how to keep track of research papers

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Organizing Papers and References without Losing your Mind

In January, Ulrike Träger wrote a great PLOS ECR post describing how to stay on top of reading during graduate school. If you haven’t read it yet, go take a look, as it’s relevant for people at all career stages. As a follow up, here are a few tips on how to keep track of the papers you want to read without losing your mind.

Choose a reference manager. Sure, you can get by creating a poster or two without a reference manager, but it’s incredibly risky to cite references by hand for manuscripts and grant proposals. Choosing and using a reference manager is also a great way to track papers as you collect them, particularly because reference managers often have powerful search functions. There are many to choose from. Some are free, like Zotero and some versions of Mendeley . Others, like Papers and EndNote , are not, though some paid programs may be free through your institution. Spend some time researching which manager fits your needs, but don’t get bogged down, you can always switch later. Personally, I have transferred references from RefWorks to Zotero to Mendeley to EndNote over the past several years without much trouble.

Choose a place to keep unread papers. Whether it’s a physical folder on your desk or a virtual folder on your desktop, it’s important to have a designated place for unread papers. This folder is more than just a storage space, it should also be a reminder for you to review unread papers. It’s tempting to download papers and forget about them, falling prey to PDF alibi syndrome , wherein you fool yourself into thinking that by downloading a paper you’ve somehow read it. So, set aside some time every few weeks (on your calendar if you need to) to review papers. You won’t necessarily read each paper in detail, but you should complete a quick skim and take a few notes. Try to resist the urge to leave notes like “finish reading later.” However, if needed, consider using notes like “need to read again before citing” for papers that were skimmed particularly quickly.

Choose how to keep track of your notes. It’s a great idea to create a summary of each paper as you read it, but where do you keep this information? Some people write separate documents for each paper (e.g., using the Rhetorical Précis Format ), others write nothing at all, but tag papers (virtually or physically) with key words. The exact components of your system matter less than having a system. Right now, I keep a running document with a few sentences about each paper I read. I also note whether I read it on paper or as a PDF so that I can find notes taken on the paper itself later. If I’m doing a deep read on a specific topic, I might also start another document that has in-depth summaries. I usually keep notes in Word documents, but it’s also possible to store these notes in many reference managers.

Choose how to file read papers. Again, having a system probably matters more than which system you choose. Given the interdisciplinary nature of science, it can be complex to file by topic. Therefore, I find it easiest to file papers by last name of the first author and the publication year. It’s also useful to include a few words in the file name that summarize its content. This will help you differentiate between articles written by authors with similar last names. So, for example, using this method, you might label this blog post as Breland_2017_tracking refs. I keep articles I’ve read in a folder labeled “Articles” that includes a folder for each letter of the alphabet. Therefore, I’d file this blog post in the “B” folder for Breland.

TL;DR. The goal of creating a system to organize papers and references is to be able to easily access them later. If you follow the steps above, it’s relatively easy to keep track of and use what you’ve read – if you want to find a paper, you can search for a key word in your reference manager and/or in your running document of article summaries and then find a copy of the paper in the appropriate alphabetized folder. That said, there is no right way to organize references and I’m curious about how others manage their files. Chime in through the comments and we’ll update the post with any interesting answers!

Pat Thomson (2015) PDF alibi syndrome , Patter blog. Accessed 2/27/17.

Ulrike Träger (2017) Ten tips to stay on top of your reading during grad school , PLoS ECR Community Blog.

Sample Rhetorical Précis: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/rhetorical-precis/sample/peirce_sample_precis_click.html

Featured image available through CC0 license.

[…] Organizing Papers And References Without Losing Your Mind – Jessica Breland […]

You have a great organizing skills! I appreciate your tips!

Fantastic tips! Thank you for sharing.

Great tips! It helps me a lot while I’m doing my final diploma project. Thank you.

This is great, very helpful. Nicely written and clearly organized [like your ref lib 😉 ] C

im at the start of my phd and already feeling that i have a lot of literature. i am taking your notes onboard and going to spend some time to organise my files asap. thanks

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15 Best Free Web Tools to Organize Your Research

How to stay organized when researching and writing papers

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Organizing research is important not only for your own sanity, but because when it comes time to unfold the data and put it to use, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible. This is where research organizers come in.

There are lots of free web-based organizers that you can use for any purpose. Maybe you're collecting interviews for a news story, digging up newspaper archives for a history project, or writing a research paper over a science topic. Research organizers are also helpful for staying productive and preparing for tests.

Regardless of the topic, when you have multiple sources of information and lots to comb through later, optimizing your workflow with a dedicated organizer is essential.

Patrick Tomasso / Unsplash

Many of these tools provide unique features, so you might decide to use multiple resources simultaneously in whatever way suits your particular needs.

Research and Study

You need a place to gather the information you're finding. To avoid a cluttered space when collecting and organizing data, you can use a tool dedicated to research.

• Pocket : Save web pages to your online account to reference them again later. It's much tidier than bookmarks, and it can all be retrieved from the web or the Pocket mobile app .
• Mendeley : Organize papers and references, and generate citations and bibliographies.
• Quizlet : Learn vocabulary with these free online flashcards .
• Wikipedia : Find information on millions of different topics.
• Quora : This is a question and answer website where you can ask the community for help with any question.
• SparkNotes : Free online study guides on a wide variety of subjects, anything from famous literary works of the past century to the present day. 
• Zotero : Collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Lets you organize data into collections and search through them by adding tags to every source. This is a computer program, but there's a browser extension that helps you send data to it.
• Google Scholar : A simple way to search for scholarly literature on any subject.
• Diigo : Collect, share, and interact with information from anywhere on the web. It's all accessible through the browser extension and saved to your online account.
• GoConqr : Create flashcards, mind maps, notes, quizzes, and more to bridge the gap between your research and studying.

Writing Tools

Writing is the other half of a research paper, so you need somewhere useful to go to jot down notes, record information you might use in the final paper, create drafts, track sources, and finalize the paper.

• Web Page Sticky Notes : For Chrome users, this tool lets you place sticky notes on any web page as you do your research. There are tons of settings you can customize, they're backed up to your Google Drive account, and they're visible not only on each page you created them on but also on a single page from the extension's settings.
• Google Docs or Word Online : These are online word processors where you can write the entire research paper, organize lists, paste URLs, store off-hand notes, and more.
• Google Keep : This note-taking app and website catalogs notes within labels that make sense for your research. Access them from the web on any computer or from your mobile device. It supports collaborations, custom colors, images, drawings, and reminders.
• Yahoo Notepad : If you use Yahoo Mail , the notes area of your account is a great place to store text-based snippets for easy recall when you need them.
• Notion : Workflows, notes, and more, in a space where you can collaborate with others.

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How to Manage Research Papers: A Cheat Sheet for Graduate Students

• August 1, 2022
• PRODUCTIVITY

Often, researchers find themselves overwhelmed by the vast number of papers they have to read and keep track of.

One of the biggest reasons for this is that we are not using existing tools and services to make our lives easier by managing research papers. In addition, it’s hard to find a versatile product that meets all our needs under one interface, but that is a topic for another post.

Our search for the best research paper management system might not be as straightforward as we think.

Manage research papers is an art that can be developed over time, starting with some handy resources.

Here are some tools I use to keep track of my favorite research papers and also keep up to date with the latest studies.

The main focus of this blog post will be on consumption (rather than writing), and I will cover:

Managing the input

Managing the process, managing the output.

Choose a place to keep unread papers.

Some people like printing papers and some don’t, and that’s okay! I used to print relevant papers for my research that I found interesting.

In the long run, printing all the papers might be overwhelming.

A designated place for unread papers is important, whether a physical folder on your desk or a virtual folder on your desktop.

The folder should serve more than just as a storage area; it should also be a reminder to read your unread papers. You may be tempted to download papers and forget about them, falling victim to PDF alibi syndrome , whereby you fool yourself into thinking you’ve read them.

So, schedule time to review papers every few weeks (on your calendar if necessary). A quick skim and a few notes are all you need to do. You won’t necessarily read each paper in detail.

Avoid the temptation to leave notes like “finish reading later.” However, if necessary, consider using notes like “need to read again before citing” for papers that were skimmed too quickly.

TIP: In case you don’t want to download the papers or have a file system like the one described above, try using an internet plugin such as “ MyMind “. You can sort your files, color code them and use tags.

Choose a reference manager.

An automated system will save a great deal of time in manuscript preparation if you are still manually formatting your references.

I downloaded all the research papers that interested me in the past, but now I realize that’s a bad idea. In addition to not reading even 10 percent of those papers, they also took up a lot of space and were messy without adding anything to my knowledge. I could have sorted the papers properly with a system after downloading them.

A little research led me to a solution.

While taking an online course, I heard about the reference manager, Zotero . I have been using Mendeley, but Zotero has some interesting features that I enjoy. One of these reasons is linking notes with Obsidian (which is my primary note-taking app).

As a result, I started using Zotero , and managing research papers has never been easier.

It is possible to create a poster or two without a reference manager, but citing references by hand for manuscripts and grants is extremely risky.

You can also track papers as you collect them by using a reference manager, especially since most reference managers offer powerful search functions. There are many options to choose from.

In addition to Zotero , Mendeley could be a good alternative. These two reference managers are both free. Several paid software may be free through your institution, including Papers and EndNote .

Take your time to choose the research paper manager that suits your needs, but don’t get overwhelmed. If you decide to switch later, you can always do so. Over the past several years, I have successfully transferred references from RefWorks to Mendeley to Zotero.

A reference-management tool such as Zotero, Mendeley, or Endnote helps you create lists of references, store them, and organize them in a database of folders, keywords, and tags. A browser plugin is available for saving a paper with a single click, and a word processor plugin is available for creating bibliographies and adding in-text citations.

Whenever I find a paper I’m interested in reading; I add it immediately to my reference manager. Once it’s safely stored, I can close the browser tab, knowing it’s easily accessible in the future.

