Organising and keeping on top of literature

organising literature

I get weirdly hung up on aspects of my experience of my PhD and one thing that continuously worries me and pops into my head making me evaluate how I am progressing is how I organise my literature and ensure that it is easily found again when it comes to writing up my thesis.
Now I wouldn't say there is one key way of doing this as there isn't. It will very much depend on you as a person and your preference for your working methods.

Before settling on my current method of working, I tried to find a number of options that other academics had used successfully and I found that no two people seem to do this the same way and this frustrated me as I was hoping for maybe 3 or 4 good options for doing this.

In a previous post all about reference management software, I talk about Zotero and I also give some useful tips on using this programme.  I would say it's not important what reference management software you use but it is important to learn the functions and limitations of each software prior to committing to the one you will use. try and do this early on so that you don't get halfway through your PhD and then realise that the reference management software you are using lacks some key features you are really needing.

But with all of the journal articles, e-book sections and notes that you will accumulate through your studies, how are you going to ensure that you are storing them appropriately and that they are in places that you can easily find them and resort back to them when needed? That is a challenge.

I came across some blog posts on file naming formats so that when you are looking through your files they all have the same content and can be easily determined from one another. I have gone with a file format: Author surname, year of publication and then the paper title.

E.g. Naidoo and Williams 2015 the Neoliberal Regime in English Higher Education.pdf

This means that when I am going through the numerous files that I have collected I can easily arrange the files to be able to see the details clearly and this helps to jog my memory of the contents of the file, sometimes.

There are numerous ways that people decide to store their files in order that they are easily retrievable but this one method felt simple for me and it has been something that has enabled me to work through my literature in a methodological manner.

I keep two main folders for literature. The first folder is 'literature unread' and this is where I deposit any papers that I find when I am trawling through the library seeking out particular details. Once the paper is saved in this folder it allows me to go back into that folder and spend some time reading the papers thoroughly and making notes. If the paper doesn't have much use and I don't see any value for it then I simply delete it. If the paper has value then I will read it, highlight it and add notes and comments on the paper and then I will save it into the second folder.

The second folder is simply called 'literature' and inside there are twenty-six subfolders labelled A through to Z relating to the author's' surname. I decided on using the surname as we often use author surnames in referring to papers. I can easily go into these subfolders when searching for a particular paper, identify the paper, open it and re-read the comments and highlighted sections and become familiar with the paper once more.

Both folders I have saved in my One Drive and this enables me to easily access my literature whilst on the move allowing me to work on my research as and when time avails.

These techniques are working for me at the moment but I know that pretty soon I am going to have to establish further folders for each chapter of the Thesis where I can move copies of files into these folders. this will help me understand which authors and their work I am referencing within each section of my thesis. This is something I am still mulling over and improving on.

How do you organise your files and literature? What are your key tips and suggestions for keeping on top of your ever-growing pile of reading?

Let me know in the comments if I am missing a trick and please help me to keep on top of my reading and my research. Thanks for reading.


Location: Bristol, UK

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