Research Using NoodleTools
Step 1: Create a Noodle Tools account:
- Go to Utah's Online Library.
- Click on Noodle Tools.
- Click on Create a Personal ID.
- Choose your school and year of graduation and create a user ID and password. Fill in the other information and click on Register.
Step 2: Create Your Project:
- Click on Create a New Project.
- Choose your citation style and level and give your project a title (description).
- Then click on Create Project.
Step 3: Add your Research Question and Thesis Statement
Step 4: Create a To-Do List (if you want to) to help organize your project
- Click on Add to-do item.
- Give the item a description and due date. Click submit
- Add to-do items for each task.
Step 5: Create Your Bibliography
- Click on Works Cited under Components or Bibliography in the top navigation bar.
- Select a citation type and click on Create Citation.
- Check to make sure you have chosen the correct citation type.
- Fill out as much information as you can find about your source. If your source provides it's own citation, you can copy and paste the citation.
- Provide an annotation to help you remember the source. This may also be where you provide information about the source quality.
- Click on Submit when you have put all the appropriate information in.
- Repeat for all of your sources.
Step 6: Take notes by creating Notecards.
- Click on Notcards in the navigation bar at the top.
- Click on New Notecard to create a new notecard.
- Give your notecard a title and select the source from your bibliography.
- Direct Quotation: Paste the text you are noting. This would be a direct quotation.
- Paraphrase or Summary: Restate the idea in your own words.
- My Ideas: Write your own interpretation or reflection on what you've learned. Ask questions or identify what you want to know more about. Write about how you're going to use this information.
Step 7: Organize your notecards
- Drag your notecards onto the tabletop.
- Organize them by dragging them into piles. Name your piles.
- Tag notecards. (Ctrl+click will select a notecard.)
Step 8: Create an Outline
- List your topics and subtopics.
- Drag your notecards to the proper place in the outline.
Step 9: Use Your Outline to Write Your Research Paper
Step 10: Export Your Bibliography from NoodleTools
- Click on Bibliography in the Navigation Bar.
- Click on the Print/Export button in the top left corner.
- Choose "Print/Export to Word."
- Open the file.
- Copy and paste the Bibliography into your research paper.
Help Resources for NoodleTools
NoodleTools Help - Includes tutorials in a variety of formats and user guides