TIP: It might be better to add papers to your reference manager through their web plugin rather than manually (by downloading a .pdf file) since manually adding them might not update all the necessary metadata.

Choose how to keep track of your notes.

Writing a summary of each paper as you read it is a great idea, but where do you store it?

Keeping track of your thoughts on papers you read is one of the most important aspects of managing research papers.

It is common for people to write separate documents for each paper, while others don’t write anything at all but simply tag papers (either virtually or physically) with keywords.

In the past, I kept a running a document with a few sentences about each paper I read.

However, this workflow can sometimes be overwhelming.

I’ve realized I was spending more time managing research papers than reading them. For me, it was not a very constructive methodology.

I wanted to use the most straightforward research paper managing system to store my output, so I took notes directly in my reference manager (Zotero has an in-built PDF reader for taking notes).

The annotations I take are extracted into a new file and kept in the same location as the paper.

Later, I extracted these notes to my primary note-taking app, Obsidian , and made some additional notes there.

Choose how to file papers.

The importance of having a system probably outweighs the importance of choosing a system.

But, no matter the system you have, it would be better to file the papers properly.

It can be difficult to file by topic due to the interdisciplinary nature of science.

The best thing to do would be to develop a file name system (per each .pdf file). However, if you had to do it manually, you might only do it for the first few papers. Therefore, you may need to automate the file renaming process.

I use the Zotero plugin “ Zotfile .” to do this task.

By using research paper information, you can name a file. Using the first author’s name, the year the article was published, and the first three words of the article title, you might name the file “ azamSelectiveProbingThinFilm2019 “(first author first name: Azam, first three words of the title: Selective Probing ThinFilm, year of publication: 2019).

Alternatively, you can use Zotero’s “ Citekey ” feature to generate a filename.

Final words

It is important to create a system to manage research papers so that they can be easily accessed in the future. You can easily keep track of what you’ve read if you follow the steps above.

However, there is no “one” right way to manage research papers, and I’m curious about how others do it. Feel free to comment, and we will update the post with any interesting responses!

This is the second post of the four-part blog series:  The Bulletproof Literature Management System . Follow the links below to read the other posts in the series:

• How to How to find Research Papers
• How to Manage Research Papers (You are here)
• How to Read Research Papers
• How to Organize Research Papers

Images courtesy : Phase vector created by new7ducks – www.freepik.com , Creative process vector created by storyset – www.freepik.com

Aruna Kumarasiri

Founder at Proactive Grad, Materials Engineer, Researcher, and turned author. In 2019, he started his professional carrier as a materials engineer with the continuation of his research studies. His exposure to both academic and industrial worlds has provided many opportunities for him to give back to young professionals.

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Approaching the Literature Review

• Keeping Track
• Introduction
• Approaching the Literature Search
• Interpreting Research Results
• Advice on Writing

Why Keep Track of Your Results?

• Keeping Track of Information Created by Georgia State University Library, this guide contains recommendations and tools for keeping track of both search strategies and search results.

Tools for Analyzing Your Search Results

• Literature Search Tracking Log Adapted from the Georgia State University Library, the Literature Search Tracking Log "is where you can list the subject headings you used in your search, which databases you searched and how many results you found for each search."
• Evidence Analysis Log Adapted from the Georgia State University Library, the Evidence Analysis Log "is where you make notes about each article that is relevant to your literature review."

Citation Management Tools - Introduction

What are citation management programs?

Citation management programs are time-saving tools that allow you to:

• Create a personal database of references
• Organize and search your references
• Upload and store PDF documents with their citations
• Insert citations into word processing documents and format bibliographies in a variety of styles

What citation management program should I use?

There are several citation management programs available.  Tufts provides access to EndNote and F1000 Workspace for faculty, students and staff.  Other options are Mendeley and Zotero, free citation management programs.

See below links to additional information and help with each of these programs. 

Citation Management Tools

• EndNote EndNote is a desktop-based citation management program available to Tufts faculty, students and staff. Click the link above to learn how to get EndNote installed on your work or personal computer and start using the program.
• Sciwheel (Formerly F1000 Workspace) Sciwheel is a web-based citation manager and collaborative author program available to Tufts faculty, students and staff. Click the link above to create or access your account. You must create an account while on the Tufts network, and login from a campus network every 60 days to maintain full access.
• Mendeley Mendeley is a freely available citation management program. Click the link above to learn more about using Mendeley.
• Zotero "Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research."
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• Next: Interpreting Research Results >>
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1) Plan Your Research: Keeping Track of Sources

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Keeping Track of Sources

Research log.

• Research log (.doc)
• Research log (.pdf)

Use this research log to keep track of your research process . Every time you find something useful, record how and where you found the item.

Available in .pdf or .doc format.

Why should I keep track of my research?

A research project may take many hours of searching. Keeping track of your search history can help you do a more thorough and systematic search  – and help you avoid duplicating your research efforts! And when it's time to write your paper, thorough research notes will save you a lot of time and energy.

What's the easiest way to keep track of my research, organize my notes, and format my bibliography?

There are several citation management programs that can help you organize your research:

• EndNote – EndNote is a feature-rich citation management program that allows you to organize your references in a searchable database.  EndNote is recommended for those heavily engaged in research .
• Import and re-format references from online databases
• Automatically enter citations
• Build reference lists in Microsoft Word (Windows and Macintosh), Pages09 (Macintosh), and OpenOffice (version 3)
• Format references according to hundreds of bibliographic citation styles, including journal-specific formats

The current version of EndNote in use at the University of Lethbridge is EndNote X4. U of L students, faculty, and staff can download the program here .

• EndNote Web   –   EndNote Web is a web-based counterpart to EndNote, the desktop application. When you save references to EndNote Web, you are saving them to servers located "in the cloud" (i.e., NOT locally at the University of Lethbridge). This makes it easy to collaborate and share your library with others. It also means you can get to your EndNote Web library from anywhere you have Internet access. EndNote Web is recommended for use by undergraduate students.

You can set up a free EndNoteWeb account by registering at: http://www.myendnoteweb.com

• Zotero – Zotero is a free Firefox addon that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies. 
• Mendeley – Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research.

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Literature Review - Finding the Resources

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• Search Tools
• Formulating your search statement
• Buliding on what you have found

Keeping track of the resources you find

Keeping a search log, keeping a reading log, endnote - suggested citation management tool.

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When you search for resources using multiple databases, keep a record of what you have done to perform the search , such as the databases you have used, the keywords you have combined and searched, and the search results retrieved using various search statements. From what you have done, you will then know what you should do next such as, to:

• Redo a previous search
• Use other terms or combination of terms
• Limit to other search fields
• Try another database

The Database Search Log below is a table for you to keep such a record.

• Database Search Log

When you find your needed resources, the next step is to read them. If you have a large number of materials to read, it is not easy to remember what you have read afterwards. Keeping a record of what you have read is essential to  effectively organize the information from each resource and to be well prepared for writing your literature review. The information to record include the theories, findings and methodologies presented in the resources, as well as the citation information of these resources. Keeping this record will also help you make connections between resources.

Make use of the Resource Reading Log below to record important information about the resources you read.

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Keeping Track of Your Literature

Keeping track of the scientific literature in your research field without getting overwhelmed can be a struggle. But, don’t worry, we’re here to help.

We’re here to give you the inside scoop on where and how to find the relevant literature. We’ll also give you the lowdown on the main reference managers you can use to stay organized.

The Most Neglected Task Is Often the Most Important

While practical experimental work is important, it is all too easy to neglect a crucial aspect of science work—reading and keeping up with published literature.

While learning to read and understand a scientific paper thoroughly and efficiently is important, it is arguably just as important to keep up-to-date with the latest literature.

This is another frequently overlooked task but is absolutely vital to ensure you don’t miss any key advances in your field.

No one wants to get months down the line and realize someone has already published on that experiment you’ve been painstakingly performing.

Writing a literature review or grant application presents an excellent opportunity for taking a deep dive into the literature, but finding the time to keep up with the latest publications on a regular basis can be very challenging.

This task can sometimes feel impossible with the additional demands placed on scientists in terms of meetings, seminars, teaching, outreach, admin, mentoring, etc.

The dizzying number of papers published on a weekly basis also doesn’t help.

But don’t worry, we’ve got some top tips and handy hints to help you find—and manage—that literature.

Why Is Keeping Track of the Scientific Literature Important?

Well, if you don’t keep up with recent publications, you won’t know what people in your field are working on or what the current gaps in knowledge are, and you won’t be able to put your work into the proper context.

Even worse, you may end up pursuing a line of inquiry that has already been published by someone else. Moreover, newly published work often provides novel solutions to problems and/or reveals novel mechanistic insights.

Therefore, by keeping up with the literature, you may find potential solutions or alternatives to challenges you are facing in your own research.

How To Find the Latest Scientific Literature

To be able to read and take in the literature, you first need to find it. Nowadays, there are a number of tools to help you keep track of new publications, including Stork , PubCrawler , Feedly , PubMed alerts , and Google alerts .

These apps and websites allow users to set up automatic searches of online publication databases using key search terms.

You can then set daily, weekly, or monthly email alerts, which highlight all of the new and relevant papers with links to the abstracts and full text.

You can choose to make your searches as vague or specific as you wish. If you want to learn more about how to use some of these tools, read our article on How to Speed Up Your Literature Searches by Crawling .

Social media is also another very important tool for finding and keeping up with the latest science.

Twitter is becoming an increasingly valuable resource in science and it can be very useful for keeping up with the latest work in your field.

But this is true only if you follow the right people!

So, if you have a Twitter account, start by following researchers in your field, as well as journals that publish work relevant to your research.

Also, don’t feel that you have to spend hours on Twitter or other social media apps in the name of science.

If you follow the right people, you can spend as little as 10 minutes a day finding out about the latest scientific breakthroughs.

LinkedIn is another overlooked platform that, as well as being a practical tool for finding jobs, is also useful for staying informed about recent publications and the latest developments in industry and policy.

However, with the wealth of content that is available online and the rabbit hole that is the internet, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest developments on different platforms.

