PERRLA's Research Notes make it easy to document your research and create citations as you go – so everything is ready when you start writing.
What is a Research Note?
Research Notes live inside your PERRLA papers in the Research tab, or inside your references in the Reference module. They let you document your research directly in PERRLA without switching between documents or note cards.
Each Research Note can contain a quote, a thought, or whatever text you need. You can also create a citation for each Research Note.
Once you create a citation for a note, it follows that note throughout your entire paper. When you drag your Research Notes into your outline or directly into your paper, the citation comes along automatically.
How to create Research Notes inside your paper
- Go to the Research tab in one of your papers.
- Add a reference to your paper.
- Click + Add Note beneath the reference.
- Type your note in the new field.
- Press Enter to save.
To add a citation, click Add Citation in the bottom-right corner of the Research Note. Add the citation's information and click Create Citation. The citation will follow your Research Note wherever you use it.
Any Research Notes you create for a reference will automatically be available for that reference in future papers.
How to create Research Notes in the Reference Module
If you aren't working on a paper directly, you can create Research Notes for a reference using the References module in the PERRLA Online sidebar.
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Open the References module in PERRLA Online.
It's in the left-side navigation bar on any page. -
Click to open the reference you want.
If you don't have it yet, you can create a new reference. - Go to the Research tab.
- Click + Add research note at the top.
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Type your note and press Enter to save.
Tip: Press Shift + Enter to save and immediately start a new note.
Using Research Notes in a paper
Adding Research Notes to your Outline
In the Outline tab inside your paper, open the Research Notes panel to see all the notes for your references. You can drag and drop them into your outline wherever you need.
You can also use the + icon on a Research Note to add it at your cursor's current location in the outline.
Using Research Notes in the Editor
In the Editor tab, open the Research Notes side panel by clicking Research Notes in the ribbon. You'll see a read-only version of your notes from the Research tab.
Drag and drop Research Notes directly into your paper – PERRLA will add the note's content and citation into the body of the paper automatically.
Once you add a Research Note to your paper, its background turns green so you know it's been used. You can still add it again – the green background is just a visual indicator.
You can also mark notes as used or unused by hovering over the note and clicking the checkmark on the right side.
Combining Research Notes with your Outline
Research Notes work well with PERRLA's Outline Editor. Learn more about the Outline Editor here.