How I organise my PhD Projects in Notion Student

TL;DR

Build a Notion landing page around a single research question and keep an abstract field that can be updated as results develop.

Briefing Cornell Notes

Briefing

A PhD researcher built a full “dashboard” in Notion to keep a research project, literature notes, figures, meeting feedback, and weekly progress in one linked system—aimed at reducing the chaos that comes from scattered notebooks and messy code files. The setup centers on a landing page for a specific research question—predicting injuries for marathon training data—then expands into sub-questions, embedded notes, and visual results organized for quick review.

The landing page acts like a control panel. It includes a cover image and an abstract field that can start empty and be updated as findings emerge, helping the researcher stay anchored to the project’s purpose. A “related work” section stores literature notes and links out to individual papers. Instead of treating Notion as a paper repository (the workflow still relies on Mendeley for storing PDFs), the system uses Notion to organize what matters: summaries, annotations, and fast navigation between notes and sources. A key feature is that everything is a page, enabling constant page-to-page linking and even embedding external content such as videos or websites.

For the research substance, the dashboard breaks the main question into research sub-questions and organizes outputs like results and graphs in a kanban-style board. Each card can be rearranged, dragged into place, and expanded into its own page for deeper inspection. The researcher can tag items (for example, marking graphs as “needs fixing”), then switch views—such as a table view—to filter by tags and quickly identify what requires attention before supervisor meetings or paper submissions. This structure also replaces the friction of juggling multiple Jupyter notebooks, where code and results can get buried under scrolling and file switching.

Meeting notes are handled directly on the relevant graph pages. During a supervisor discussion, the researcher types comments like “supervisor once said add X to graph,” which appear as logged comments tied to the specific figure under discussion. That linkage solves a common problem with traditional note-taking on an iPad: it becomes hard to remember which graph or decision the note referred to later. With Notion, the context stays attached to the artifact.

Beyond results, the system embeds full images for a “full-screen” view and keeps weekly or daily work visible through a research diary template. The diary uses prompts and date-based entries to capture reflections, meeting notes, and future work, with tags that allow searching by entry type (research vs. meeting notes). To-do items connect forward to the research plan, turning day-to-day activity into an organized pipeline. After only a couple of weeks, the researcher credits Notion’s free availability and flexible templates for making the workflow feel sustainable—positioning it as a foundation for more PhD and productivity templates to come.

Cornell Notes

Notion is used to organize a PhD project around one research question—predicting injuries from marathon training data—by linking every part of the workflow into a single dashboard. The system keeps an updatable abstract, literature notes linked to sources (while PDFs remain in Mendeley), and research sub-questions that each connect to results and figures. A kanban-style board organizes graphs and outputs, supports tags like “needs fixing,” and offers table/gallery views to surface what requires attention. Meeting feedback is captured as comments attached to specific graphs, preserving context that would otherwise be lost in separate handwritten notes. A date-based research diary template tracks daily progress, reflections, meeting notes, and future to-dos tied to the research plan.

How does the dashboard keep the researcher anchored to the project’s purpose as work evolves?

The landing page includes an abstract section that can start blank and be updated later. That design keeps the researcher returning to the same central statement of the research question—predicting injuries for marathon training data—so new findings can be written back into the page rather than living only in scattered files.

What role does Notion play in literature management compared with Mendeley?

Notion functions as a notes-and-navigation layer: it stores literature notes and links to individual papers so the researcher can jump between summaries and sources quickly. The workflow still uses Mendeley for actually storing the papers/PDFs, avoiding duplication while keeping annotations organized in one place.

Why is a kanban-style board useful for research outputs like graphs?

Results and figures are organized as cards that can be rearranged and expanded into their own pages. The researcher can drag in images, tag items (e.g., “needs fixing”), and switch to a table view to identify which graphs need work—useful when preparing updates for supervisors or submissions.

How are supervisor meeting notes prevented from becoming detached from the relevant figure?

Notes are typed as comments directly on the graph page being discussed (e.g., “supervisor once said add X to graph”). Because the comment is attached to the specific figure, it’s easier to revisit later and understand what the feedback referred to, unlike iPad notes that can lose context.

What does the research diary template add beyond storing results?

A date-based template captures daily reflections, research progress, and meeting notes using prompts. Entries can be tagged and searched by type (research vs. meeting notes), and future work is tracked through to-dos linked to the research plan, turning short-term activity into longer-term execution.

Review Questions

How does linking pages in Notion reduce friction when moving between literature notes, results, and figures?
What advantages come from tagging and switching views (gallery vs. table) on a results board before supervisor meetings?
Describe how attaching comments to specific graph pages changes the way meeting feedback can be retrieved later.

Key Points

1
Build a Notion landing page around a single research question and keep an abstract field that can be updated as results develop.
2
Use Notion for literature notes and navigation (links between pages), while keeping PDF storage in Mendeley.
3
Break the main project into research sub-questions and connect each to organized outputs like graphs and results.
4
Organize figures in a kanban-style board with tags such as “needs fixing,” then use table/gallery views to quickly triage what needs attention.
5
Capture supervisor feedback as comments directly on the relevant graph page to preserve context for later review.
6
Embed full images into dedicated pages for easier full-screen viewing and more precise note attachment.
7
Maintain a date-based research diary with prompts, tags, and to-dos linked to the research plan to track weekly progress and future work.

Highlights

Notion is used as a linked “PhD dashboard” where literature notes, results, and figures all connect through page-to-page navigation.

A kanban-style board organizes graphs so tags like “needs fixing” can be surfaced via a table view before meetings or submissions.

Supervisor feedback is logged as comments on the exact graph being discussed, preventing context loss that often happens with separate handwritten notes.

A research diary template turns daily reflections and meeting notes into searchable entries tied to future to-dos and the research plan.

Topics

Notion PhD Organization
Research Dashboard
Literature Notes
Kanban Results Board
Meeting Notes