One very useful yet often dismissed solution to this conundrum is the good old really simple syndication (RSS) feed. An RSS feed is a simple, algorithm-free technology that enables users to receive updates from specific websites.

Subscribing to RSS feeds enables readers to stay up-to-date with specific websites in a single tailored RSS news feed that constantly monitors websites for new content.

This removes the need for users to manually search for content, leaving you free to get on with other work.

This may be the best option for you if, like me, you get easily distracted online.

Keeping Track of the Scientific Literature

You always want to have your key papers on hand for easy access, as this will make writing easier and more efficient. It will also help when trying to justify to your PI the importance of doing a particular experiment.

As soon as you start your PhD or project, try to get organized and implement a system to help you keep a handle on the literature.

Everyone is different so you might prefer an old-school filing system or you might choose one of the many online reference management systems.

Old-School Systems

I know some people who use old-school filing systems such that every time they read a physical copy of a paper, they move it into a particular folder.

For example, you might have one folder for mechanistic studies using mouse models, and another for research using human samples. You could even use the draft layout of your thesis to categorize your reading.

Another advantage of old-school systems is the ability to annotate physical copies. However, this type of old-school filing system isn’t exactly portable, nor is it environmentally friendly.

Also, cross-referencing articles that fit into multiple categories can really wreak havoc on your system!

Many researchers now use online management systems to get around these issues.

Online Reference Management Systems

Although they can seem daunting at first, online reference management systems are a great way to organize your literature.

Once you’re used to an online system, whatever topic structure you use can be easily applied to one of the online systems by setting up relevant folders.

Reference managers such as Mendeley , ReadCube Papers , Zotero , or Endnote allow you to create and organize a library of important papers, and, more importantly, in my opinion, they help to generate citations and bibliographies while writing papers, grants, and/or theses.

In addition, these tools allow users to include notes on each paper to summarize its main findings and conclusions, which comes in very handy!

Reference managers also allow you to change in-text citation styles in one click. This can be a huge time saver if you’re submitting papers to multiple journals, each with different citation and formatting requirements.

I am particularly fond of Mendeley, first because it’s user-friendly and intuitive, but, most importantly, because it’s free! In the interests of fairness, Zotero is also free!

Most, if not all, reference managers allow users to categorize papers into folders and subfolders.

And, if you have to switch computers for some reason, you will be able to access your papers if your chosen reference manager supports cloud syncing to its own servers, as Mendeley does.

To learn more about what each of these reference managers can do, click the links above and try them out to find the one that works best for you.

Make sure you also read our article for more tips on software and apps that can make your science life easier .

Annotating PDFs of Your Articles

So, you’ve got your physical or online filing system organized. You’re sorted, right? Well, if you really want to get ahead of the game, you should highlight and annotate PDF copies of your journal articles with notes and a brief summary of the paper.

Make life easier by annotating as you read and you will create a great reference point to return to any time you need to refresh your knowledge of a particular paper.

Take it from me, if you don’t do this, you’ll just end up having to reread the paper over and over again. Make sure you include the following points:

• Key authors.
• Main findings.
• Relevance to your research—does it offer a complementary or opposing view?
• How might it affect your own experimental plan?

It might seem like a lot of work but doing this really will help you keep on top of important findings in your field, so you’ll end up having more time to do your own research!

If you’re a fan of spreadsheets and if you’re looking to build your own custom paper database/annotation system, you might want to have a look at @Ste_McQuilliam’s amazing Microsoft Excel-based journal database—you can watch his YouTube tutorial on how he built his database here .

As Steve mentions in his tutorial, you could use this Excel-based annotation system in partnership with a reference management system to stay super organized!

With all these tips in mind, go forth, explore, and write! If you have any other tips for keeping on top of your reading , we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

You can learn more about the main reference managers in our reference managers series , where we highlight key features and discuss the pros and cons of each platform.

For more tips on keeping track of the scientific literature, head over to the Bitesize Bio Managing the Scientific Literature Hub .

Originally published December 4, 2013. Reviewed and updated by Zandile Nare September 2021.

To keep abreast of scientific literature, with an access to grey literature I have been using for personal research, and teaching developments in immunology https://www.scoop.it/t/immunology a curation tool called Scoop.it. Compared to other curation tools, it can be used as a specific personalized minidatabase where you can find what you or others have been collecting before

I also recommend Zotero. Mendely is another option, but, it is not as intuitive as Zotero. Zotero has plug-ins that allow cite- while- you- write as well as nearly instant biographies to be constructed! Its listing of reference formats is huge. Go ZoteRO!

I’d recommend Zotero. Stores references from many pages (for instance pubmed) using a single mouse click. Sync (for free) between devices, so you can work @home with the references you have identified @work. Plugins available for many text processors, very easy to insert citation and generate a reference list.

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• University of Northwestern - St. Paul
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• Information Guides

Keeping Track of Research Guide

• Keeping Track of Research
• Avoiding Plagiarism

Why Keep Track of your Research?

Most essays at a college level require a bibliography or reference page as well as in-text citation of some sort. It is important to gather the needed information as you work. Sometimes searches and resources are hard to find again, and it saves time at the end of the process when deadlines are looming.

There is also the added benefit of building on searches you have done to do further research. A thorough record can save time and effort in that process.

Things to keep track of:

• Search terms (including combinations and limits you may add)
• Places you search (databases, Library Search, websites)
• Information about the sources you find (author, title, date, publisher, call number, url, etc.)
• Information about the quotes or paraphrases you will be using.  (Source identification, page numbers, and context)

How to Keep Track of your Research

• Note cards are often a handy way to keep track of research and quotes as you read.
• A notebook and/or folder for each essay is also an excellent way to gather information as you find it.

Because so many sources are formatted electronically, it often easier to keep the records of research electronically as well.

• Many find a simple saved document on the desktop to be a sufficient place to keep and collect notes, URLs, and search terms.
• Email documents can also be a handy way to keep information in one place.
• Portable hard drives are also a great way to keep track of information as you research.
• Many use a third party web location to keep track of information.

Hints and Tricks

• Most databases have a marking and/or folder feature. This allows users to output the needed information about the resources in an easy way. The added benefit is that most can output information in your chosen citation format.
• Screen capture is an option if there is no readily accessible way to output the information. Pressing the [Control] and [Print Screen] buttons simultaneously will capture a "snapshot" of the desktop. This can be saved and opened in a word processing file.
• Web tagging and capturing programs like those listed, allow users to save URLs and organize them.

Electronic Spots to Keep Track of Research

• Zotero Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.
• Google Docs Spot to save and keep electronic files. Plus is that is can be connected to an email account.
• Next: Avoiding Plagiarism >>
• Last Updated: Mar 11, 2024 4:24 PM
• URL: https://guide.unwsp.edu/keepingtrack

Keeping Up with the Literature: 5 Ways to Track and Read Research Online

This article presents tools for sorting through the millions of articles published every year so that you can keep up in your field.

Updated on September 15, 2014

According to the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers , approximately 28,000 scholarly journals collectively publish nearly two million articles each year. Consequently, sorting through the literature can be a daunting task. Fortunately, tools are available for seeking out literature and for providing updates on field-specific publications.

Learn more about the top fields, journals, and institutions in scholarly publishing with AJE's free Scholarly Publishing Report .

1. Literature-based search engines

These tools return citation results based on keywords, such as author names, article titles, or journal types. A few examples of these websites are presented below, and a comprehensive list of academic databases and search engines is available on Wikipedia for further options.

• PubMed allows users to search millions of biomedical citations from MEDLINE, life sciences journals, and online books.
• PubCrawler is a web service that scans daily updates to the PubMed and GenBank databases and alerts scientists to new entries that align with their interests.
• At PubChase , users can search biomedical literature, create libraries, and get recommendations based on saved articles.
• AGRIS is a search engine for agricultural science and technology data, statistics, articles, and multimedia.
• ERIC , The Education Resources Information Center, is an organization that has indexed education journals since the 1960s. Users have the option to specifically search peer-reviewed articles and full-text articles.

2. Social networking sites

Networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ are used as communication tools by researchers. Users can stay up-to-date on newly published articles or upcoming articles by following the posts of relevant researchers or organizations in their fields. These websites also offer multimedia, such as video and graphics, that may enhance understanding of the related research. Additionally, social bookmarking sites such as Delicious track bookmarks with context and sharing capabilities and are another social media option for researchers. (See our Researcher Tools Review of Delicious .)

3.'Table of content' (TOC) alerts

TOC e-alerts (e.g., SpringerAlerts, Wiley eTOC, and Nature e-alert) are offered by publishers as a means of distributing the TOCs of newly published journal issues. These alerts usually include "early view" and online-only articles. To receive TOC alerts, you may visit the publisher's website and sign-up using your e-mail address. Alternatively, JournalTOCs is a searchable database of scholarly journal TOCs that is not limited to a single publisher.

4. Listservs

Listservs are another option for receiving journal TOCs, calls for papers, and dataset announcements via email distribution lists. Listservs are often managed by universities or scientific organizations.

5. RSS feeds

RSS feeds allow users to track particular websites by subscribing to automatic, timely updates on website content. RSS feeds are considered an updated version of webpage ‘bookmarking'. After subscribing, a series of headlines and/or summaries are listed via a feed reader. Readers are available as add-ons in internet browsers, such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, or as software that specializes in organizing and downloading the content for offline use.

As increasingly more journals and articles appear each year, it is important to be able to efficiently navigate the numerous literature resources and identify articles that are relevant to your research. The web-based tools outlined here are good starting points for keeping up with this literature.

Theresa Andersen, PhD

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9 Organizing Research: Taking and Keeping Effective Notes

Once you’ve located the right primary and secondary sources, it’s time to glean all the information you can from them. In this chapter, you’ll first get some tips on taking and organizing notes. The second part addresses how to approach the sort of intermediary assignments (such as book reviews) that are often part of a history course.

