Research Organization

Principles

1. "I don't have enough time in my busy life to have trouble finding a note, a piece of paper, an email, a computer file, an idea or to spend time recovering them when they are lost." In other words, nobody has time not to be organized!

2. Do a favor to yourself-in-the-future. (Analogy: It feels better to come home after a day's work and not find dirty dishes that you left in the sink that morning.)

Tips

1. Use a notebook that you can carry with you at all times. Use the book-not pieces of paper-to write notes on. Number the pages and make an index at the end so you can locate these notes.
If you do much of your work on a computer, still carry a notebook for freewriting, thoughts, and leads that arise away from the computer. Those of you who find it hard to make space for reflection should stay ten minutes after any session or meeting with an advisor to write while your thoughts are fresh.

2. Keep your ears and eyes open to good ideas, but customize the development of your research organization to your own situation and foibles. To this end, use a worksheet based on the table below to take stock of your research organization and report on it to get feedback from your advisor and others:
a. Spend some time to fill in (or update) the table below, then mark 5 new things with a * that you plan to implement in the next 5 weeks. (Making a longer "to do" list makes it more likely that no one thing gets addressed conscientiously.)

	Organization
	of materials on paper.........	of computer files & records...........
Things that I do that are good (+) or that I avoid as inefficient (-) . . .
Suggestions of others about good (+) and inefficient (-) practices . . .

b. append the following information:
* Organization of your computer files. (Be as specific as possible in listing the directory or folder structure you're using.)
* Organization of your paper files. (Be as specific as possible in listing the sections you're dividing your material into & how you're using any other notebook etc.)