record is a study method or personal research which serves to record information about books, texts or articles. The records help in understanding the content and are also useful for later consultation.
The entries are usually made in cards and contain summarized information about the work read, such as authorship, content and where the original material can be found. Filings can also be made in notebooks, notebooks and digital files.
A record serves to help assimilate and memorize content and is widely used for academic research such as TCCs, master's dissertations and doctoral theses. They are also very useful for searching the contents already studied, as it contains the summary with all the important information about the texts and books.
In addition to tools for personal study, records are also often used as assessment tools in university disciplines.
How to make a record?
A record is a method of personal study and there are no specific rules for its construction, but some guidelines can help in the elaboration process.
Choose the format
Before starting a record, you must choose a format: paper cards, notebook, folders, virtual file or specific applications for that. Consider your preferences and needs when choosing a format, each option has its advantages and disadvantages.
For example, writing information by hand makes it easier to memorize the content, but it can be more difficult to find the information if you accumulate a large amount of tokens.
set your goals
After choosing the format, define the objectives of your record. You can just write down the main ideas and concepts of the texts, you can make brief comments about your perceptions or you can also extract excerpts from the texts.
You must make your registration considering your study objectives. If you are doing exploratory readings on a topic, you can only put keywords and ideas summarized in the file.
But if you are looking for arguments from different authors on certain topics, it may be more interesting to write down excerpts from the book or rewrite them in your own words.
Note material references and location
The first piece of information that must be registered in a listing is the bibliographic reference of the work you are using. If you don't register properly, you may have difficulty finding the text in the future.
If the registration is for academic research, the ideal is to write down the references according to the ABNT standards, in this case, the NBR 6023 standard. Also, don't forget to write where the original material is in case you need to refer to it again.
write the ideas
Once the references are noted, read the material and begin writing down the information in the body of the text. Remember that the filing is for quick queries about the content, so the more organized and summarized the information, the more efficient the filing will be.
Recording model
There is no single filing model, the reader can use their creativity to create the structure that best suits their needs and goals.
One of the possible structures is the traditional lined cards, where references are usually placed in the header and the location of the work in the last line. In the middle of the sheet are written the ideas and excerpts of the text read.
Types of registration
Listings are usually divided into three different types: bibliographic, content, and citation. Understand:
- Content or text record: it is a summary of the main ideas of the text.
- Bibliographic record: more like a review, it brings the main ideas of the text related to the reader's perceptions and interpretations.
- Citation registration: it is the literal transcription of excerpts from the texts, which are written in quotation marks.
Below is an example of a completed record. In this case, we have a citation record:
Tips for preparing records
- To facilitate the organization, it is possible to create standards for recording information, such as the use of colors, symbols and keywords that optimize the structuring of ideas;
- In the case of citation records, it is important to be careful to reproduce the sentences exactly as in the original document and to avoid problems of plagiarism;
- You can note in your record the references of other materials dealing with the same subject, for example, videos, podcasts and other texts.
Learn more about ABNT standards for academic work and examples of formatting ABNT rules.
See also the meaning of The Types of Search.