Honing your own strategy for organizing your primary and secondary research is a pathway to less stress and better paper success. Moreover, if you can find the method that helps you best organize your notes, these methods can be applied to research you do for any of your classes.

Before the personal computing revolution, most historians labored through archives and primary documents and wrote down their notes on index cards, and then found innovative ways to organize them for their purposes. When doing secondary research, historians often utilized (and many still do) pen and paper for taking notes on secondary sources. With the advent of digital photography and useful note-taking tools like OneNote, some of these older methods have been phased out – though some persist. And, most importantly, once you start using some of the newer techniques below, you may find that you are a little “old school,” and might opt to integrate some of the older techniques with newer technology.

Whether you choose to use a low-tech method of taking and organizing your notes or an app that will help you organize your research, here are a few pointers for good note-taking.

Principles of note-taking

• If you are going low-tech, choose a method that prevents a loss of any notes. Perhaps use one spiral notebook, or an accordion folder, that will keep everything for your project in one space. If you end up taking notes away from your notebook or folder, replace them—or tape them onto blank pages if you are using a notebook—as soon as possible.
• If you are going high-tech, pick one application and stick with it. Using a cloud-based app, including one that you can download to your smart phone, will allow you to keep adding to your notes even if you find yourself with time to take notes unexpectedly.
• When taking notes, whether you’re using 3X5 note cards or using an app described below, write down the author and a shortened title for the publication, along with the page number on EVERY card. We can’t emphasize this point enough; writing down the bibliographic information the first time and repeatedly will save you loads of time later when you are writing your paper and must cite all key information.
• Include keywords or “tags” that capture why you thought to take down this information in a consistent place on each note card (and when using the apps described below). If you are writing a paper about why Martin Luther King, Jr., became a successful Civil Rights movement leader, for example, you may have a few theories as you read his speeches or how those around him described his leadership. Those theories—religious beliefs, choice of lieutenants, understanding of Gandhi—might become the tags you put on each note card.
• Note-taking applications can help organize tags for you, but if you are going low tech, a good idea is to put tags on the left side of a note card, and bibliographic info on the right side.

Organizing research- applications that can help

Using images in research.

• If you are in an archive: make your first picture one that includes the formal collection name, the box number, the folder name and call numbe r and anything else that would help you relocate this information if you or someone else needed to. Do this BEFORE you start taking photos of what is in the folder.
• If you are photographing a book or something you may need to return to the library: take a picture of all the front matter (the title page, the page behind the title with all the publication information, maybe even the table of contents).

Once you have recorded where you find it, resist the urge to rename these photographs. By renaming them, they may be re-ordered and you might forget where you found them. Instead, use tags for your own purposes, and carefully name and date the folder into which the photographs were automatically sorted. There is one free, open-source program, Tropy , which is designed to help organize photos taken in archives, as well as tag, annotate, and organize them. It was developed and is supported by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. It is free to download, and you can find it here: https://tropy.org/ ; it is not, however, cloud-based, so you should back up your photos. In other cases, if an archive doesn’t allow photography (this is highly unlikely if you’ve made the trip to the archive), you might have a laptop on hand so that you can transcribe crucial documents.

Using note or project-organizing apps

When you have the time to sit down and begin taking notes on your primary sources, you can annotate your photos in Tropy. Alternatively, OneNote, which is cloud-based, can serve as a way to organize your research. OneNote allows you to create separate “Notebooks” for various projects, but this doesn’t preclude you from searching for terms or tags across projects if the need ever arises. Within each project you can start new tabs, say, for each different collection that you have documents from, or you can start new tabs for different themes that you are investigating. Just as in Tropy, as you go through taking notes on your documents you can create your own “tags” and place them wherever you want in the notes.

Another powerful, free tool to help organize research, especially secondary research though not exclusively, is Zotero found @ https://www.zotero.org/ . Once downloaded, you can begin to save sources (and their URL) that you find on the internet to Zotero. You can create main folders for each major project that you have and then subfolders for various themes if you would like. Just like the other software mentioned, you can create notes and tags about each source, and Zotero can also be used to create bibliographies in the precise format that you will be using. Obviously, this function is super useful when doing a long-term, expansive project like a thesis or dissertation.

How History is Made: A Student’s Guide to Reading, Writing, and Thinking in the Discipline Copyright © 2022 by Stephanie Cole; Kimberly Breuer; Scott W. Palmer; and Brandon Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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University of Tasmania, Australia

Systematic reviews for health: handling results & storing papers.

• Handbooks / Guidelines for Systematic Reviews
• Standards for Reporting
• Registering a Protocol
• Tools for Systematic Review
• Online Tutorials & Courses
• Books and Articles about Systematic Reviews
• Finding Systematic Reviews
• Critical Appraisal
• Library Help
• Bibliographic Databases
• Grey Literature
• Handsearching
• Citation Tracking
• 1. Formulate the Research Question
• 2. Identify the Key Concepts
• 3. Develop Search Terms - Free-Text
• 4. Develop Search Terms - Controlled Vocabulary
• 5. Search Fields
• 6. Phrase Searching, Wildcards and Proximity Operators
• 7. Boolean Operators
• 8. Search Limits
• 9. Pilot Search Strategy & Monitor Its Development
• 10. Final Search Strategy
• 11. Adapt Search Syntax
• Documenting Search Strategies
• Handling Results & Storing Papers

Storing and Keeping Track of Papers

Storing and keeping track of papers is part of the search for studies step..

When doing a systematic review it is advisable to use a reference management software ( Cochrane Handbook, 4.6.6.1 ). There are various reference management software options available. The University of Tasmania has a site license for EndNote ; all current staff and students of the university are eligible to install EndNote software on university and home computers. EndNote is supported by your Learning & Research Librarians.

We also have access to Covidence, an online systematic review tool designed to help researchers with the systematic review process, particularly the screening and data extraction process. Learn more about accessing the UTAS Covidence licence .

Using EndNote to Manage Search Results

The use of a reference managment software such as EndNote is beneficial during a systematic review process. It may help researchers store, organise, and manage the potentially large number of literature found during the search process. Here are some of the EndNote features that are worth exploring:

• Creating group sets, groups and smart groups (e.g. for databases, exclusion/inclusion criteria, reviewers)
• Exporting search results from databases
• Annotating the records (e.g. with database and date details)
• Using Research Notes field (e.g. for personal comments, reviewer comments)
• Creating and displaying customised fields (e.g. to add reviewer's comments)
• Finding and removing dublicate records
• Finding the full text of articles
• Attaching the full text of articles manually
• Viewing and annotating PDF files
• Sharing EndNote library
• Exporting the EndNote library to Covidence or Excel

Deduplicate Records

After running your search in multiple databases, you need to deduplicate the records. You can do this using one of these tools:  

Use the systematic review program  Covidence . You will first have to create a UTAS Covidence account .  

This helpsheet steps you through the process of using EndNote to deduplicate your records for a systematic review:

• Deduplicate in EndNote

Deduplicator

The Deduplicator is a tool from the Systematic Review Accelerator. You can upload an EndNote library with all your search results, saved as a XML file. Follow the instruction on the Deduplicator helpsheet .

EndNote for UTAS Researchers

Downloading endnote.

Current staff and students of the University of Tasmania are eligible to install EndNote software on University and home computers. Download instructions can be found on the Download EndNote tab of the EndNote subject guide:

• EndNote subject guide: Download EndNote

Using EndNote

The EndNote subject guide contains introductory guides to Endnote, offers links to online tutorials and details various features of EndNotes:

• EndNote subject guide

EndNote Training

The University of Tasmania Library offers regular introductory EndNote training sessions, open to all UTAS researchers:

• EndNote workshops

Individual EndNote training can be provided on an ad-hoc basis, please contact the Learning & Research Librarians team:

• Contact a Learning & Research Librarian

Exporting Results to EndNote

For information on how to export results from a database to EndNote:

• Search the A-Z Database list for the database of your interest.
• EndNote help sheet may be available in the Notes column.

Each database has a limit on how many results can be exported to EndNote:

Other Systematic Review Tools

There are many other software options available which have been specifically designed for systematic reviews. See Systematic Review Tools .

Need More Help? Book a consultation with a  Learning and Research Librarian  or contact  [email protected] .

• << Previous: Documenting Search Strategies
• Last Updated: May 8, 2024 1:29 PM
• URL: https://utas.libguides.com/SystematicReviews

TODAY'S HOURS:

Research Process

• Select a Topic
• Find Background Info
• Focus Topic
• List Keywords
• Search for Sources
• Evaluate & Integrate Sources

Track Useful Sources as You Find Them

Citation managers, citation styles & manuals.

• Scientific Research & Study Design

Related Guides

• Avoiding Plagiarism by Liz Svoboda Last Updated Feb 4, 2024 320 views this year
• Citation Tools by Paul Streby Last Updated Mar 25, 2024 556 views this year
• Using Images in Research and Presentations by Liz Svoboda Last Updated Mar 21, 2024 2475 views this year

Have a Question? Need Some Help?

Email: [email protected] Phone: (810) 762-3400 Text message: (810) 407-5434 (text messages only)

Writing Help

• Marian E. Wright Writing Center The Writing Center assists in making better writers and better products. You can come in for assistance with papers for any subject and at any stage of writing: getting started, fine tuning topics, developing ideas or revising, finishing papers, and working on MLA & APA formats as well as other citation styles. more info... less info... The Writing Center is located on the third floor of the library.
• Use a Research Log to write down information about your sources as you find them. Include citation information and stable links.
• Send an article's citation information to your account with a citation management tool like Zotero or EndNote Online.
• Download and save or print articles as you find them.
• Most databases have ways to send articles to your email or Google Drive.
• Carefully organize your bookmarks with meaningful titles. If you are trying to bookmark an article from the library's page, put the following URL string in front so that the library's proxy address will be activated:  http://libproxy.umflint.edu/login?url=
• Research Log Template (Google Doc) After you click, you will be prompted to create a copy for yourself. Then use it to keep track of your sources.
• Research Log Template (Word file) Download and save this file to help you track your sources.
• Research Log Template (Google Sheet) After you click, you will be prompted to create a copy for yourself. There are multiple sheets, including some with examples of how the log can be used.
• Research Log Template (Excel file) Download and save this file to help track your sources.

