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Your workflow map: dar.ren/sma26/map. Fill it in during the session, then tap Submit my answers. Within a week you get your map by email: one page built from your answers, with a short note on how to try each thing you ticked, plus the templates, the skills, and the list of ideas the room came up with. If you'd rather not submit, add your email to the sign-up form instead.
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This hub holds everything from From Field Notes to Final Draft, the Professional Development Institute workshop at the Southern Management Association meeting on October 30, 2026. It follows the five stages of the session, so you can read it top to bottom or jump to the part you need. The short link is dar.ren/sma26.
To make your own copy, click Duplicate at the top right of this page. You need a free Notion account. The copy lands in your own workspace with the Demo Workspace and the Skills Library inside it, and you can change anything you want from there.
How you use AI in your research is a decision for you, your coauthors, and your advisor or committee. This hub shows what the tools can do so you can make that decision with good information. There is not one right way to do this.
I built this system because it fit how my brain works. Every work session, meeting, article, and decision goes into Notion, and the records link to each other. That is what a relational database is: a set of tables that point to each other, so you can start from any number and trace where it came from. While I was getting ready for the first version of this workshop, I found out that journals now ask for exactly this kind of record.
Each layer does one job. Skills sit on top and tell the AI how to work. The AI model is the engine in the middle. The working layers underneath hold your records, your notes, and your literature. You do not need my tools. Pick the one in each row that fits you.
| Layer | What I use | Common alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | Claude skills (Phil, Scribe, Cal, Red) | Skills or project instructions in ChatGPT and Gemini |
| AI models | Claude | ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot |
| Databases | Notion | Airtable, Excel or Google Sheets |
| Notes and documentation | Notion for notes and logs, Otter for meeting recordings | Obsidian, OneNote, Granola, Teams or Zoom transcripts |
| Literature | Zotero, synced to Notion with Notero | EndNote, Mendeley |
| Analysis | SPSS and Mplus | R, Stata |
Zotero is free and open source, and a community keeps it running. Notion has free education plans for students. Whatever you pick, back up your work in a way that suits you.
This is how one article moves from a search to a question you can ask about it.
DISS: for my dissertation.