Learning how to write research papers and essays can be overwhelming for students with low vision or print disabilities that impact access to standard print. Outlining papers is something that requires a strong digital workflow for organizing text and keeping track of notes, and I have found Microsoft OneNote to be a helpful tool for outlining research papers with low vision and dysgraphia. As part of my Writing Success series, here is how I outline research papers with the free OneNote application for various projects.
How I set up OneNote for organizing research projects
When it comes to writing essays for school or research papers, I love using Microsoft OneNote because I can break down parts of the project into notebook sections or pages, and also have the option to synchronize my notes across multiple devices. I can also add multimedia content, such as audio recordings, images, files, hyperlinks, and drawings, which is helpful for gathering sources, and having all of the OneNote pages in one place is easier for me to navigate than a giant text document or multiple documents scattered around.
Instead of adding onto my class notebook where I take notes for lectures, I prefer to start fresh and create a new notebook specifically for a paper or major project, especially if I plan to share the notes with my professor or another classmate. When titling a new notebook, I use the class name and assignment name, such as “ENGH 302 AD Paper” and then create two sections labeled “Planning” and “Sources” for organizing pages.
Related links
- How I Use Microsoft OneNote With Low Vision
- Free Digital Bookmarking Tools For Low Vision
- How To Use Dictation As Assistive Technology With Mainstream Devices
Instructions for creating notebooks in OneNote
To create a new notebook in OneNote:
- Use the Ctrl-O shortcut in Windows, or go to the list of Notebooks within the iOS or Android app and tap “+ Notebook”
- Type a name for the notebook, e.g. “ENGH 302 AD Paper”
- Select the “Create” button
To create a new section within a notebook in OneNote:
- Open the Notebook
- Select “Add Section” or use keyboard shortcut Ctrl-T
- Type a name for the section, e.g. “Planning”
- Select the enter key to save the name
- To add a new page, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-N or select “Add New Page”
Related links
- Keyboard shortcuts in OneNote – Microsoft Support
- Why I Prefer My Schoolwork Digitally: Updated Edition
- Implementing Shared Folders For Accessible Materials
Documenting a brain dump
I use the “Planning” section of my notebooks to share outlines, graphic organizers, or other organizational strategies for making sense of information. Before I start taking notes on any sources or outlining anything, I find it helpful to do a “brain dump” page where I document what I already know about the topic, questions I would like my paper to address, or potential headings/keywords that I can use. This is very similar to how I write posts for my website, and I use this time to identify existing knowledge gaps and plan for how I want to approach this topic.
Sometimes, my first brain dump will take place on a whiteboard, either a dry-erase board or something like Microsoft Whiteboard. I can document both of these things by either scanning my dry-erase board with Microsoft Lens or copying a link to the digital whiteboard in my notebook. Can I read my handwriting super well when whiteboarding? No, but the physical act of moving my hand and writing with a marker/stylus can help get ideas flowing, and then I will switch from writing on a whiteboard to typing on a keyboard to document thoughts that I can read later on.
Related links
- How I Write Research Papers On Accessibility Topics
- How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes
- How To Run Effective Web Searches
- How I Use Microsoft Whiteboard With Low Vision
- How I Use Microsoft Lens With Low Vision
Identifying research questions and goals
After the brain dump is finished, I go back through what I have written and identify what research questions and goals I have for writing something. I tend to start out by writing very broad topics, and then narrow them down to something more specific, identifying 2-3 questions that I want my paper to answer really, really well. Here is what that process looked like when writing a paper on assistive technology for reading digital text:
- Big idea: Assistive technology options for reading digital text
- Target population: Low vision, students
- Modality: Primarily visual (large print, custom displays)
- Segments: Customizing the appearance of text, annotating existing text, file formats, reading applications, page layouts
- Examples of text: eBooks, web articles
- Questions to answer: Options for changing the appearance of text, how to customize text layouts, examples of accessibility settings/assistive technology that make text easier to read
By identifying the information I wanted to cover and narrowing down my topic to include my target population, types of content I want to include, and segments for organizing this information further, I can create a more meaningful outline that answers my research questions.
Related links
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
- How I Use My eReader For School and Online Classes
- Mainstream eReader Apps and Low Vision Accessibility
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- How I Write Research Papers On Accessibility Topics
Taking notes for research papers
In the Sources section of my notebook, I create a new page for each source I will be working with for my paper, using the source title as the title of a new page. I also include the citation or DOI at the top of the page so I can go back and find the information later if needed.
When it comes to taking notes, I often use the guiding research questions and goals to write down relevant information from the paper in my own words and avoid copy/pasting directly from the page into my own notes. I try to write in complete sentences when possible, as this helps with putting together the outline, and most of my notes take the form of an unordered list with bullet points.
Related links
- How I Create Citations For Research Papers With Low Vision
- How I Take Notes During Video Lectures With Low Vision
- How I Manage Dysgraphia In Online Classes
Creating an outline for organizing notes
Depending on the length of the paper, I create a new page in the Planning section for my outline, or create sub-pages and make each paragraph/heading its own page. OneNote has options for incorporating heading levels into pages, which is great for organizing sections and main ideas.
If I am writing everything on one page, I use Heading 1 to group my “big ideas” and Heading 2 for the individual sections or paragraphs. For example, I might use the “big idea” of customizing the appearance of text for Heading 1, and then Heading 2 will feature smaller sections like font styles, adjusting text spacing, and text columns.
Under Heading 2, I will copy/paste bullet points from my Sources pages that connect back to that topic, and rearrange them so that they flow in a logical reading order. These essentially form the paragraphs of my paper, and I can rearrange different topics as I go or check to make sure I am not repeating information.
Related links
Using color and custom tags to label sources
To keep track of where different bullet point notes come from, I create my own customized tags for each source that include a colorful icon or other way of distinguishing information by color, which I find helpful for tracking how often I am using different sources throughout the paper. I add the tags when copy/pasting from a source into my outline, and name the tags after their sources, which may be the shortened title of the paper or an author name.
To add custom tags to OneNote:
- Open the Insert Tags menu on the Home ribbon, or use keyboard shortcut Ctrl-H, T (press ctrl-H, and then press T)
- Select Customize Tags
- Select New Tag
- Customize the display name, symbol, highlight color, and other details
- Select OK
- To assign a keyboard shortcut of Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, or similar, select a tag from the All Tags menu and move the tag up or down in the list to assign a keyboard shortcut
- Select OK when finished
Another benefit of using the tags is that I can identify multiple sources that may include overlapping information, or sources that I ended up not using at all and can remove from the final references/citation page.
Related links
- High Contrast and Low Vision
- Highlighting Information With Low Vision
- Adapting Math Symbols: Math Problems and Low Vision
Writing the introduction/conclusion
Even though writing an introduction and/or conclusion isn’t necessarily part of outlining a research paper, I find it helpful to use my outline to guide how I write these parts of the paper since it provides a high-level summary of different topics. I wait until after I have written all of the other paragraphs before writing the introduction, as it is difficult to introduce a paper I haven’t officially “met” yet, and make sure that the conclusion reflects all of the different “big ideas” and headings that I have incorporated elsewhere.
More tips for outlining research papers with OneNote
- Another thing I really like about OneNote is that I can use Immersive Reader’s simplified reading display to read my text in large print. To learn more, read How I Use Microsoft Immersive Reader With Low Vision
- Need help finding sources in accessible formats? Read How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
- Want to read more posts in the Writing Success series? Visit Writing Success Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes or view the Reading/Writing category at Reading And Writing Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes
Published April 2, 2020. Updated August 2024