Getting and Staying Organized: Keeping Track of References

Make lists - Project stages, types of resources to consult, individuals to interview (and questions to ask at interviews), sections of your writing project, references read, and editing issues all should be compiled into separate lists.

When you conduct an interview, these two questions always should appear at the end of your list: (1) Is there anything else I should know that I did not ask about? (2) Are there any resources you can recommend, such as additional individuals to interview or essential reading materials?

Every reference you read should appear on your list, even if you determine that the reference will not be useful. You do not want to waste time re-reading a reference, which can occur when you forget that you already had read the reference and do not record information about the reference in your list. Save yourself time by formatting your citations properly as soon as you add a new reference to your list.