UM-Flint suggests the following citation managers:

Citation management package. Provides 2GB of file storage (up to 50,000 references), and supports citations in the 20 most popular bibliographic styles. Requires creation of a free account.

• Thompson Library video tutorials for using EndNote  
• Publisher documentation about EndNote

Mac users: See "more info..." below for important information.

Supports these bibliographic styles:

• APA 7th  
• Chicago 17th  
• JAMA  
• MLA 8th  
• Refman (RIS) Export  
• Turabian 9th  
• Vancouver  
• Many others

Mac users: Some people have reported issues with their EndNote accounts syncing with their laptops, e.g., in Cite While You Write. EndNote passwords do not work properly if they contain special characters ( ! and $ are especially problematic), so EndNote recommends that you change password by substituting " @ " for whatever special character you were using, log back into the Word plugin, and then close Word and reopen it. This should resolve the issue. This problem seems to be specifically a Mac issue.

Downloadable tool to collect, organize, cite, and share research. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Zotero has integration into Google Docs and Microsoft 365, so this is a good alternative to Endnote.

For the Library Lookup tool, use this as the link resolver: 

https://umich.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=01UMICH_INST&vid=01UMICH_INST:FLINT

To create a bibliography without downloading software, ZoteroBib is available.

For additional help and tutorials, check our guide to citation tools.

• Other Styles

• APA Style The American Psychological Association's help page for APA Style. On this site, you will find tutorials, FAQs, and other resources to help you improve your writing, master APA Style, and learn the conventions of scholarly publishing. more info... less info... We highly recommend the Style and Grammar Guidelines and the Handouts and Guides under Instructional Aids.
• Reference Examples | APA Style More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual . Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual .
• APA Style Blog The APA Style Blog is the official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition. It's run by a group of experts who work with APA Style every day.

Online guide to APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles, drafting résumés, and avoiding plagiarism.

• The MLA Style Center A companion to the MLA Handbook, the site provides students and educators with a host of free resources for teaching and learning the MLA’s approach to research, writing, and documentation. It offers a quick guide to citing any source according to the MLA template of core elements, a practice template, a Q&A feature with hundreds of citation examples, a blog of writing tips, guidelines for formatting a paper and avoiding plagiarism, sample papers, lesson plans, worksheets, and other classroom resources submitted by users.

Style guide for the American Medical Association (11th edition).

• AMA Style Insider The official blog of the AMA Manual of Style.
• Purdue OWL: AMA Style These resources provide guidance on how to cite sources using American Medical Association (AMA) Style, 10th Ed., including examples for print and electronic sources.

An online version of the CMA 17th edition. All the content of the paper version, but also contains citation Quick Guide, Q&A, manuscript aids.

• Purdue OWL: ASA Style This resource covers American Sociological Association (ASA) style and includes information about manuscript formatting, in-text citations, formatting the references page, and accepted manuscript writing style.

• << Previous: Evaluate & Integrate Sources
• Next: Scientific Research & Study Design >>
• Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 1:26 PM
• URL: https://libguides.umflint.edu/research

Finally see how to stop getting stuck in a project management tool

20 min. personalized consultation with a project management expert

Smart Note-Taking for Research Paper Writing

How to organize research notes using the Zettelkasten Method when writing academic papers

With plenty of note-taking tips and apps available, online and in paper form, it’s become extremely easy to take note of information, ideas, or thoughts. As simple as it is to write down an idea or jot down a quote, the skill of academic research and writing for a thesis paper is on another level entirely. And keeping a record or an archive of all of the information you need can quickly require a very organized system.

The use of index cards seems old-fashioned considering that note-taking apps (psst! Hypernotes ) offer better functionality and are arguably more user-friendly. However, software is only there to help aid our individual workflow and thinking process. That’s why understanding and learning how to properly research, take notes and write academic papers is still a highly valuable skill.

Let’s Start Writing! But Where to Start…

Writing academic papers is a vital skill most students need to learn and practice. Academic papers are usually time-intensive pieces of written content that are a requirement throughout school or at University. Whether a topic is assigned or you have to choose your own, there’s little room for variation in how to begin.

Popular and purposeful in analyzing and evaluating the knowledge of the author as well as assessing if the learning objectives were met, research papers serve as information-packed content. Most of us may not end up working jobs in academic professions or be researchers at institutions, where writing research papers is also part of the job, but we often read such papers. 

Despite the fact that most research papers or dissertations aren’t often read in full, journalists, academics, and other professionals regularly use academic papers as a basis for further literary publications or blog articles. The standard of academic papers ensures the validity of the information and gives the content authority. 

There’s no-nonsense in research papers. To make sure to write convincing and correct content, the research stage is extremely important. And, naturally, when doing any kind of research, we take notes.

Why Take Notes?

There are particular standards defined for writing academic papers . In order to meet these standards, a specific amount of background information and researched literature is required. Taking notes helps keep track of read/consumed literary material as well as keeps a file of any information that may be of importance to the topic. 

The aim of writing isn’t merely to advertise fully formed opinions, but also serves the purpose of developing opinions worth sharing in the first place. 

What is Note-Taking?

Note-taking (sometimes written as notetaking or note-taking ) is the practice of recording information from different sources and platforms. For academic writing, note-taking is the process of obtaining and compiling information that answers and supports the research paper’s questions and topic. Notes can be in one of three forms: summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation.

Note-taking is an excellent process useful for anyone to turn individual thoughts and information into organized ideas ready to be communicated through writing. Notes are, however, only as valuable as the context. Since notes are also a byproduct of the information we consume daily, it’s important to categorize information, develop connections, and establish relationships between pieces of information. 

What Type of Notes Can I Take?

• Explanation of complex theories
• Background information on events or persons of interest
• Definitions of terms
• Quotations of significant value
• Illustrations or graphics

Note-Taking 101

Taking notes or doing research for academic papers shouldn’t be that difficult, considering we take notes all the time. Wrong. Note-taking for research papers isn’t the same as quickly noting down an interesting slogan or cool quote from a video, putting it on a sticky note, and slapping it onto your bedroom or office wall.

Note-taking for research papers requires focus and careful deliberation of which information is important to note down, keep on file, or use and reference in your own writing. Depending on the topic and requirements of your research paper from your University or institution, your notes might include explanations of complex theories, definitions, quotations, and graphics. 

Stages of Research Paper Writing

1. Preparation Stage

Before you start, it’s recommended to draft a plan or an outline of how you wish to begin preparing to write your research paper. Make note of the topic you will be writing on, as well as the stylistic and literary requirements for your paper.

2. Research Stage

In the research stage, finding good and useful literary material for background knowledge is vital. To find particular publications on a topic, you can use Google Scholar or access literary databases and institutions made available to you through your school, university, or institution. 

Make sure to write down the source location of the literary material you find. Always include the reference title, author, page number, and source destination. This saves you time when formatting your paper in the later stages and helps keep the information you collect organized and referenceable.

In the worst-case scenario, you’ll have to do a backward search to find the source of a quote you wrote down without reference to the original literary material. 

3. Writing Stage

When writing, an outline or paper structure is helpful to visually break up the piece into sections. Once you have defined the sections, you can begin writing and referencing the information you have collected in the research stage.

Clearly mark which text pieces and information where you relied on background knowledge, which texts are directly sourced, and which information you summarized or have written in your own words. This is where your paper starts to take shape.  

4. Draft Stage

After organizing all of your collected notes and starting to write your paper, you are already in the draft stage. In the draft stage, the background information collected and the text written in your own words come together. Every piece of information is structured by the subtopics and sections you defined in the previous stages. 

5. Final Stage

Success! Well… almost! In the final stage, you look over your whole paper and check for consistency and any irrelevancies. Read through the entire paper for clarity, grammatical errors , and peace of mind that you have included everything important. 

Make sure you use the correct formatting and referencing method requested by your University or institution for research papers. Don’t forget to save it and then send the paper on its way.

Best Practice Note-Taking Tips

• Find relevant and authoritative literary material through the search bar of literary databases and institutions.
• Practice citation repeatedly! Always keep a record of the reference book title, author, page number, and source location. At best, format the citation in the necessary format from the beginning. 
• Organize your notes according to topic or reference to easily find the information again when in the writing stage. Work invested in the early stages eases the writing and editing process of the later stages.
• Summarize research notes and write in your own words as much as possible. Cite direct quotes and clearly mark copied text in your notes to avoid plagiarism.  

Take Smart Notes

Taking smart notes isn’t as difficult as it seems. It’s simply a matter of principle, defined structure, and consistency. Whether you opt for a paper-based system or use a digital tool to write and organize your notes depends solely on your individual personality, needs, and workflow.

With various productivity apps promoting diverse techniques, a good note-taking system to take smart notes is the Zettelkasten Method . Invented by Niklas Luhmann, a german sociologist and researcher, the Zettelkasten Method is known as the smart note-taking method that popularized personalized knowledge management. 

As a strategic process for thinking and writing, the Zettelkasten Method helps you organize your knowledge while working, studying, or researching. Directly translated as a ‘note box’, Zettelkasten is simply a framework to help organize your ideas, thoughts, and information by relating pieces of knowledge and connecting pieces of information to each other.

Hypernotes is a note-taking app that can be used as a software-based Zettelkasten, with integrated features to make smart note-taking so much easier, such as auto-connecting related notes, and syncing to multiple devices. In each notebook, you can create an archive of your thoughts, ideas, and information. 

Using the tag system to connect like-minded ideas and information to one another and letting Hypernotes do its thing with bi-directional linking, you’ll soon create a web of knowledge about anything you’ve ever taken note of. This feature is extremely helpful to navigate through the enormous amounts of information you’ve written down. Another benefit is that it assists you in categorizing and making connections between your ideas, thoughts, and saved information in a single notebook. Navigate through your notes, ideas, and knowledge easily.

