Basics in Thesis Writing

1. Takingdownnotesandmaking
parentheticaldocumentation
Lesson7

2. introduction:
In doing library research:
● You need to be discriminating because your note cards
could only take in secondary data that provide direct
answers to support the thesis statement.
● Relevant secondary data need to be quoted
● Sources need to be cited in a research tool which is called
note card.

3. Lesson
● Note-taking is one skill that we should
develop and master as a researcher.
● It is your means of building up proofs and
evidences in order to make your research
credible and scholarly
● It is could be our basis in outlining our
ideas .

4. SeveralAdvantagesinnote-taking
● Unlike Photocopying and downloading, note
taking develops the habit of critical reading
and advance organizing.
● You only take down those that you think are
useful in your study
● This ideas are carefully selected and written in
your own words .
● They are also organized in the way you want
them to appear in your research paper, so you
will most likely avoid plagiarizing ideas.

5. Plagiarism
● It is an offense you commit when you
use words and ideas without properly
acknowledging the sources.
● Menasche (1997) classified plagiarism
into two:
■ Plagiarism of ideas
■ Plagiarism of Language

6. Plagiarismoflanguage:
● Happens when you lift verbatim a
part of an article or copy an entire
article without citing its sources
and claim it as your own.
● Directly lifted statements must be
enclosed in quotation marks to
signify that those words are not
your own

7. Plagiarismofideas
Plagiarism is an offense with serious
sanctions. Some universities expel students
who have committed the offense, or strip
graduates of their degree once they are
found guilty of plagiarizing their research
papers.
● Summarizing , paraphrasing and re-
organizing of ideas without citing the
sources.

8. Qualitiesofagoodnote:
Roth (1999) offers the criteria in
checking the quality of your notes:
a. Legibility
b. Accuracy
c. Completeness

9. Legibility
● Writing legibly means writing
clearly.
● Hasty scribbling is a big NO in
note-taking, unless you want to
have a hard time during the
rough drafting.

10. ACCURACY
● Accuracy means correctness of
data.
● It’s a must to note down facts and
figures as precisely as we can.
● Directly “quote” statements if
paraphrasing would sacrifice the
accuracy of your data.

11. completeness
● It is quite related with accuracy.
● This requires thoroughness on your part as
a researcher.
● Going back to sources because you did not
write your notes correctly is a waste of
time and energy.