Organizing your Research Stuff

Get organized

Track your search process using a research log or a simple spreadsheet. This will save you time and keep you from repeating your work.


Use Citation Manager Tools to automatically create your bibliography/works cited, endnotes, or footnotes in APA, MLA and hundreds of other styles.


Use descriptive file names and include numerical dates (YYYMMDD) to help make sense of them later.

Helpful (and sorts nicely):

  • 20271006_Capstone_version_01
  • 20271019_Methodology_01

Not helpful (and will not sort nicely):

  • Dec 9 draft
  • Tuesday draft final
  • 15 December draft final final for sure the final

Backup your project often (so it isn't only stored on a laptop)

  • Box.com unlimited storage through the UMN
  • Google Drive through the UMN
  • USB or another external drive