👉 TL;DR: This notion template is especially tailored for researchers and PhD students who can use it to manage their daily research routine and work related tasks.

• C.O.D.E. Concept for Organizing Digital Information

• P.A.R.A. Method for Organizing Digital Information

Template in action

This is my current Layout...

My current layout

<aside> 💡 TEMPLATE LAYOUT: The template is based on Two main pages containing six broad areas (variant of PARA method) and four databases.

• PAGES: ————————————————— 1️⃣ 🎓 HOMEPAGE
  The current page is the homepage. This is the main page that is used daily and is the hub of all organization. The page is divided into six major parts, four of which are the areas according to the Para method. The 5th is a To-Read view of the Paper Database and the 6th is a Calendar view of the linked Targets & Planning database to visualize all the activities during the month. The sub areas on the home page and their main usage are as follows:- ▪ TASKS: To Read, Upcoming Tasks, Research Tasks - The To-read is a filtered view of the Paper Database whereas the Tasks are filtered views from the Targets and Planning Database. ▪ AREAS: R&D Active topics, Personal tasks ▪ RESOURCES: Literature Review database, Paper Database (Bibliography) and any other relevant resource ▪ ARCHIVE: Weblinks (from Notion web clipper)

• DATABASES: ————————————————— 2️⃣ 🎯 Targets & Planning Database This is the central database that links all the tasks, meetings, activities and research plan. The database is linked in multiple places with different views filtered with tags.

3️⃣ 📃 Paper Database The bibliography database exported from any PDF organizer

4️⃣ 🌐 Weblinks Notion Web clipper database for online research bookmarks

Note: The current template is around 400 blocks, so anyone with a free account can duplicate and test the template. Also, the template is fully editable and customizable so you can tailor it to your needs and language etc.

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<aside> 💡 WORKFLOW:

1. Enter all work meetings, research tasks, deadlines and all personal tasks in the 🎯 Targets & Planning Database. Calendar view will visualize all the activities during the month. ****2. Be sure to tag each task accordingly, and it will show up in the relevant linked view in the 🎓 HOMEPAGE .
2. Maintain a bibliography in the Paper Database (I exported my database from Qiqqa, but it will work fine with Mendley, Endnote, Zoetero etc. ). Add target dates to read on in the 'Date read' property, and it will show up on the main home page under tasks. I am currently targeting the "One paper a day" approach especially during the Corona Virus lockdown situation to make the most of the time.
3. Each topic I work on is a sub-page in the Literature Review page. So each topic can have its own data organized for later use especially during article writing.
4. All links from Notion web clipper automatically populate under the Weblinks database.

My current layout is in the image on the right. As you can see, for me this one page is where most of the overview happens.

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<aside> ⚙ ToDo's:

• Improve the iconography to be more minimalistic
• Long term goal is to add gamification to the template. However I still have to figure out a way to integrate the fantastic resource by Conrad Lin into this template.
• Also, if you have any suggestions, do let me know on Twitter or on the Notion Discord server !

References:

1. *How to build a second brain
2. #GamificationProject*

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EDIT 2022: Adding papers to Notion automatically using Zotero !

Highly recommend you check out the Notion integration with Zotero plugin.. its really awesome and solves managing the manual addition of Bibliography !! Huge shoutout to the author of the plugin! Link: https://github.com/dvanoni/notero

<aside> ⚠️ NOTE: After duplicating the template; please remove the existing links from the Shortcuts (Home) bar and update them with links to your own databases.

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👆After duplicating the template, delete all the the above blocks and start using the template👆

TASKS

AREAS

RESOURCES

ARCHIVE

CALENDER

A project without a corresponding goal is known as a “hobby.” A goal without a corresponding project, that’s called a “dream.” An (underpaid) project with an (distant) goal and (endless literature review) is called a "PhD" ᓚᘏᗢ

🎯 TASKS

Untitled

• Upcoming Tasks (Weekly)
• RESEARCH TASKS:

🚧 AREAS

• R&D ACTIVE TOPICS
• SELF

📙 RESOURCES

Literature Review →

List of Relevant Datasets & Courses

Paper Database & Bibliography

🗃 ARCHIVES

Weblinks

Targets & Planning