Ready, Set, Go!

Writing academic papers is no simple task. Depending on the requirements, resources available, and your personal research and writing style, techniques, apps, or practice help keep you organized and increase your productivity. 

Whether you use a particular note-taking app like Hypernotes for your research paper writing or opt for a paper-based system, make sure you follow a particular structure. Repeat the steps that help you find the information you need quicker and allow you to reproduce or create knowledge naturally.

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• Published: 03 May 2024

A dataset for measuring the impact of research data and their curation

• Libby Hemphill   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3793-7281 1 , 2 ,
• Andrea Thomer 3 ,
• Sara Lafia 1 ,
• Lizhou Fan 2 ,
• David Bleckley   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7715-4348 1 &
• Elizabeth Moss 1  

Scientific Data volume  11 , Article number:  442 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

595 Accesses

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Metrics details

• Research data
• Social sciences

Science funders, publishers, and data archives make decisions about how to responsibly allocate resources to maximize the reuse potential of research data. This paper introduces a dataset developed to measure the impact of archival and data curation decisions on data reuse. The dataset describes 10,605 social science research datasets, their curation histories, and reuse contexts in 94,755 publications that cover 59 years from 1963 to 2022. The dataset was constructed from study-level metadata, citing publications, and curation records available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. The dataset includes information about study-level attributes (e.g., PIs, funders, subject terms); usage statistics (e.g., downloads, citations); archiving decisions (e.g., curation activities, data transformations); and bibliometric attributes (e.g., journals, authors) for citing publications. This dataset provides information on factors that contribute to long-term data reuse, which can inform the design of effective evidence-based recommendations to support high-impact research data curation decisions.

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Background & summary.

Recent policy changes in funding agencies and academic journals have increased data sharing among researchers and between researchers and the public. Data sharing advances science and provides the transparency necessary for evaluating, replicating, and verifying results. However, many data-sharing policies do not explain what constitutes an appropriate dataset for archiving or how to determine the value of datasets to secondary users 1 , 2 , 3 . Questions about how to allocate data-sharing resources efficiently and responsibly have gone unanswered 4 , 5 , 6 . For instance, data-sharing policies recognize that not all data should be curated and preserved, but they do not articulate metrics or guidelines for determining what data are most worthy of investment.

Despite the potential for innovation and advancement that data sharing holds, the best strategies to prioritize datasets for preparation and archiving are often unclear. Some datasets are likely to have more downstream potential than others, and data curation policies and workflows should prioritize high-value data instead of being one-size-fits-all. Though prior research in library and information science has shown that the “analytic potential” of a dataset is key to its reuse value 7 , work is needed to implement conceptual data reuse frameworks 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 . In addition, publishers and data archives need guidance to develop metrics and evaluation strategies to assess the impact of datasets.

Several existing resources have been compiled to study the relationship between the reuse of scholarly products, such as datasets (Table  1 ); however, none of these resources include explicit information on how curation processes are applied to data to increase their value, maximize their accessibility, and ensure their long-term preservation. The CCex (Curation Costs Exchange) provides models of curation services along with cost-related datasets shared by contributors but does not make explicit connections between them or include reuse information 15 . Analyses on platforms such as DataCite 16 have focused on metadata completeness and record usage, but have not included related curation-level information. Analyses of GenBank 17 and FigShare 18 , 19 citation networks do not include curation information. Related studies of Github repository reuse 20 and Softcite software citation 21 reveal significant factors that impact the reuse of secondary research products but do not focus on research data. RD-Switchboard 22 and DSKG 23 are scholarly knowledge graphs linking research data to articles, patents, and grants, but largely omit social science research data and do not include curation-level factors. To our knowledge, other studies of curation work in organizations similar to ICPSR – such as GESIS 24 , Dataverse 25 , and DANS 26 – have not made their underlying data available for analysis.

This paper describes a dataset 27 compiled for the MICA project (Measuring the Impact of Curation Actions) led by investigators at ICPSR, a large social science data archive at the University of Michigan. The dataset was originally developed to study the impacts of data curation and archiving on data reuse. The MICA dataset has supported several previous publications investigating the intensity of data curation actions 28 , the relationship between data curation actions and data reuse 29 , and the structures of research communities in a data citation network 30 . Collectively, these studies help explain the return on various types of curatorial investments. The dataset that we introduce in this paper, which we refer to as the MICA dataset, has the potential to address research questions in the areas of science (e.g., knowledge production), library and information science (e.g., scholarly communication), and data archiving (e.g., reproducible workflows).

We constructed the MICA dataset 27 using records available at ICPSR, a large social science data archive at the University of Michigan. Data set creation involved: collecting and enriching metadata for articles indexed in the ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature against the Dimensions AI bibliometric database; gathering usage statistics for studies from ICPSR’s administrative database; processing data curation work logs from ICPSR’s project tracking platform, Jira; and linking data in social science studies and series to citing analysis papers (Fig.  1 ).

Steps to prepare MICA dataset for analysis - external sources are red, primary internal sources are blue, and internal linked sources are green.

Enrich paper metadata

The ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature is a growing database of literature in which data from ICPSR studies have been used. Its creation was funded by the National Science Foundation (Award 9977984), and for the past 20 years it has been supported by ICPSR membership and multiple US federally-funded and foundation-funded topical archives at ICPSR. The Bibliography was originally launched in the year 2000 to aid in data discovery by providing a searchable database linking publications to the study data used in them. The Bibliography collects the universe of output based on the data shared in each study through, which is made available through each ICPSR study’s webpage. The Bibliography contains both peer-reviewed and grey literature, which provides evidence for measuring the impact of research data. For an item to be included in the ICPSR Bibliography, it must contain an analysis of data archived by ICPSR or contain a discussion or critique of the data collection process, study design, or methodology 31 . The Bibliography is manually curated by a team of librarians and information specialists at ICPSR who enter and validate entries. Some publications are supplied to the Bibliography by data depositors, and some citations are submitted to the Bibliography by authors who abide by ICPSR’s terms of use requiring them to submit citations to works in which they analyzed data retrieved from ICPSR. Most of the Bibliography is populated by Bibliography team members, who create custom queries for ICPSR studies performed across numerous sources, including Google Scholar, ProQuest, SSRN, and others. Each record in the Bibliography is one publication that has used one or more ICPSR studies. The version we used was captured on 2021-11-16 and included 94,755 publications.

To expand the coverage of the ICPSR Bibliography, we searched exhaustively for all ICPSR study names, unique numbers assigned to ICPSR studies, and DOIs 32 using a full-text index available through the Dimensions AI database 33 . We accessed Dimensions through a license agreement with the University of Michigan. ICPSR Bibliography librarians and information specialists manually reviewed and validated new entries that matched one or more search criteria. We then used Dimensions to gather enriched metadata and full-text links for items in the Bibliography with DOIs. We matched 43% of the items in the Bibliography to enriched Dimensions metadata including abstracts, field of research codes, concepts, and authors’ institutional information; we also obtained links to full text for 16% of Bibliography items. Based on licensing agreements, we included Dimensions identifiers and links to full text so that users with valid publisher and database access can construct an enriched publication dataset.

Gather study usage data

ICPSR maintains a relational administrative database, DBInfo, that organizes study-level metadata and information on data reuse across separate tables. Studies at ICPSR consist of one or more files collected at a single time or for a single purpose; studies in which the same variables are observed over time are grouped into series. Each study at ICPSR is assigned a DOI, and its metadata are stored in DBInfo. Study metadata follows the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) Codebook 2.5 standard. DDI elements included in our dataset are title, ICPSR study identification number, DOI, authoring entities, description (abstract), funding agencies, subject terms assigned to the study during curation, and geographic coverage. We also created variables based on DDI elements: total variable count, the presence of survey question text in the metadata, the number of author entities, and whether an author entity was an institution. We gathered metadata for ICPSR’s 10,605 unrestricted public-use studies available as of 2021-11-16 ( https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/membership/or/metadata/oai.html ).

To link study usage data with study-level metadata records, we joined study metadata from DBinfo on study usage information, which included total study downloads (data and documentation), individual data file downloads, and cumulative citations from the ICPSR Bibliography. We also gathered descriptive metadata for each study and its variables, which allowed us to summarize and append recoded fields onto the study-level metadata such as curation level, number and type of principle investigators, total variable count, and binary variables indicating whether the study data were made available for online analysis, whether survey question text was made searchable online, and whether the study variables were indexed for search. These characteristics describe aspects of the discoverability of the data to compare with other characteristics of the study. We used the study and series numbers included in the ICPSR Bibliography as unique identifiers to link papers to metadata and analyze the community structure of dataset co-citations in the ICPSR Bibliography 32 .

Process curation work logs

Researchers deposit data at ICPSR for curation and long-term preservation. Between 2016 and 2020, more than 3,000 research studies were deposited with ICPSR. Since 2017, ICPSR has organized curation work into a central unit that provides varied levels of curation that vary in the intensity and complexity of data enhancement that they provide. While the levels of curation are standardized as to effort (level one = less effort, level three = most effort), the specific curatorial actions undertaken for each dataset vary. The specific curation actions are captured in Jira, a work tracking program, which data curators at ICPSR use to collaborate and communicate their progress through tickets. We obtained access to a corpus of 669 completed Jira tickets corresponding to the curation of 566 unique studies between February 2017 and December 2019 28 .

To process the tickets, we focused only on their work log portions, which contained free text descriptions of work that data curators had performed on a deposited study, along with the curators’ identifiers, and timestamps. To protect the confidentiality of the data curators and the processing steps they performed, we collaborated with ICPSR’s curation unit to propose a classification scheme, which we used to train a Naive Bayes classifier and label curation actions in each work log sentence. The eight curation action labels we proposed 28 were: (1) initial review and planning, (2) data transformation, (3) metadata, (4) documentation, (5) quality checks, (6) communication, (7) other, and (8) non-curation work. We note that these categories of curation work are very specific to the curatorial processes and types of data stored at ICPSR, and may not match the curation activities at other repositories. After applying the classifier to the work log sentences, we obtained summary-level curation actions for a subset of all ICPSR studies (5%), along with the total number of hours spent on data curation for each study, and the proportion of time associated with each action during curation.

