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The following explores one way to collect information for a technical writing project. The notecard application featured here is NoodleTools

NoodleTools does not provide a free trial for students; the yearly subscription is $15 USD. See NoodleTools

Note: NoodleTools was originally called NoodleBib. Most references to NoodleBib work for NoodleTools.

Start a Project in NoodleTools

Note: This segment is based on NoodleTools: Create a new project. katies50mom

In a NoodleTools project, you can describe your project ("recycling waste plastic"), develop its thesis, make bibiographic entries for potentially useful information sources, create notecards, develop the outline, and generate the rough draft—all consolidated in NoodleTools.

  1. With NoodleTools open, click Create a New Project. View
  2. Select a bibliographic style (for example, APA Starter). View
  3. Click Research question / thesis statement, and enter your research quesion and thesis answer. Show here are the blank form and a filled-out example: View

Why did NT forget my thesis ques/answer?

Add Sources and Citations to Your NoodleTools Project

Creating bibliographic entries manually can be tedious and difficult: you have to sequence the elements correctly, use periods and commas correctly, know what should be init cap or italics, and so on. NoodleTools prompts you for all that and formats your entries according to the style you've chosen.

  1. Now, to start adding the resources and citations for those sources you've found for your project, click New Source.
  2. To add a source, choose, for example, So, about all that plastic in the ocean..., click Website and then click Web Page for this example: View
  3. When you click Web Page, you see a detailed form that asks for the following:
    • Website: URL publication dates and access dates
    • For the source mentioned above, you would enter https://newatlas.com/plastic-ocean-cleanup/50277/ for URL; June 29, 2017 for publication date ; and June 15, 2023 for your access date.
    • Web Page: Contributors (authors) and web page title
    • Also for the source mentioned above, you would select Author under Contributors; enter Nick for First name; Lavars for Last name; and So, about all that plastic in the ocean... for Web page or document/article title.
    • Website: (again):
    • NoodleTools refers to the owner of the website. In this case, you would enter https://newatlas.com/.
    • Annotation: According to NoodleTools, "annotations in a citation form should include a concise summary of the source and an evaluation of its relevance and usefulness to your research. The annotation should be in your own words and not copied from the source. They help you track your research process.

      For the source mentioned above, you might enter:
      Plastic pollution has become a massive oceanic crisis, with millions of tons entering the sea annually—yet only about 1% is visible as floating microplastics. Most remains unaccounted for, potentially harming marine life and ecosystems. While projects like Boyan Slat’s Ocean Cleanup aim to collect ocean plastic, many scientists question their effectiveness and environmental impact. Researchers emphasize that cleanup alone won't solve the problem. Real change requires reducing plastic production and consumption at the source. Scientists urge shifts toward zero-waste communities, stronger regulations, and public commitment to stopping plastic before it enters the oceans, calling it our only viable long-term solution.
    Fill out the NoodleTools citation form as fully as you can: you'll need them for the bibliographic citation, which is next.

Create Notecards with NoodleTools

It might make intuitive sense to think that you must have an outline before you can start start making notecards. But according to NoodleTools, "Within the Notecards section, you can access an outline view and add, rename, and rearrange topics and subtopics." But still you need some idea of the subtopics to write about in this research document on plastic pollution. Just collecting sources in NoodleTools would have given you plenty of ideas. For the plastic pollution project, here are a few:

How much is there?
Where does it come from?
Where can it be found?
How is it disposed of?
Can it be recycled?
Is harmful to human health, to the environment?

Let's make some notecards on just the amounts subtopic (how much is there?)

  • One of the first steps in creating a notecard is to assign a title:
    Subtopic ideaNotecard title
    How much is there?Total volume
    Where does it come from?Sources
    Where can it be found?Locations
    How is it disposed of?Disposal
    Can it be recycled?Recycling
    Is harmful to the environment?Enviromental harm
    Is harmful to human health?Human health harm
  • How much is there?
    Where does it come from?
    Where can it be found?
    How is it disposed of?
    Can it be recycled?
    Is harmful to human health, to the environment?

    To create a notecard:

    1. In the main page of your NoodleTools project, click Notecards:
    2. In the next screen, click New Notecard, which will then display this form:
    3. As you can see from the above, you can choose one or more ways of

    Noodletools : Step #5 : Add a Notecard Quabbin Media. best, but contradictory!

    how-to-create-a-notecard

    NoodleTools Tutorials: Notecards

    Quick guide for students has an animation of notecard

    Develop an Outline with NoodleTools

    NoodleTools How-to Guide: Create & Use an Outline

    Using NoodleTools to Create an Outline

    Generate a Rough Draft with NoodleTools

    1. proj details UP! View
    2. In the same dialog, write a brief description of your project (for example, methods of recycling waste plastic). View
    3. Click Create Project.
    4. To access this project you just created, click Projects in the menu bar, and then click the link on the name of your newly created project under My Projects.

    Note: NoodleTools presents a lock-step system for going through the process of ....

    Develop a Bibliography with NoodleTools


    Related Information

    A particulary good tutorial on the traditional note-taking method has been developed at Bonita Springs Middle Language Arts Department. You can go download it here: How to Organize a Research Paper using Notecards. Makes you want to write a research paper!

    NoodleTools: Create a new project. katies50mom
    NoodleTools: Create Outlines.Caleb Collins
    NoodleTools Help Desk
    NoodleTools: Notecards and Outlines. Tiffin University
    NoodleTools: Notecards. noodletools.com
    NoodleTools: Write a Notecard. noodletools.com
    NoodleTools: Make and Use Notecards. katies50mom
    NoodleTools: Notecards and Outlines. mmrhslibrary
    NoodleTools: Works Cited. Rachel Leisure

    Take a look at the old-fashioned way of taking notes, the way it was "supposed to be done": Note Taking for Technical Reports.

    I would appreciate your thoughts, reactions, criticism regarding this chapter: your responseDavid McMurrey.