Scrivener has deservedly earned a solid reputation as a writing tool, but it’s also great for project management. By making the most of Scrivener’s features, you can quickly see exactly what needs to be done on your thesis (or any other large writing project).
The Status field in Scrivener’s Inspector enables you to record the stage you’ve reached on a particular document. The defaults include: To-do, First draft, Revised draft, Final draft, Done.
You can also rename them, or even add your own. For example, you might want one that says ‘Check quotes’ or ‘Check references’. It’s useful to set ‘To Do’ as the default, then update the status as you progress.
Now if I view the corkboard for the introduction of my thesis, I can see the status of each section within it.
You can also view the status from within the Outliner – this is better if you have a lot of documents in your Scrivener project.
It is also possible to use the status field for documents in your research folder, e.g. PDFs. So, you might create a ‘To be read’ status for any journal articles you haven’t yet scrutinised. And the synopsis feature is perfect for summarising the article’s key arguments.
Using the status field consistently can save you lots of time and significantly improve your workflow.
Find out more about these features in my ebook How to Write Your Thesis with Scrivener.
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