Data Records

The MICA dataset 27 connects records for each of ICPSR’s archived research studies to the research publications that use them and related curation activities available for a subset of studies (Fig.  2 ). Each of the three tables published in the dataset is available as a study archived at ICPSR. The data tables are distributed as statistical files available for use in SAS, SPSS, Stata, and R as well as delimited and ASCII text files. The dataset is organized around studies and papers as primary entities. The studies table lists ICPSR studies, their metadata attributes, and usage information; the papers table was constructed using the ICPSR Bibliography and Dimensions database; and the curation logs table summarizes the data curation steps performed on a subset of ICPSR studies.

Studies (“ICPSR_STUDIES”): 10,605 social science research datasets available through ICPSR up to 2021-11-16 with variables for ICPSR study number, digital object identifier, study name, series number, series title, authoring entities, full-text description, release date, funding agency, geographic coverage, subject terms, topical archive, curation level, single principal investigator (PI), institutional PI, the total number of PIs, total variables in data files, question text availability, study variable indexing, level of restriction, total unique users downloading study data files and codebooks, total unique users downloading data only, and total unique papers citing data through November 2021. Studies map to the papers and curation logs table through ICPSR study numbers as “STUDY”. However, not every study in this table will have records in the papers and curation logs tables.

Papers (“ICPSR_PAPERS”): 94,755 publications collected from 2000-08-11 to 2021-11-16 in the ICPSR Bibliography and enriched with metadata from the Dimensions database with variables for paper number, identifier, title, authors, publication venue, item type, publication date, input date, ICPSR series numbers used in the paper, ICPSR study numbers used in the paper, the Dimension identifier, and the Dimensions link to the publication’s full text. Papers map to the studies table through ICPSR study numbers in the “STUDY_NUMS” field. Each record represents a single publication, and because a researcher can use multiple datasets when creating a publication, each record may list multiple studies or series.

Curation logs (“ICPSR_CURATION_LOGS”): 649 curation logs for 563 ICPSR studies (although most studies in the subset had one curation log, some studies were associated with multiple logs, with a maximum of 10) curated between February 2017 and December 2019 with variables for study number, action labels assigned to work description sentences using a classifier trained on ICPSR curation logs, hours of work associated with a single log entry, and total hours of work logged for the curation ticket. Curation logs map to the study and paper tables through ICPSR study numbers as “STUDY”. Each record represents a single logged action, and future users may wish to aggregate actions to the study level before joining tables.

Entity-relation diagram.

Technical Validation

We report on the reliability of the dataset’s metadata in the following subsections. To support future reuse of the dataset, curation services provided through ICPSR improved data quality by checking for missing values, adding variable labels, and creating a codebook.

All 10,605 studies available through ICPSR have a DOI and a full-text description summarizing what the study is about, the purpose of the study, the main topics covered, and the questions the PIs attempted to answer when they conducted the study. Personal names (i.e., principal investigators) and organizational names (i.e., funding agencies) are standardized against an authority list maintained by ICPSR; geographic names and subject terms are also standardized and hierarchically indexed in the ICPSR Thesaurus 34 . Many of ICPSR’s studies (63%) are in a series and are distributed through the ICPSR General Archive (56%), a non-topical archive that accepts any social or behavioral science data. While study data have been available through ICPSR since 1962, the earliest digital release date recorded for a study was 1984-03-18, when ICPSR’s database was first employed, and the most recent date is 2021-10-28 when the dataset was collected.

Curation level information was recorded starting in 2017 and is available for 1,125 studies (11%); approximately 80% of studies with assigned curation levels received curation services, equally distributed between Levels 1 (least intensive), 2 (moderately intensive), and 3 (most intensive) (Fig.  3 ). Detailed descriptions of ICPSR’s curation levels are available online 35 . Additional metadata are available for a subset of 421 studies (4%), including information about whether the study has a single PI, an institutional PI, the total number of PIs involved, total variables recorded is available for online analysis, has searchable question text, has variables that are indexed for search, contains one or more restricted files, and whether the study is completely restricted. We provided additional metadata for this subset of ICPSR studies because they were released within the past five years and detailed curation and usage information were available for them. Usage statistics including total downloads and data file downloads are available for this subset of studies as well; citation statistics are available for 8,030 studies (76%). Most ICPSR studies have fewer than 500 users, as indicated by total downloads, or citations (Fig.  4 ).

ICPSR study curation levels.

ICPSR study usage.

A subset of 43,102 publications (45%) available in the ICPSR Bibliography had a DOI. Author metadata were entered as free text, meaning that variations may exist and require additional normalization and pre-processing prior to analysis. While author information is standardized for each publication, individual names may appear in different sort orders (e.g., “Earls, Felton J.” and “Stephen W. Raudenbush”). Most of the items in the ICPSR Bibliography as of 2021-11-16 were journal articles (59%), reports (14%), conference presentations (9%), or theses (8%) (Fig.  5 ). The number of publications collected in the Bibliography has increased each decade since the inception of ICPSR in 1962 (Fig.  6 ). Most ICPSR studies (76%) have one or more citations in a publication.

ICPSR Bibliography citation types.

ICPSR citations by decade.

Usage Notes

The dataset consists of three tables that can be joined using the “STUDY” key as shown in Fig.  2 . The “ICPSR_PAPERS” table contains one row per paper with one or more cited studies in the “STUDY_NUMS” column. We manipulated and analyzed the tables as CSV files with the Pandas library 36 in Python and the Tidyverse packages 37 in R.

The present MICA dataset can be used independently to study the relationship between curation decisions and data reuse. Evidence of reuse for specific studies is available in several forms: usage information, including downloads and citation counts; and citation contexts within papers that cite data. Analysis may also be performed on the citation network formed between datasets and papers that use them. Finally, curation actions can be associated with properties of studies and usage histories.

This dataset has several limitations of which users should be aware. First, Jira tickets can only be used to represent the intensiveness of curation for activities undertaken since 2017, when ICPSR started using both Curation Levels and Jira. Studies published before 2017 were all curated, but documentation of the extent of that curation was not standardized and therefore could not be included in these analyses. Second, the measure of publications relies upon the authors’ clarity of data citation and the ICPSR Bibliography staff’s ability to discover citations with varying formality and clarity. Thus, there is always a chance that some secondary-data-citing publications have been left out of the bibliography. Finally, there may be some cases in which a paper in the ICSPSR bibliography did not actually obtain data from ICPSR. For example, PIs have often written about or even distributed their data prior to their archival in ICSPR. Therefore, those publications would not have cited ICPSR but they are still collected in the Bibliography as being directly related to the data that were eventually deposited at ICPSR.

In summary, the MICA dataset contains relationships between two main types of entities – papers and studies – which can be mined. The tables in the MICA dataset have supported network analysis (community structure and clique detection) 30 ; natural language processing (NER for dataset reference detection) 32 ; visualizing citation networks (to search for datasets) 38 ; and regression analysis (on curation decisions and data downloads) 29 . The data are currently being used to develop research metrics and recommendation systems for research data. Given that DOIs are provided for ICPSR studies and articles in the ICPSR Bibliography, the MICA dataset can also be used with other bibliometric databases, including DataCite, Crossref, OpenAlex, and related indexes. Subscription-based services, such as Dimensions AI, are also compatible with the MICA dataset. In some cases, these services provide abstracts or full text for papers from which data citation contexts can be extracted for semantic content analysis.

Code availability

The code 27 used to produce the MICA project dataset is available on GitHub at https://github.com/ICPSR/mica-data-descriptor and through Zenodo with the identifier https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432666 . Data manipulation and pre-processing were performed in Python. Data curation for distribution was performed in SPSS.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ICPSR Bibliography staff, the ICPSR Data Curation Unit, and the ICPSR Data Stewardship Committee for their support of this research. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant 1930645. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services LG-37-19-0134-19.

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Libby Hemphill, Sara Lafia, David Bleckley & Elizabeth Moss

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Libby Hemphill & Lizhou Fan

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Andrea Thomer

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L.H. and A.T. conceptualized the study design, D.B., E.M., and S.L. prepared the data, S.L., L.F., and L.H. analyzed the data, and D.B. validated the data. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Libby Hemphill .

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Hemphill, L., Thomer, A., Lafia, S. et al. A dataset for measuring the impact of research data and their curation. Sci Data 11 , 442 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03303-2

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How To Effectively Keep Track Of Your Travel Destinations

• Last updated May 12, 2024
• Difficulty Beginner

• Category Travel

Do you find yourself often missing out on the amazing places you have visited during your travels because you can't remember where you went or what you saw? Keeping track of your travel destinations can be a daunting task, but with the right strategies, it can become a fun and rewarding activity. In this article, we will explore effective ways to keep track of your travel destinations, ensuring that each memory is preserved and cherished for years to come. So, grab your pen and notebook, and let's dive into the world of travel journaling and digital tools that will make you the ultimate travel destination expert!

What You'll Learn

Benefits of tracking your travel locations, popular apps and tools for tracking your travels, tips for effective travel tracking, creative ways to preserve your travel memories.

Are you someone who loves to travel and explore new places? If so, then you probably know how important it is to keep track of where you've been. Tracking your travel locations not only helps you remember the places you've visited, but it also comes with several other benefits. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the benefits of tracking your travel locations.

