Organize, Organize

Identify the main ideas or subtopics of the research questions or theses.

These two approaches may be helpful:

• Use the list of keywords and working vocabulary that you recorded while gaining an overview of the topic. Write down a word or phrase capturing each main idea. These may be used as categories for notetaking.
• Create a cluster diagram by hand or using Inspiration. This diagram should visually represent the main ideas of the topic that will be used as categories for notetaking. One of the advantages to creating a visual representation of the topic is that it can help identify or clarify relationships among parts of the topic.