% Experimental example of how to write marginal notes
\documentclass[twoside]{article}

\setlength{\marginparwidth}{1.2in}
\let\oldmarginpar\marginpar
\renewcommand\marginpar[1]{\-\oldmarginpar[\raggedleft\footnotesize #1]%
{\raggedright\footnotesize #1}}


\begin{document}
\begin{flushright}
This is some text.\oldmarginpar{This is the old marginpar command.
This is the old marginpar command.}
\vspace{2cm}

This is some other text.\marginpar{This is the new marginpar command.
This is the new marginpar command.}
\end{flushright}
\end{document}