No matter what you’re researching, you’re going to need to refer back to your notes. Because of that, it makes sense to organize them based on a common type. For history, SPICE (Society, Politics, Interaction with the Environment, Culture, Economy) is pretty good (imo) if you’re just starting out.
For me, I separate my notes into six categories (which, honestly, may increase):
This one is a bit of a no-brainier; anything that has to do with the history of a place/event goes into this category. Formation of nation/events leading up to The Event, what happened during the time of the nation/Event, major turning points, yada…..
This part is for major figures that pop in whatever you’re researching. Government Leaders, Game Changers, Important Leaders, or Cultural Changers go here.
If it has to do with culture-religion, customs, beliefs, traditions- it goes here. Careful that you’re not just listing everything as culture; make it sure that it actually served a function or a majority of the population did it.
For places like the Ottoman Empire or the Persians under Cyrus the Great, I recommend having Overarching Culture and {group’s} culture.
!!!!Depending on what you’re researching, you may or may not have this part.!!!!
Anyways, this is where you’ll put notes that have to do with myths of a culture/religion. This is more so for quick references, and in a way, you might be able to understand/analyze the culture a bit more by knowing what their stories are.
This is where you’re going to put notes that have to do with how the society was: hierarchically, were there slaves, was there a class system, how was the class system done, who were Lower and who was Higher gender-wise or was it egalitarian, etc.
This is where notes on politics go: what laws were there, who were the allies (and maybe why they were allies), who was in charge, what type of government system was there…. and, were militaristic things would go: what was the army like, what wars were fought etc.
Smoothing out the rough parts:
This is pretty much the part where you’re going to get down and dirty with our notes.
You need to be real with yourself at this point: Did what you took notes on help you, or was it just a complete waste? If it was a waste where the information you got was pretty shit, take it out. You don’t want to keep around information that is essentially useless because, well, it’s unnecessary too.
Also, I suggest rewriting your notes in your own voice; I would assume the majority of us would copy verbatim the source we’re taking notes on. Rewriting it in a way that sounds like you is going to show you whether or not you actually understand what you wrote or if you need to go back to the source and re-read it.
This is another part where you have to be super real with yourself.
After reading a source, take a moment and think: did the writer have a super obvious bias, or did you feel there was a lot of favoritism on one side, or was there a lack of information on a topic? If the answer is yes, you might want to note that by your source. Understanding that there is bias to your source is going to help you think of how good your notes are, and whether that information can be trusted. Imo, everything is going to have bias so you want the works that aren’t disgustingly bias.
Another thing is creditably. Where the source come from and who wrote it? I have an essay on here about the Perception of the Sex in the Near East. I can’t lie and tell you all that it is a creditable resource; it isn’t for two reasons. First, I have no degree or training in studying the Near East-all of my work comes from my own personal research. Second, this is not a website where there are editors or people who would check to see if there was an error with my information; there is no consequence for me misinforming someone. Both of these reasons makes my essays low on the creditably scale.
How much experience a person has with a topic increases their creditably along with their medium.
I would recommend checking the persons’ sources also.
Keep a record of your questions and your thinking as you research. This is honestly going to help you decide where you should go and keep you aware of what you are understanding, while also perhaps exposing your own personal bias.
Personally, I would even say it helps with making connections.
Honestly, if you want to know if what you’re saying if making sense talk to your friends about it. You’re going to see if what you need to figure out more and what you’re missing. There’s even a chance your friends are going to point you in a new direction that you haven’t thought of.
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