<aside> 👇 This template may look overwhelming if you’re not used to Notion. But really it’s quite simple. It’s all built around projects, with attached to-dos, documents, references and more. Check out the video below if you want a walkthrough:

Screen Recording 2025-01-09 at 13.07.07.mov

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To Do Overview

<aside> 💡 Take a bird’s eye view of your entire to do list. Select from a Calendar view, a Kanban board, or a table, or view tasks due today, in the next 7 days, or in the next 30 days. You can also view your completed tasks to track your progress.

Click +New in any view to add a new to do item. Don’t forget to link it to a project to keep everything organised.

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Project Overview

<aside> 💡 Take a bird’s eye view of all the projects on your agenda, today and into the future. Select from a Gantt chart , Gallery, a Kanban board, calendar or a table. All the other elements in this PhD Writing OS can link to one or more of these projects, so use this as the master organiser.

Click +New in any view to add a new project and replicate the template we’ve created. Use that project to organise your to-dos, literature, notes, and more.

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Document Manager

<aside> 💡 Easily keep track of your writing with this document manager. Assign texts to one or multiple projects to make planning a doddle. You can upload word files, write natively in Notion, or embed a Google Docs that is synced in real time. Make sure to assign a document to a project so you can easily track it.

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Notes

<aside> 💡 Keep your notes and ideas organised with a dedicated space inside The PhD OS.

The scratchpad is for on-the-fly ideas, and is synced across the OS. The table is home to individual notes - don’t forget to use the tags so you can easily categorise your thinking.

Also, if you link a note to a project, it’ll show up in the project’s dashboard. You can even link to a note anywhere inside this OS. Simple type @ and the note’s name to create a direct link.

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<aside> 💡 Scratch Pad

Use this to jot down random thoughts as they come to you and before you’ve organised them into a notebook or to-do item. This pad is synced across the entire PhD OS.

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Literature Tracker

<aside> 💡 Keep your references and sources organised, and link them to specific chapters and projects.

This table is home to individual references/sources - don’t forget to use the tags so you can easily categorise your thinking.

Also, if you link a reference to a project, it’ll show up in the project’s dashboard. You can even link to a reference anywhere inside this OS. Simple type @ and the note’s name to create a direct link.

Click +New in any view to add a new reference and to copy our template.

p.s. The more technical-minded might like to know that there is a plugin that can integrate this template/Notion with Zotero. More info here: https://github.com/dvanoni/notero and here: https://medium.com/@anna-everett/a-technical-guide-to-setting-up-notero-zotero-notion-plugin-d467d675039b

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Chapter & Project Overview