Report Writing for Students
Help on How to Write a Research Paper for Elementary School Students
Step 4: Sort Notes
You’ve got all these notes but what do you do with them? You might not realize it now, but a major portion of your project is already done.
Before you can start writing, you should review your information.
- Start by stacking all your notes in a pile.
- Go through the notes in the pile, one by one. Sort notes with related information into their own stacks.
For example, look at these notes. The first note is about hornets stripping bark to get sap. The second has information about how hornets will prey on bees and other insects. Do these notes belong in the same stack? You would think so because both are about the food a hornet finds – its diet.
Now, look at these notes. The first note is about living in hollow trees but the next is about hunting in groups. Where should these notes go?
Since the first note isn’t about diet but where hornets live, you’d start a new pile – habitat. The next note about hunting could go in its own group or the diet pile since it’s about how hornets get their food.
Try to sort your notes into least 4 or 5 stacks. These will become your topics later when you’re ready to write.
As you make stacks with notes that are related, be sure to reserve one stack for notes that you can’t relate to others. You’ll label this stack “Miscellaneous” later because it contains notes that have no connection with other notes.
