Introduction > Planning Your Research > Keeping a Record

Keeping a Record The ultimate output from your research is likely to be a written assignment, report or other form of publication. Whatever the format of the document, it is likely to contain a Materials and Methods section, which details what you did and how you did it. It's important that this section gives enough detail to allow fellow researchers to replicate your work and your results should they wish to do so in future. For your own records, no amount of detail is too much. Record anything and everything regarding the setting up and conducting of your experiment. Anything from the supplier of a chemical to the specialist computer software to the grower who gave you some experimental plants should all be recorded, taking note of the supplier's name, address, product code, phone number, e-mail address, price, invoice number and any other information you've got. It's easy to delete unwanted information, but it's far more difficult to remember the finer details at some point in the future. A simple Word or Excel document can be used to record important details. The main advantage of using these methods is you can 'cut and paste' the information directly into your final report.

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