READ 93 - Foundations of College Reading - Library Research Project: Manage Your Project

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." ~~ A.A. Milne

Why keep track of your research process?  Sometimes your assignment will ask you to provide details of and/or reflect upon your research experience.  In any case, keeping track of your journey when doing research is a habit worth developing. It can save you tons of time, helping you to be successful.

What should you track/log?  Keep a running list of search terms to try, search terms you use with a note about the results they yield, the databases you used with what results, the citations for potentially useful sources (articles, books).

Where and how can you keep this information?  Dealer's choice. You can use:

• a citation maker like NoodleTools
• a document that you create on paper, in Google Drive, in MS Word or Excel, in MS OneDrive, or other similar tools
• Evernote or similar tools
• other options...

Time is precious. Developing habits that save us time is worth considering. Yes, it may mean learning new skills that ... take time but that's an investment in our own future... a gift that repays us many times over.

Organizing our "stuff" is a good start. Are you using your computer's hard drive? A flashdrive? Google Drive or OneDrive? If so, you have a powerful tool for organization at your fingertips. Create "nesting" folders in/on your drive.

1. Create a folder for each course you are taking.
2. In each course folder, create a folder for each project or assignment. Use this folder to collect all the readings, assignments, articles, projects, presentations, spreadsheets, images that belong with a single assignment.

Remember to name each folder carefully. Be sure each folder and document name/title says exactly what it is.