swimmermom3 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 How do your high school students organize their notes for research papers? Do they use note cards, put it all on the computer, or just write it in a notebook? For this student, I need the most efficient, no-nonsense method possible. He is organized and a logical thinker, if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I have my students use Noodle Bib. It is a program that keeps track of your sources, note cards & outlines for you. You can also connect it with Google Docs so that the paper is connected to the resources as well. It does a great job with the resources. When the student starts the paper/project on Noodle Tools, it prompts the student to pick either APA, MLA or Chicago style. Then, when the student enters the resource into the program, it asks a series of questions about the source (what type, author, publisher, etc.). Form this information, Noodle Tools will create your Works Cited list & it will be formatted correctly. When the student "writes" their note cards, they tie the note cards to the source so that you always know what to cite when you are writing the paper. You can arrange the note cards into piles, just like you can physical note cards. The piles can be arranged & rearranged an infinite number of times. You can arrange note cards within the piles as well. If you arrange the note cards into piles, you can then drag & drop the piles to the outline form & it will fill in the outline for you. All of this is available through the paid subscription, which I think is very reasonably priced (no, I am not affiliated with them in any way). As a teacher you can comment on any of the entries, sources and note cards. This helped when they were learning to evaluate resources. There is also a general comment box that I used for comments & suggestions. This is where I also noted missed deadlines so that the students would know how many points would be deducted from their grade for that reason. You can also connect Noodle Tools to Google Docs so that the paper itself can be tied back to the notes. When the student shares the paper with the teacher (I require this), the teacher can access it either through Noodle Tools or Google Docs. I have found Google Docs pretty easy to work with as far as commenting goes, you highlight the area you want to comment, then you write in the comment box. Students "resolve" comments when they are finished w/them so that you don't have to keep looking at them. Both the student & teacher have access to the comment stream so you can always find old comments & you can re-open them if you need to. This is my first semester using Noodle Tools with a class. As a teacher, I love it. The students have had varying responses to it. They are used to physical note cards & using Word, & it is hard for them to give up the familiar. Now, mind you, these same kids will text, hook my computer up to the projector for me, tell me how to fix problems, etc., so I was very surprised that they were so reluctant to give their paper up! I did tell them that it had to be in Noodle Bib to receive credit, which was great because everything is time stamped & it is an excellent accountability tool. The only time my students have to print their paper is for the final copy. This has saved me a lot of paper shuffling! There are a couple of other resources out there as well, so hopefully someone will chime in with other options for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I have my students use Noodle Bib. It is a program that keeps track of your sources, note cards & outlines for you. You can also connect it with Google Docs so that the paper is connected to the resources as well. It does a great job with the resources. When the student starts the paper/project on Noodle Tools, it prompts the student to pick either APA, MLA or Chicago style. Then, when the student enters the resource into the program, it asks a series of questions about the source (what type, author, publisher, etc.). Form this information, Noodle Tools will create your Works Cited list & it will be formatted correctly. When the student "writes" their note cards, they tie the note cards to the source so that you always know what to cite when you are writing the paper. You can arrange the note cards into piles, just like you can physical note cards. The piles can be arranged & rearranged an infinite number of times. You can arrange note cards within the piles as well. If you arrange the note cards into piles, you can then drag & drop the piles to the outline form & it will fill in the outline for you. All of this is available through the paid subscription, which I think is very reasonably priced (no, I am not affiliated with them in any way). As a teacher you can comment on any of the entries, sources and note cards. This helped when they were learning to evaluate resources. There is also a general comment box that I used for comments & suggestions. This is where I also noted missed deadlines so that the students would know how many points would be deducted from their grade for that reason. You can also connect Noodle Tools to Google Docs so that the paper itself can be tied back to the notes. When the student shares the paper with the teacher (I require this), the teacher can access it either through Noodle Tools or Google Docs. I have found Google Docs pretty easy to work with as far as commenting goes, you highlight the area you want to comment, then you write in the comment box. Students "resolve" comments when they are finished w/them so that you don't have to keep looking at them. Both the student & teacher have access to the comment stream so you can always find old comments & you can re-open them if you need to. This is my first semester using Noodle Tools with a class. As a teacher, I love it. The students have had varying responses to it. They are used to physical note cards & using Word, & it is hard for them to give up the familiar. Now, mind you, these same kids will text, hook my computer up to the projector for me, tell me how to fix problems, etc., so I was very surprised that they were so reluctant to give their paper up! I did tell them that it had to be in Noodle Bib to receive credit, which was great because everything is time stamped & it is an excellent accountability tool. The only time my students have to print their paper is for the final copy. This has saved me a lot of paper shuffling! There are a couple of other resources out there as well, so hopefully someone will chime in with other options for you! Thank you!!! :) One question... I have my son who uses Dragon Speak for typing (IEP accomodation). Can I use Dragon Speak with NoodleBib? I love the idea of using Google Docs for editing purposes as the "teacher" -- printing it and red ink notes by hand all over the page can be a pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thank you!!! :) One question... I have my son who uses Dragon Speak for typing (IEP accomodation). Can I use Dragon Speak with NoodleBib? I love the idea of using Google Docs for editing purposes as the "teacher" -- printing it and red ink notes by hand all over the page can be a pain. I have no idea, I'm not an expert, just a user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 A couple of weeks ago several people recommended Scrivener. I downloaded the trial to use for my Nanowrimo project and I'm loving it. One feature it has the some of the other programs don't is a corkboard, virtual index cards. Although it's set up as a writing program, it looks great for research papers. It also looks great for writing phobic kids who tend to lose papers. It has a simple learning curve, is available for PC or Mac, and is a one time purchase that you can use for the entire immediate family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Evernote.com is free and easy to use. Here are some blog posts on using it for research: http://blog.evernote.com/2011/02/11/evernote-for-students-the-ultimate-research-tool-education-series/ http://blog.evernote.com/2011/09/01/student-ryan-kessler-transformed-his-workflow-raised-his-gpa-and-left-his-textbooks-at-home-back-to-school-series/ If your student has smart phone they can take photos of relevant quotes in books, journals, etc and tag them with the source and topic or key word. Later they can sort their notes by those tags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 A couple of weeks ago several people recommended Scrivener. I downloaded the trial to use for my Nanowrimo project and I'm loving it. One feature it has the some of the other programs don't is a corkboard, virtual index cards. Although it's set up as a writing program, it looks great for research papers. It also looks great for writing phobic kids who tend to lose papers. It has a simple learning curve, is available for PC or Mac, and is a one time purchase that you can use for the entire immediate family. :iagree: I too downloaded the NaNoWriMo trial edition and 14,000 words later, I am in love. I will buy it when NaNo ends. We have 4 computers here and the license allows you to install it on all of them. They also have an education discount :). My kids are just finishing their first semester research papers, but I have every intention of having them use Scrivener next semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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