CARP Note Cards

Your CARP Recipe

Requirements

• 40 3X5 note cards from…• At least five sources– One book (print!)– One article—scholarly, academic! – Three other sources (Internet, interviews,

documentaries, etc.)

Credibility• All notes must be from reliable, credible, complex sources• I will deduct beaucoup points if I deem a source inadequate…so if

you’re not sure about a source, you should probably find something better.

• Off limits: – Wikipedia– About.com– Answers.yahoo.com– Encyclopedias– Heroesandkillers.com– Textbooks– Most blogs (Blogs are often purely opinion-based, so it is best to avoid them).

• Refer to Evaluating Sources Handout (on Quia)

What to look for

• Answers to your research question• Your paper has to be argumentative, so you should look

for information that helps you make an argument. • For example, if you are answering a question about the

influence of someone or something, you should find notes about the many influences of this person/thing, especially the influences that seem the most prominent/important.

• If you are answering a question about why someone or something should be remember, you should take notes on the many characteristics of this person/thing, especially characteristics that seem the most memorable/important.

What to write on a note card

• Record information that will help you build your argument.

• One key fact or quote per note card. • Find a diverse spread of information so you have a lot to

work with. You may not end up using everything in your actual paper.

• Paraphrase information. • Use direct quotes sparingly—only when the rhetorical

value of the quote supersedes the information itself. • Be sure to take notes from at least five sources, fitting the

aforementioned criteria.

Sample Note Card

• Sub-Topic (Categorization) (Source Page #)

• Notes:

Also turn in a Works Cited Page

• Please refer to Marinating Your Carp handout • You are responsible for using this handout, as well

as the OWL at Purdue Website, to correctly format citations.

• On your note cards, you need to include correct parenthetical citations—which usually consist of the author’s last name and page number.

• The Works Cited Page MUST be formatted properly and must include all the sources referenced in your note cards.

A few Works Cited tidbits• The title of the page is centered, but not underlined or italicized• Do NOT use a complete MLA heading on your Works Cited Page. All

you need is your last name and page number in the upper right-hand corner.

• Use a hanging indent: Paragraph—special—hanging• Sources should be alphabetized. • Double-space the page. • General OWL Works Cited info:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/– Along left-hand side of page, find your source type (Book, Periodical,

Electronic) and format accordingly.

More guidelines for the Works Cited to come tomorrow.

Note Card Rubric

• 40 cards filled with meaningful, relevant, specific, organized, cited information that is clearly leading toward an answer to the research question ….20 pts.– MUST be formatted properly. Please refer to this

PowerPoint and/or the CARP packet. • Works Cited present, in correct MLA format; all sources

are of adequate quality; all sources are used on cards …5 pts.– MUST be formatted properly. Please refer to OWL at

Purdue and Marinating Your Carp. • Total: 25 pts.