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<b><h4>How do you keep a record of your research?</h4></b>

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<b>Dr Peter Hristov, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Liverpool</b>

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In computational engineering, the main record of research is data. So gathering data and lots of it is really easy. But keeping it ordered, properly labelled, and coming with descriptive texts is often quite hard. So what I tend to do is I like to write about what I do. I like to write about my results. So, for example, I would-- after conducting a study, I would write a short report or make a presentation to show the others and try to organise everything. 
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<b><h4>Why do you feel it is important to keep a secure record of what you have done?</h4></b>

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<b>Dr Peter Hristov:</b> My work tends to be very multidisciplinary. What I mean by this is that oftentimes, I would work for a length of time on a problem-- let's call it problem A. Then I would shift to a next stage in problem B. But when I need to come back to problem A, I find it really important to have a secure record of where I've been, what I've done so far, what the data is so that I can resume work smoothly. 

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Also, when I want to publish something fast which is really important at sometimes, and I would like to have a fairly detailed record of what the results have been, what I've been doing so that I can get those results out as fast as I can. 
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<b><h4>Have there been times when you should have kept a better record of your work?</h4></b>

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<b>Dr Peter Hristov:</b> On more than one occasion, I wish I have kept a better record of my work. For example, when I didn't have a chance to prepare beforehand for collecting the data, the results might end up in confusing figures or plots or generically named files. Also, if I don't dedicate time to organise the file system in my computer, for example, before collecting data, that can also become very confusing at times and lead to inefficiencies. 