I'm only applying right now (social psych phd) but even going into interviews I'd like to keep my ideas organized. I usually throw it all in a notebook but I'm wondering if anyone has a better method.
Posted Dec 27, 2016, 10:06 PM UTC
A private wiki.
That's an interesting idea.
I have a master file on evernote in which I put my main ideas/topics, and break them down in bullet points. Once an idea gets structured enough, it gets its own note. Once I start working on it, I'll move the ideas to a word document that will serve as an outline to the first draft.
Evernote all the way. It works well across devices and is nicely searchable. I export a copy of it monthly and archive it for transparency and traceability.
I made different categories of notes: individual experiments, literature searches, broad investigations, etc. and I tag and cross-reference them as-needed. It made writing my dissertation a breeze later on (at least for the results and methods sections).
Also, the smartphone widget has a document scanner that uses the camera-- great for archiving protocols, product sheets, etc that are on paper.
Awesome! I think I'll use my notebook as a brain dump and transfer things to Evernote that I want to expand on, link literature, or actually turn into studies. It sounds really useful!
I'm in social psych and use evernote for ideas and meeting notes.
Zotero. I make a word doc with a few notes I upload there along with whatever sources I have.
I use a combination of dropbox paper and vimwiki. And paper!
My university has a Box account, so I just store them in my Box as Word files. This is awesome because it's cloud and I don't worry about backup and Box has a pretty robust version control.
I've been using Google Docs - once Evernote restricted me to only 2 devices, Google Drive/Docs/Sheets, etc. became my replacement and I've found it really helpful
I tattoo them all over my body.
Sometimes I also use evernote, mostly because I like having it accessible anywhere I am. Microsoft OneNote is also quite good.
Pretty much every system is going to have its flaws. Just pick one that you can tolerate and stick with it. That's really the most important part... not abandoning it and not having things spread out like a plane crash debris field.