A few months ago I wrote on “Setting Up a Digital Workflow for Academic Research” and I’m please to announce that I’ve been working feverishly on this process, and although it is still in development, here’s a solid update for you!
As a reminder, my personal definition of a Digital Workflow: the execution and automation of research processes where tasks, information or documents are passed from one digital program to another for action, according to a set of procedural rules.
Why do you need a digital workflow? Because you spend too much time 1) finding articles, 2) downloading and naming files, 3) annotating and editing pdfs, and 4) organizing and citing research.
Discovery Workflow
- Search library for relevant articles in University Library, Work Library, and Google Scholar.
- Keep notes on search strategy in Literature Grid spreadsheet “Search Strategy” tab, by specific topic/paper.
- Download PDF of article to “Original Articles” folder in GoogleDrive.
- Note the original amount of articles found.
- Create new Zotero folder for specific topic/paper.
- Import PDFs into Zotero into specific topic/paper.
- Fix meta data or “create parent item” for all articles.
Reading Workflow
- Sort Zotero specific topic/paper folder by title (on your first day) or by date added to Zotero.
- Open literature grid and start blank grid for specific topic/paper.
- Copy first Zotero bibliography to clipboard – paste in first cell of literature grid.
- Double-click to open the PDF.
- Complete literature grid fields as you review and annotate article.
- Note any additional saturation/bibliography articles to review in future.
- Save the highlighted, annotated article PDF in Zotero when you exit.
- Note final number of articles found, used, and/or deleted.
- Revise core themes and brainstorming grid as needed.
- Consider whether you should create any Google alerts for articles from specific authors or keywords from particularly successful search strategies.
Writing Workflow
- Open APA template document.
- Change all immediate identifiers for specific topic/class/paper.
- Review keywords and themes to outline the biggest concepts for your specific topic/paper.
- Create an outline based on themes presented in literature.
- Define the title.
- Define the thesis or main idea.
- Clarify your distinct supporting points (claims, opinions, and conclusions) that correlate to the main idea. Use them as headings and find where they fit best with your overall themes.
- Clarify your evidence and decide what examples you want to use for each supporting point.
- Move from outline to draft by creating an academic MEAL paragraph (Main idea, evidence, analysis, the link to the next paragraph).
- Finish a complete first draft. Turn it in to Writing Center.
Citation Workflow
- Use Zotero to list all citations listed in literature grid with relevant topics and themes.
- Use Zotero to list all citations specifically listed within the paper.
- Use Turnitin to review originality report.
- Fill in any holes of where additional literature could, or should, be cited.
- Fix APA in-text citation and bibliography formatting and mechanics.
Revision Workflow
- Finish a complete first draft. Turn it in to Writing Center.
- Revise for methods of development (how you develop, explain, present or argue the supporting points), such as comparing and contrasting two ideas, or explaining a cause and effect relationship.
- Revise for organization (clear, coherent and logical paragraphs) and rhetorical strategies (exposition, description, narration, or argumentation).
- Revise for style, tone, and diction (repetition of words and phrases and audience tone).
- Finish a complete second draft. Turn it in to Writing Center/Peer Review.
- Schedule one-on-one session with Writing Center to review any key mechanics or specific troubling issues that have come up during revisions.
- Finish a complete third draft based on feedback.
- Turn it in and get published.
Article publié pour la première fois le 16/12/2019
