History

1. Brainstorm

Kick off your research by brainstorming keywords and ideas. This will speed up your topic development and help you remember good search techniques. Create a mind map, diagram, or list with Microsoft Word, Canva, Google Docs, or a piece of paper. 

2. Take notes

Keep track of your ideas and your sources to more easily pull quotes or synthesis ideas for your final product. Remember to always write down citations and cite quotes. Then you can easily plug in ideas while writing. Use Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Hypothes.is, or paper. 

3. Track citations

If keeping a list of citations on a Word or Google Sheets document works for you, great. To level up, try Zotero to collect, organize into files or with tags, and cite your research. Zotero has browser extensions that sync to Word and Google Docs. Also try zoterobib to quickly create a bibliography. Always double check the citations for style and completeness.