After reading the blog post on Evernote I wanted to detail the way I use Evernote for storing the information ready for writing an assignment and creating the reference list.
Evernote comes with a range of different ways of capturing information, and its ability to synchronise across across computers and mobile devices makes it a highly efficient and effective way of recording and storing information for assignments. In order to demonstrate this further I wanted to detail the steps I complete
Before beginning to read for an assignment, it is important that you ensure you are ready to utilise Evernote. In order to do this there are a few steps that it is worth taking the time to complete.
Create a new notebook.-I always create a new notebook called the name of the assignment or the general area of the assignment. For example, when completing an assignment on the importance of scientific enquiry, I would create a new notebook called ‘Scientific Enquiry’. This new notebook is often created within a parent notebook, for example I have a notebook called University, and within this notebook I have one called Science and the new notebook is nested within this one. This not only helps me to remember which notebook the work needs to go into, it also helps with the the overall organisation of my work
Ensure you have the webclipper installed – Evernote has a range of ‘clippers’ that allows you to clip web pages or store items from RSS feeds. It will assist your overall workflow if these are installed so that you can clip to Evernote from your web browser
Workflow – once these basic steps have been completed then you will be able to begin to use Evernote to collect your reading material
- Whenever I start reading a new book, I initially record within a note the reference information. This includes, the author and date, the title of the book and the place and publisher. This allows me to reference this book correctly in my reference list at the end of the assignment.
- As I read, any relevant information is recorded within the note, including the page number – although I may note use the information as a direct quote, I will have the relevant information if needed.
- Webpages can be clipped directly into Evernote. Once added the note will add the date that it was clipped on. This again is important information for referencing later. Clipping the page also allows you to read the content at a later date.
- Using the app on your iphone and/or iPad also allows you to take photographs of items and/or voice memos that can then to saved within your working notebook.
Working with Evernote in this way allows me to keep all the relevant material for my assignment in one place and easily accessible in the future. It also means that all the information I need for referencing is stored and available when creating my reference list.
