A five-minute handoff for your next research session.
When you stop, leave enough context to begin one useful action next time. You can try this in the notebook you already use.
By Dimas Visser, developer of Research Logbook · 3 November 2026. Made-up examples; practical prompts, not an institutional research-record protocol.
Write the question you were actually working on, and where you stopped. “Literature review” is a project. “Do these two sources use engagement in the same way?” is a question you can return to.
Keep what the source says, or what your run showed, distinct from what you think it means. Preserve uncertainty. A short note can hold both without turning a tentative interpretation into a result.
For example: “Source A measures attendance; source B discusses reported interest. I need to check whether comparing them as engagement is justified.”
Add the source and page, file location, code version or method detail needed to find the work again. Keep the evidence in the appropriate research system; the handoff can simply point to it.
For a reading session, that might be two references and the relevant sections. For an analysis session, it might be the script version, input reference and parameter you changed.
Make the next step small enough to begin. Instead of “continue reading”, try “compare the first two sources’ definitions before extending the theme summary”. Stop at one first action; a full project plan can live elsewhere.
Adapt these prompts to your work.
What was I trying to find out, and what did I do?
What does the evidence show? What is my interpretation, and what remains uncertain?
What is unfinished? Which source, file or version gets me back to it?
What is the first comparison, check or small action I can begin next time?
“Rerun the latest analysis” leaves several choices open. A more specific handoff could be: “Using the recorded input and script version, compare the current parameter setting with the previous one. Check the same diagnostic plot before interpreting the difference.”
This is a made-up workflow example, not a recommendation about which analysis to run. Use the analysis-decision template.
Leave the handoff, then use it when you return. Notice which detail you still had to reconstruct. Adjust that prompt next time. We have not measured a productivity improvement from these prompts.
Three free templates: research, reading and analysis. They are readable here and available as plain text or Markdown.
To try the editor, open the temporary writing workspace. Use made-up text: it clears on refresh or leaving. No signup or installation. The Windows app remains pending release.
You can copy and adapt these prompts for your own work, or share this page with someone who keeps research notes. No signup or referral reward is involved.
One useful question: which part would you still need to reconstruct? Reply where you found this guide or use the existing optional feedback form. Keep confidential research out of public examples.