In response to yesterday’s blog post (Historical Research Q&A), someone asked me the following:
Q: I’m wondering how to best organize and keep track of my research. I could do it by putting everything in computer folders, say one for each location. Then, I’ll need a plot and subplot folder, one for laws of the period, a character folder…it goes on. How do you keep it all organized and accessible? Of course I am documenting my sources so I can find them again. So I guess my question is more about how to manage what I find. I want the information at my fingertips, but don’t want to write an elaborate index.
This is a toughie, but I think I’ve got it licked. How best to do it might depend upon the size of your project. Someone has suggested using Microsoft OneNote or similar program. This is probably a good suggestion, especially if the project is fairly modest in size. However, my research methods predate Microsoft OneNote, so I’m afraid I might be a bit antiquated in my methods. Antiquated or not, I’ve developed a method in which I can keep years of notes organized and accessible at a moment’s notice, using WORD, or a similar program.
When I first receive material, let’s say THE CIVIL WAR by Geoffrey Ward, I start by entering it into my Bibliography (Bib), the first document I will create. Every subsequent work I study goes into the Bib. This way I never lose track of what I’ve read, and my Bib will be comprehensive and ready to send to an editor if they ask for it. I include websites, journal articles, newspaper articles, etc., in my Bib. Once I’ve recorded THE CIVIL WAR book in my Bib, I start reading.
When I find some tidbit I want to keep, for example, info on the Battle of Port Hudson, I create a WORD document called “Port Hudson.” I’ll file this document under a more general folder I’ve created called, “CIVIL WAR.” In the Port Hudson document I then notate my source plus the corresponding page number. If it’s a small paragraph of info, I’ll just type it into the document. Better yet, my computer has speech recognition software, so I just read the paragraph and let my computer do the work. When finished my Port Hudson document will look something like this:
CIVIL WAR (Ward) 137: The battle of Port Hudson was one of the major . . . blah blah blah.
Then, as I read on, whenever I run across additional information on Port Hudson, I’ll add it to the Port Hudson document. This is true even as I move on to other sources. All Port Hudson material, regardless of source, will end up in that document.
If the document starts to get cumbersome– now, let’s say, it’s 20 pages long– I might further divide it into subdocuments, organized under a new folder called Port Hudson (a subfolder of the CIVIL WAR main folder). In this case, examples of sub-document titles might be: General Dwight, Day of Surrender, Daily Life, Siege, Rations, and so on.
A year later when I need information on what my character might eat at the battle at Port Hudson, I open my Civil War/Port Hudson/Rations document, and there is all the information I want, with all the various sources documented, including page numbers in case I ever need to go back and reread something. When you organize in this way, years of research can literally be at your fingertips in SECONDS.
When you first start researching you might be a little hazy as to how to organize and what to name your folders. Not to worry– just do the best you can, knowing that as you go along you can further refine your folders and documents.
Sometimes there are entire chapters (or more) of a source that I want to keep on hand. Rather than dictate twenty pages into my computer, I’ll do one of three things: 1) Depending on how important the source is and how much I think I’ll use it in the future, I may purchase the material. In my WORD document I will then notate something like the following: “CIVIL WAR (Ward) — see pages 148-172 for detailed info on the siege at Port Hudson”; 2) If the source is online at www.questia.com, I can bookmark anything I want and simply notate the bookmark in my WORD document; 3) I’ll photocopy the needed chapter(s) and store them in a 3-ring binder. On the spine of the binder I’ll write a shorthand note as to what is in the notebook. (I might have multiple sources in one notebook.) Then I’ll make a corresponding note in my Port Hudson document as to where to find the information, etc., and what the information is regarding. Again, regardless of which option I choose, the information is available to me within seconds.
To answer your question regarding character and plot folders, yes, you’re right on. I have folders called “Plot” and “Characters” and even “Storage” with all of my discarded drafts further divided into chapters for easy retrieval. Organize your folders in whatever way makes sense to you. As far as elaborate indexes, I don’t use an index at all — my folders are organized intuitively. In other words, I’m not going to look for information on the battle of Port Hudson under a folder titled “Religion,” but will head for the “Civil War” folder instead.
Hope that helps! If anyone else out there has another method that has worked for them, I’m all ears. Happy researching!
