Note-Taking Apps

Evernote

• Evernote allows for taking notes and creating notebooks which may be accessed via web or app. Video tutorials for Mac and Windows are on Evernote’s official YouTube channel. The official website has a guide for using the features of Evernote.

OneNote

• OneNote allows for taking notes and creating notebooks which may be accessed via web or app. Microsoft provides video tutorials at its website in addition to a guide on how to create a notebook.

Reference Managers

Mendeley

• Save webpages, journal articles, books, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and more to an account within Mendeley. Mendeley will automatically import the bibliographic information of these items or users may manually add the bibliographic information.

Mendeley provides help guides and a support center for using its features.

Users seeking video tutorials may search for Mendeley tutorials on YouTube.

Zotero

• Save webpages, journal articles, books, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and more to an account within Zotero. Zotero will automatically import the bibliographic information of these items or users may manually add the bibliographic information. Researchers seeking to collect legal information may find Jurism (which is based on Zotero) useful.

Zotero provides a guide on how to use its features.

Users seeking video tutorials may search for Zotero tutorials on YouTube.

How to Take Notes

Formats

• Researchers may jot down notes as ideas occur to them. Researchers may also organize the notes as they are writing them. Miami University in Ohio and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have webpages dedicated to Note-Taking Styles and Common Note-taking Methods, respectively. Common formats for taking notes include outlining, mindmapping, writing sentences, writing in the Cornell Method, and creating charts.

Templates

• Researchers may create their own note-taking templates or download templates from a source such as Freeology.com which has templates for note-taking including formats for graphic organizers and Cornell Notes.