Embedded Files
While advance planning can ensure that you are as prepared as possible in order to make code and data FAIR, there are also key actions to consider during the research process itself.
Are all files named in a logical and consistent way? [✓]
Are all files named in a logical and consistent way? [✓]
Use consistent punctuation, spelling, and abbreviations.
Use version numbers for each document. This is normally in the format X.Y, where X changes each major version, and Y each minor version, with no leading zeroes.
Use YYYY-MM-DD date format.
Make filenames concise but meaningful - you should be able to know what's in the document without opening it.
Record naming conventions in a README file (see below).
Avoid repetition within filenames and folders, which makes it more difficult to distinguish between these names.
Have you clearly structured your file storage? [✓]
Have you clearly structured your file storage? [✓]
Data need to be stored consistently by the project team - even if you are the only researcher.
Create a topic-based structure at the start of your project.
Ensure all with access understand and work within the structure.
Describe the structure in a README file (see below).
Present and future researchers will then know where to store and find data.
Reusing the same structure where possible will help create a level of standardisation across projects.
For more on data storage, see Planning your research
Have you clearly documented your data/code? [✓]
Have you clearly documented your data/code? [✓]
Creating clear documentation for your data, including a README file, is important so that you and other researchers know everything needed to reuse your data/code. Include your methodology, file structure, provenance (collection and creation), size, number of records, and any other information that will help you and others to understand and use the data.
Examples of README files
Examples of README files
Below are some good examples of README files that have been deposited in the University of Sheffield's research data repository (ORDA).
README file for 'Tattoos in the Digital Panopticon Database, 1793-1925' (deposited by Jamie McLaughlin) - tabular data
README file for 'Qualitative Data for PhD thesis on Politics, progress and place of elite black African women in Kenyan Extractive Sector' (deposited by Nerea Okong'o) - interview transcriptions
README file for 'Mixed protection of threatened species traded under CITES' (deposited by Oscar Morton) - R code and tabular data
README file for 'Experimental data for the characterisation of an automatic fault detection and isolation soft valve for inflatable soft robots' (deposited by Marco Pontin) - Matlab code and tabular data
README file for 'SNuC: The Sheffield Numbers Spoken Language Corpus' (Emma Barker et. al.) - raw and processed audio recordings, transcripts, tabular data
README file for 'CoVid plots and analysis' (deposited by Colin Angus) - R code
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