BIOL 796: Professional Aspects of Biology

Every researcher's organizational strategy is different based on individual preferences and how they work best. It is important to have some type of organizational strategy to keep track of the multitude of information sources that you will encounter throughout your research process. I recommend using a citation manager to keep track of the articles you read.

This page links to a few popular citation managers and help guides. It also contains additional tips for maintaining an organized research process. Check the Research Data Management page for suggestions about how to keep track of the information you're gathering in lab or in the field.

Citation managers are great tools for keeping your research organized. You can use them to keep track of references you want to cite in your paper, share resources with your peers, and automatically generate citations for you. These tools can streamline your research process and save you a lot of time. However, make sure you double check any automatically generated citations for accuracy -- they can sometimes have minor errors.

You can save yourself and any collaborators time by documenting your search process. Keeping track of where and how you searched will prevent you from retracing your steps later on. Use a search log to keep track of your process.

Include the following information in your search log:

• Where you searched
• When you searched
• What search terms you used
• Permalink to search results (see below for instructions on how to create one!)
• General Notes: Was it a successful search? If it wasn't successful, why do you think that is? Did you generate any ideas for search terms to use in future searches?

A basic blank search log template is available for download below. You can use this as a starting point, but I encourage you to add columns, adjust the format, or make other changes to fit your preferences.

Creating a Permalink to Search Results

Permalink to EBSCO Results

1. Make sure you are logged in to the library website. If you are not logged in, you will see a yellow banner at the top of your search page that says: "Off campus? Sign in." Click on that to log in using your TU username and password.
2. Select the "Share" link towards the top right of your search results. The permalink is located near the bottom of the menu that appears in the section labeled "Use Permalink." Copy/paste that link into a safe place so you may access it later.

Permalink to a Different Database (Proxy Builder)

1. When you are on a search result screen, copy the URL at the top of your browser.
2. In a separate window or tab, open the Cook Library's Proxy Builder page. You may wish to bookmark this page for easy access.
3. Paste the URL from your search result page into the first box in the Proxy Builder.
4. A permalink will be created for you in the second box. Copy/paste that link into a safe place so you may access it later.

Taking good notes will also help you stay organized. Taking notes will also...

• Help you stay focused as you are reading complex articles.
• Allow you to easily find important details you may want to cite later.
• Help you create an outline before you begin writing or planning a presentation.

There are many methods of note-taking. Some scientists like to use papers, while others use digital tools. I like to highlight and annotate articles in Mendeley. When I am preparing to write or present something, I keep a running list of information I may want to cite, arranged by topic. I do this in Microsoft OneNote, but Word or Google Docs would also work well.

A few tools and other useful note-taking resources are linked below.