NoodleTools for Students: Create & Use Notecards

How to create a new notecard

From inside your Project, in the left-hand sidebar, click Notecards.

In the upper right, click "New Notecard"

2. A new notecard opens for editing.

a)  In the Title field, choose a short description (1-3 words) that represent the main idea of the notecard. You might choose to wait and decide on a good title for the notecard once you’ve filled in the notecard content, like your paraphrase or summary.  
b)  Select the source from the Source dropdown list and specify the URL and page numbers if any in the fields to the right.
c) It will help you sort your cards if you use tags for all the main topics/ideas.  Add them here.

d)  if relevant, add the page number you're taking the information from

e)  Direct quotation field ("Copy, paste and annotate here"). 
              Some helpful hints:

• Copying the original material will assure that you will always be able to reread or review the author’s words and logic even after you have returned a book or closed a webpage.
• Aim to put one idea into each notecard (as opposed to just copying an entire article into the field).
• Images and videos on the Web can be embedded in your notecard within this field.
• Take the time to reread and mark up the author’s words with text colors and highlighting; the better you understand the quote, the easier it will be to paraphrase or summarize the author’s idea in the “Paraphrase or summary” field. 

f)  In the Paraphrase or Summary field ("In your own words"), your instructor may provide specific directions for what is required in terms of paraphrasing or summarizing the material you collect.

g) The most important box-- Ideas field ("Original thinking here"). These are the responses that help you develop a personal perspective.  Why is this information important or relevant? How does it connect with other ideas?  What questions does it raise?

When you edit a notecard, your changes are automatically saved. To revert to an earlier version, click "Manage versions." A new window will display the current version and previously saved versions. To select an earlier version, click the date and time of the version to revert the notecard to that version saved. To return to your notecard, click "Manage versions." 

8. Click Save and Close to close the notecard. 

On the Notecards screen, the new notecard appears in the upper left corner of your tabletop view. On the Sources screen, you can show or hide notecards for a particular reference by clicking “Show” or “Hide” in the Notecards column.

When the notecard appears, if you hover over it,  several icons appear that let you work with the notecard.

The Color palette lets you color code your cards--you can do this by topic, by source, or by any other categories you decide.

The 3 dots options let you Pin the card to the top of a pile, rename it or delete.

The Cues tag lets you add reminders to a card that needs more work.

The hashtag lets you add tags that you have already used on other cards.

Source  lets you link sources to the card

Pile lets you create a group of cards on similar topics.