Scholarly Communication and Publishing
What does getting organized look like?
Throughout your research process, you may be working with many different files across devices. This page describes tools and techniques for organizing your research materials.
Planning Your Project
- Project CharterProject Charter is a template designed to help users plan out each stage of their project, from what kinds of data they need to collect, their methods of analysis, their intended audience, and more.
Organizing Your Files
When organizing your files for research, it's important to review and follow best practices for data organization. Research Data Service at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign provides a list of data organization best practices, including using systematic naming, tracking all versions of your data, saving your data in plain text formats, and adding metadata to your data. You can contact Research Data Service for further support at researchdata@library.illinois.edu.
We also recommend that users follow the FAIR Principles for organizing and managing their data. The FAIR principles stand for:
- Findability
- Accessibility
- Interoperability
- Reuse
These principles are designed to ensure that data and digital assets are usable and accessible in the long-term, and in the short-term can help researchers improve the quality of their data and their overall research process.
- Data Notes: Quick Tips for Better DataCreated by Sandi Caldrone, the Research Data Librarian, this resource reviews tips and best practices for data management. It is available as both an accessible text document and a printable notebook.
- Introduction to Data Management for Undergraduate StudentsThis guide from Research Data Service covers the basics and best practices for data management for individuals who are new to the research and data-collecting process.
Tools for Managing Your Research Files
- Citation Managers LibGuideCitation managers are tools that can help researchers create and manage collections of research materials, as well as to format and create bibliographies in a particular citation style. This guide goes over what citation managers are and provides an overview of several citation managers and the differences between them.
- DMPToolDMPTool is a free, open-source application that helps researchers create data management plans (DMPs), which are often required by funding agencies offering grants to researchers. Users must create an account to access and use DMPTool.
- NIH DMSPThe National Institute of Health (NIH) maintains a Data Management and Sharing Policy, which includes a variety of resources for data management best practices.
- TropyTropy is a free, open-source software for collecting, organizing, and annotating photographic research. The Tropy app can be downloaded on Linux, Mac, and Windows devices.
- Illinois BoxIllinois Box is the cloud storage service supported by the University of Illinois, and can be used to store, share, and collaborate on documents. University affiliates can access Box using their institutional login credentials.
- HeuristHeurist is an open source, web-based tool for designing a database. In particular, it helps you link research materials across documents and data types.