revolutionary War (colonists view)?
Keywords: Type words that are important to your topic here.
Stamp Act
Sugar Act
Intolerable Acts
Townshend Acts
Boston Massacre
Synonyms: Can you think of other ways to spell or say these words?
Laws
Taxes
Protest
Battle
Keyword Phrases: Use your keywords and synonyms to construct keyword phrases.
Boston Tea Party
THIS PAGE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE STUDENTS’ EBOOK
PAGE, PLEASE MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A LIST OF THE
WEBSITES BELOW AND/OR GIVE THEM A COPY OF THIS
HANDOUT.
Conduct a Search

Use the following websites to conduct your research:
www.ushistory.org
www.washingtonsworld.org/washington.html
www.kathimitchell.com/revolt.htm
www.historycentral.com
www.historyforkids.org
www.socialstudiesforkids.com
www.42explore2.com
www.kidinfo.com
Refine Your Search
Skim and scan what you are reading to look for the key words we discussed and wrote down.
As you continue to gather information for your report you will probably want to keep coming back to
your search strategy to develop new keyword phrases.
Evaluate Web Sites

Go to four or five Web sites.
Skim the text:

Is the information on the site relevant to your topic?

Is the information reliable?

Is the Web site useful to you?
Choose Resources
Choose the three best sites - sites that will give you the information you need, with the authority you
need, in language that you understand.

You will record details of these sites - and other potential resources - in a Working Bibliography.
Source Details
It is important at this stage that students know that they must credit an author - not only if they have quoted directly from the
source - but also if they have used the author's original ideas.
Our templates require students only to record the author, the title, and the date of each source. (If the source is a Web site they will
also record the URL.) You may prefer them to include more bibliographical details in their references. If so, you will need to adapt
the bibliography slides in the Note Taker template to include additional rows.
Bibliography--Teacher's Tip
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To open the Note Taker template, click this button:
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te Taker
There are two sections in the template titled: Digital Note Cards and Working Bibliography.

Go to Slide 9.

Fill out the chart with details of your first Web site. (The chart is detailed below)
Web Site Details

One at a time, open your Web sites. Use details from the sites to complete as much of the
Bibliography as you can.
Note: The layout of a Web site is not standard. You will not necessarily find all of the details
required by the template. (Sometimes you will not even find the author's name!)
Author

Type the name of the author:
Last name, First name or initial.
OR
If no author is named, type the name of the university / business / group responsible for the Web
page.
Title
On a Web site you will sometimes find two titles. One is the name of the Web site and one is the name of
the article posted on the Web site.
If there are two titles, record them both.

Type the name of the Web article like this:
"Name of Article."

Type the name of the Web site like this:
Name of Web Site.
Date
Look for a date at the end of the Web site. Sometimes you will see the date on which the Web site was
last updated. If so, record this date.
URL
To avoid mistakes, you will copy and paste the URL of the Web site into your Bibliography.

With the Web site open, select the text in the browser's Address bar.

Click the Page down arrow, then click Copy.
Internet Explorer 7

Go to the Note Taker file. (It should be open at Slide 9.)

Click in the URL text box.
On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.

This would be a good point at which to save your file.
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
Duplicate the slide.
Duplicate Slides

On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the New Slide down arrow, then click Duplicate
Selected Slides.

Replace the text with the details of another site.

Complete a final Web site slide.
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Complete the Bibliography
If possible, as soon as you can, visit your library or resource center. Use your keywords to search the
library catalogue for relevant print, audio, or video resources. Use the appropriate slides to add details of
these resources to your Bibliography. You may also use your local library's online catalog to help you find
resources.
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Prepare
You will use the note cards on Slides 2 – 7 to record information for your report.
Refer to the plan that you made in preparation for writing your report.

Beginning at Slide 1, type a different heading from your plan on each of the note cards.
(Click to read about sub-headings., the information on subheadings is below the cards)
If your plan includes sub-headings, create a number of different slides with the same heading - each with
a different sub-heading:

Slide 2: Extreme Weather Conditions Temperature

Slide 3: Extreme Weather Conditions: Lack of rainfall

Slide 4: Extreme Weather Conditions: Scarcity of Food

Slide 5: Physical Adaptations: Characteristics that Stop Overheating

Slide 6: Physical Adaptations: Characteristics that Help Cooling

Delete any unused slides.
Delete a Slide

Go to the slide that you want to delete.

In the Slides tab, select the icon and on the keyboard, press Delete.
Take Notes
Begin reading your first resource.
When you find information that relates to one of the headings on your note cards, write a note:

Choose the slide with the appropriate heading and type your note.

Write about one idea only.
One Point per Slide
Your points must be recorded separately if you want to be able to organize them later.

Be brief. Use bulleted phrases or lists instead of sentences.
If you want to rearrange the bullet points on the slide at any time:
Select the phrase or passage and drag it to a new location.

Use your own words.

If you do use the same words as the author, add quotation marks.
Quotations
When you are taking notes you may find something that is so perfectly described that you want to leave
the words exactly as they are. In this case you will quote the author. To copy the text:

Select the passage on the Web site.

From the Edit menu, choose Copy.

Go to the Note Taker template.