• Memories: One of the primary reasons why you should keep track of your travel locations is to preserve memories. When you visit a beautiful place, it's natural to want to remember it for years to come. By keeping track of your travel locations, you can easily look back and reminisce about the wonderful memories you made. Whether it's a trip to a stunning beach, a majestic mountain, or a charming city, tracking your travel locations helps you relive those magical moments.
• Personal Achievement: Tracking your travel locations can give you a sense of personal achievement. It allows you to see how many places you've visited and how much of the world you've explored. This accomplishment can boost your self-confidence and motivate you to continue traveling and discovering new destinations.
• Travel Recommendations: Another benefit of tracking your travel locations is that it enables you to recommend places to others. Friends, family, and even strangers often ask for travel recommendations. By keeping track of your travel locations, you can easily provide them with useful information about the places you've been. This not only helps others have a great travel experience but also allows you to share your passion for travel and inspire others to explore new destinations.
• Trip Planning: Tracking your travel locations can be immensely helpful when planning future trips. When you have a record of the places you've visited, it becomes easier to plan your next adventure. You can identify gaps in your travel map and choose new destinations to fill those gaps. Additionally, tracking your travel locations allows you to revisit your favorite places or explore nearby spots you may have missed during previous trips.
• Travel Map Visualization: Keeping track of your travel locations allows you to create a visual representation of your travel map. You can use online mapping tools or apps to mark the places you've been, creating a colorful and interactive map that showcases your travel journey. This map can serve as a beautiful piece of artwork and an interesting conversation starter. It's also a great way to motivate yourself to visit new places and add more pins to your travel map.

Now that you know some of the benefits of tracking your travel locations, you may be wondering how to get started. The easiest way is to use a digital travel journal or a travel tracking app. There are several apps available that allow you to input the places you've visited and automatically keep track of your travel locations. Alternatively, you can keep a physical journal or create a spreadsheet to manually record the places you've been. Choose the method that works best for you and start tracking your travel locations today. Happy exploring!

What Genre Does 'Travel Team' Fall Under?

You may want to see also

Are you an avid traveler who likes to explore new places and go on adventures? If so, you know how exciting it can be to visit different cities and countries. But sometimes, it can be hard to keep track of where you have been and remember all the amazing places you have visited. That's where travel tracking apps and tools come in handy. These popular apps and tools can help you keep a record of all the places you have been and make your travel experiences even more memorable.

• Google Maps: One of the most widely used tools for tracking your travels is Google Maps. This app allows you to save places you have visited by adding them to your "Saved" list. You can also create customized lists such as "Favorite Restaurants" or "Must-See Landmarks" to keep track of specific types of places. Additionally, Google Maps keeps a history of all the places you have been, so you can easily look back and see where you have traveled over time.
• TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor is not only a reliable source for finding accommodation and attractions but also a great tool for tracking your travels. This app allows you to create a personalized travel map by adding destinations you have visited or plan to visit in the future. You can also add notes, photos, and reviews to each location, making it easy to remember your experiences.
• Polarsteps: Polarsteps is a dedicated tracking app that automatically traces your journey as you move. Whether you are exploring a new city or embarking on a road trip, Polarsteps uses GPS technology to map out your route and create a visual timeline of your travels. You can add photos, descriptions, and even share your journey with friends and family.
• Travelog: Travelog is another popular app that helps you keep track of your travels. With Travelog, you can create a travel journal by documenting your adventures and recording the places you have visited. The app also allows you to add photos, notes, and create an itinerary, making it easy to organize and remember your trips.
• Evernote: While not specifically designed for travel tracking, Evernote is a versatile tool that can be used for various purposes, including keeping track of your travels. With Evernote, you can create notes and folders for each destination you visit, where you can add photos, write about your experiences, or even store travel-related documents such as flight itineraries or hotel reservations.
• TravelSpend: If you want to keep track of your travel expenses along with your destinations, TravelSpend is a handy app to have. This app helps you track your spending by allowing you to record expenses for each trip, including categories like accommodation, food, transportation, and entertainment. You can also add notes and photos to each expense, making it easy to remember where and why you spent your money.

In conclusion, these popular apps and tools can help you keep track of your travels and make your experiences more memorable. Whether you want to create a visual map of your journey, document your adventures, or keep track of your expenses, there is an app or tool out there to suit your needs. So, the next time you plan a trip, don't forget to download one or more of these apps to make your travel tracking easier and more enjoyable. Happy travels!

Why Embassies Consider Travel History When Issuing Visas

Traveling can be an exciting and enriching experience, but it can also present challenges when it comes to keeping track of where you've been. Whether you're a frequent traveler or just exploring a new destination, having an effective travel tracking system in place can help you stay organized and make the most of your trips. Here are some tips to help you keep track of where you travel:

• Use a digital travel journal: Consider using a digital travel journal or diary to record your travel experiences. There are several apps and websites available that allow you to create and store personalized travel journals. These platforms often include features such as maps, photo galleries, and the ability to add notes and tags to your entries. By regularly updating your digital travel journal, you'll have a comprehensive record of your trips that you can easily refer back to.
• Create a travel spreadsheet: If you prefer a more structured approach, creating a travel spreadsheet can be a great way to track your travels. You can use a program like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to create a spreadsheet that includes columns for the destination, date of travel, accommodation details, activities, and any other relevant information you want to track. This method allows you to easily sort and filter your travel data, making it simple to find specific information when you need it.
• Take advantage of travel apps: There are numerous travel apps available that can help you keep track of your trips. Some apps allow you to input your travel itinerary, add photos and notes, and even track your expenses. Look for apps that offer features that align with your needs and preferences. Experiment with different apps to find the one that works best for you.
• Keep physical mementos: In addition to digital records, it can be nice to keep physical mementos from your travels. Consider creating a dedicated space in your home where you can display items such as postcards, ticket stubs, and souvenirs from your trips. This not only serves as a reminder of your travel experiences but also acts as a visual representation of the countries and cities you've visited.
• Use social media to your advantage: Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook can be valuable tools for keeping track of your travels. Consider creating a dedicated travel album on your preferred platform where you can regularly post photos from your trips. You can also use hashtags to categorize your travel posts and make them easier to search for later. Social media also allows you to connect with friends and family who may have traveled to the same destinations, providing an opportunity to exchange tips and recommendations.
• Keep a physical travel journal: If you prefer a more traditional approach, keeping a physical travel journal can be a great way to record your travel experiences. Buy a notebook or journal that you can take with you on your trips and make an effort to write in it regularly. Include details like the places you visited, the people you met, and any memorable experiences you had. You can also glue in maps, ticket stubs, and other mementos to enhance your journal.

By implementing these tips, you'll be well-equipped to keep track of where you travel. Whether you prefer digital or physical methods, the key is to find a system that works for you and make it a habit to update it regularly. By doing so, you'll have a comprehensive record of your travels and be able to relive those cherished memories for years to come.

A Comprehensive Guide on Cashing Travelers Checks in Japan

Traveling can be an incredible experience, filled with new sights, sounds, and adventures. And while the memories of your travels may stay in your mind forever, it's always fun to find creative ways to preserve and cherish those memories. From documenting your trips in a travel journal to creating personalized photo albums, here are some creative ways to preserve your travel memories.

Create a Travel Journal:

Keep a travel journal where you can write about your experiences, jot down your thoughts, and document the places you visit. Include details like the names of the places you explore, the foods you try, and the people you meet. You can also use your travel journal to paste small mementos such as ticket stubs, postcards, or dried flowers as a way to visually capture your experiences.

Start a Blog or Vlog:

Share your travel experiences with others by starting a travel blog or vlog. Write about your adventures, share your photographs, and provide tips and recommendations for fellow travelers. You can also record videos documenting your trips and share them on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. Starting a blog or vlog not only helps you preserve your own memories but also allows you to inspire and connect with other travel enthusiasts.

Capture the Moments with Photos:

Take lots of photographs during your travels to capture the essence of each place you visit. Whether you use a professional camera or a smartphone, make sure to pay attention to composition and lighting. Experiment with different angles and perspectives to add a unique touch to your photos. Once you're back home, you can print your favorite pictures and frame them or create a photo album to showcase your travel adventures.

Collect Souvenirs:

Souvenirs are a great way to preserve your travel memories. Collect unique souvenirs like keychains, magnets, or local crafts from each destination you visit. These small trinkets will not only serve as physical reminders of your adventures but can also double as decorative items in your home. Display them on a shelf or create a dedicated travel display to showcase your collection.

Make a Travel-themed Scrapbook:

Get creative with a travel-themed scrapbook where you can combine photographs, ticket stubs, postcards, and other memorabilia from your trips. Use decorative papers, stickers, and embellishments to bring your memories to life. Include handwritten captions and stories alongside the visuals to give your scrapbook a personal touch. This hands-on approach allows you to actively engage with your travel memories while creating a beautiful keepsake.

Create a Digital Photo Book:

If physical scrapbooking seems overwhelming, consider creating a digital photo book instead. Many websites and software programs allow you to easily design and customize your photo books. Select your favorite photos, add captions, and experiment with different layouts and backgrounds. Once completed, you can have your digital photo book printed and delivered to your doorstep, providing a sleek and modern way to preserve your travel memories.

Start a Collection:

Consider starting a collection of items that remind you of your travels. Whether it's collecting postcards, coins, or even rocks from different places, building a collection can be a fun way to commemorate your adventures around the world. Each time you add a new item to your collection, it will bring back memories of the places you've been and the experiences you've had.

Preserving your travel memories is essential for keeping those moments alive long after the adventure is over. Whether you choose to keep a journal, create a scrapbook, or start a collection, find a method that resonates with you and allows you to look back on your travels with joy and nostalgia. By preserving your travel memories in creative ways, you'll always have something to cherish and share with others.

The Hidden Costs of Solo Travel: Why Does it Cost Double?

Frequently asked questions.

You can use a travel journal or a diary to manually record the places you visit. Additionally, you can take photos and tag them with the location to create a visual diary of your travels.

Yes, there are several smartphone apps available that can help you keep track of your travels. Some popular options include TripIt, Google Maps, and Travelers Notebook. These apps allow you to easily record and organize your travel itineraries and locations.

Yes, you can create a personalized map to mark the places you have traveled to using online mapping tools such as Google My Maps or MapQuest. These tools allow you to customize your map with markers, notes, and photos to keep track of your travel destinations.

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