Taking notes on your reading is a crucial part of research. Taking notes not only helps you remember and find information later; deciding what to record and putting it in your own words will help you understand and think critically about what you read.

• Begin with your research question. As you read, note down information that could help you answer your question.
• Use your own words whenever possible; if you do record quotes, always use quotation marks and include the page number.
• Be organized. Put all your notes in one place that you will be able to refer to later. Label your notes with a citation to the source you're reading and include page numbers as you go along. Try to choose one notetaking system and stick with it.

While it would be nice if there was one source to rule them all, all the information you need for your research project is rarely found in one place.

One Ring 3D render by Peter J. Yost, modified by Dylan Juhl CC BY-SA 4.0

You will need a variety of sources from a variety of disciplines by a variety of authors. Think about your information needs:

• What discipline or subject would your topic be categorized as (sociology, education, chemistry, fine arts, etc.)?
  • This determines what subject-specific resources to use
• How would it be presented (newspaper, journal article, book, website, etc.)?
  • This determines where you look (Library Search, databases, Google, social media)
• Who probably created it (researcher, government, corporation, community member, etc.)?
  • This determines where you look and prepare you to evaluate a source.

Once you can answer the questions above, plan your searches. 

• Breakup a topic into different searches because there may not be a result that cover all your keywords
• Try the same search in different places to make sure you are finding everything available
• Try different searches in the same place because information is organized differently in different databases

You may discover that there is no information on your topic or, at least not the information you were looking for. That doesn't mean you have to completely change your topic. Instead of setting aside all that work and starting over, pivot your topic to something you have found information on or break up your topic into separate searches.

For example, if your topic is Birdo from the Mario franchise as one of the first transgender characters in a video game, searching for "Birdo" or even "Birdo Mario" in Library Search, won't return any relevant results. However, searching for "transgender video game" returns results about transgender representation in video games, how transgender gamers interact with video games, and the ethics of game development. Searching separately for "Mario video game" will return results about the Mario franchise and gaming history. Though there were no results specifically about Birdo as a transgender character in Library Search, results from the two separate searches provide enough relevant material.