Try to organize your notes as much as possible. You can approach this task structurally (i.e. for each book, article or source) or thematically. Be warned, however, that it is unwieldy and messy to use loose sheets of paper or notebooks for individual sources. Avoid chaos and use one of the many available programs for keeping track of your literature and sources, such as RefWorks, Endnote or Zotero. These reference managers or research tools can help you organize your sources by putting reference information in folders, for example, and by entering the pertinent page numbers. The ‘Managing data and literature’ tab on Utrecht University library website (www.library.uu.nl) provides links to such reference management tools. For information on how to use these tools, click the ‘More help with managing’ menu item to access the library’s ‘libguides’ on the subject. You can also use the University Library Personal Library tool, which allows you to store an overview of your references on the site. For more information, you can consult the libguide on the subject.

Whatever you do, make sure that everything you jot down – whether it is the title of a book or a note about some author’s views – is findable. There is nothing worse than coming across a crucial note in the middle of the writing process and not being able to trace its origin. Therefore, it is imperative that you include author, title and page number every time you make a note about a text; the archive, catalog number and item number when you make a note about a primary source; and the exact URL and access date when you jot down something about an online source.