Go to the appropriate slide.

On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.

Place quotation marks around the passage.
"Use quotation marks before and after the author's words."
Acknowledging the Original Author
If you use this quote in your report you will need to tell your reader who wrote it. To do this:

Name the author in parenthesis at the first pause in the text

Include the full details of the source in the 'Works Cited' list at the end of the report

If you wish, draw out the most significant words or phrases with bold font.
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Complete the First Note Card
Source
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
IMPORTANT: In the Source box, indicate the source from which you gathered the information.
Click to read an important note. (listed below)
Source Details
'Re-search' is all about 'looking again' through the things that other people have written about a
topic. (By building on what other people know, society keeps on learning - building more and
more knowledge.)
While it is desirable to use other people's ideas - and even their exact words - you must
always give credit for the information that you use (including 'visual information' or
graphics.) The government even passed a law about this - that's how important it is.
When you take notes you must record where each piece of information came from.
You have already prepared a Bibliography listing all the resources that you have consulted. Now
- as you take notes from these sources - make sure that you record the source of every single
piece of information.

You may simply use the author's name or an abbreviated title as the full details of the source are
recorded in the Working Bibliography.
Note Type

In the Note Type section, type Own words or Quotation.
Comment

Optional: In the Comment box write a reminder to yourself about a reaction or something that you
need to follow up, for example:
Find out what 'torpor' means.
Is Your Note Complete and Accurate?
Having completed the note:

Check it for accuracy

Have you spelled names accurately?

Have you recorded dates accurately?

If the original author was to read your note, would she say: 'That's exactly what I meant.'?

Check the slide heading
Does it match the content of the slide?

Check the source details

Have you noted the source of the information on the note card?

Do you have complete details of the source in the Bibliography?
More Note Cards
Take more notes. Use a variety of sources.

Add new note cards as needed.
Add a Note Card with the Same Heading

Go to a slide with the heading that you want.

On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the New Slide down arrow, then click Duplicate
Selected Slides.
On the new slide, go to each box in turn. Select the text and replace it with new text.
If you come across relevant information that doesn't fit under one of your headings:

Duplicate any of the Note Card slides then change the heading and background color.
Format Background Color

On the Design tab, in the Background group, click Background Styles, then Format
Background….

In the Format Background dialog box, in the Fill section, choose a background option.

Click Close to apply the color to this slide only.
Note: Don't forget to add the new heading to your plan.
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Completion
With the plan for your report in view, look back over your notes.

Do you have all the information you need?
Organize Note Cards


Go to Slide Sorter view.

On the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click Slide Sorter.

On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click Zoom and choose 100%.
You should be able to read the headings.
Click and drag to arrange the note card slides in a logical order.
Notes:

All points related to the same heading should be together.
This will be easy to see because of their color.

Arrange the Bibliography slides in alphabetical order according to the author's last name.
If one of the slides does not name an author, use the first letter of the title of the resource.
Two Parts of the Process
There are two over-arching parts in a research task:

Gathering Information
AND

Writing
You have now completed the first of these.
Reflect
 How did technology assist you to gather – locate and select - information?

Do you think it would be wise to use only the resources available through the Internet?
What is the advantage of using different types of resources?

How is the evaluation of Web sites different from that of print resources?
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The Writing Process
By locating information and taking notes you have learned a lot about your topic. Perhaps you would like
to share this information by creating an information product.
While your research is based on the work of other people you should try to create something new with it.
You might add some new information of your own (from an interview, experiment, or observation), think
about it in a new way, or present the information in a different form.
Consider these questions:

With whom would you like to share the information?

What will be the best format for your report?
Can you use the format to attract your audience?

Can technology help you to create and share your information product?

Think about the way you like to work. What is the best way for you to use your notes for writing your
research paper? Should you print them, keep them in digital form, or both?
Teacher Notes
This activity assumes that students have already:
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Been instructed to work in a group or as an individual
Chosen a topic
Planned the major headings (and possibly sub-headings) of their report
Working with Your Students
At the beginning of the activity, discuss the project's rubric with your students. Once they are aware of expectations, work with them
on project due dates. You may want to have them complete a calendar or create a simple timeline with the project tasks and due
dates.
The slides in the Locate Information template are intended to prompt class discussion about information searching. You do not have
to use the template – you may teach the concepts and techniques in any way you choose. Make sure, however, that students know
about search engines, keywords, and keyword phrases before they begin to plan a search strategy.

Click for more tips on searching
The Bibliography
The bibliography slides and note cards are designed especially for students' first independent experience of research. While students
are asked to credit sources they are not required to complete formal bibliographical entries. If you wish them to include more
details when noting the source of information, you will need to adapt the existing template or provide students with your own.
What's Next?
Take time to discuss the questions on the What's Next? page. Depending on your curriculum objectives, allow students to choose
the type of information product best suited to their purpose.
Students should also choose how they use the notes that they produced.

Some students will want to print the notes two to a page - to have them available as they write the text for their information
product.
Show students how they can access the network printer, discussing how useful it is for output devices to be shared through
the school network.

Other students will use a digital copy only, toggling between the notes file and their document.
It is important to allow students to discover what the most effective learning method is for them.