Academic Research Templates

Professional, ready-to-use templates for academic research projects. Streamline your research workflow with specialized templates for papers, studies, grants, reviews, and presentations.

🚀 Quick Start

Get up and running in under 2 minutes:

1. Install R and required packages:

   install.packages(c("here", "fs", "cli", "yaml"))

2. Choose your approach:

   🎯 Interactive (Recommended):

   source("tools/template-chooser.R")
   template_chooser()  # Guided template selection
   
   source("tools/project-initializer.R") 
   interactive_setup()  # Automated project creation

   ⚡ Quick Setup:

   source("tools/project-initializer.R")
   initialize_project("my-project", "simple-paper")

   📁 Manual:

   cp -r templates/simple-paper/ ../my-new-project/

3. Start your research! 🎉

Available Templates

Template	Best For	Key Features
📝 simple-paper	Theory papers, commentaries, book chapters	Minimal structure, no IRB overhead, focused on writing
🔬 empirical-study	Data collection and analysis projects	Complete research lifecycle, IRB docs, R analysis pipeline
💰 grant-application	Funding proposals and project management	Interactive timeline planner, multi-agency support (NSF/NIH)
📚 literature-review	Systematic reviews and meta-analyses	PRISMA methodology, citation management, quality assessment
🎤 conference-presentation	Standalone presentations and talks	Slide templates, abstract support, quick turnaround

Requirements

Software: - R (≥ 4.0.0) - Quarto (≥ 1.2.0) - Git (for version control)

R Packages:

install.packages(c("here", "fs", "cli", "yaml", "lubridate", "knitr", "dplyr"))

Key Features

• 🎯 Template specialization: Right tool for each research type
• ⚡ Interactive setup: Guided project initialization
• 📁 Modular design: Use only what you need
• 🔄 Automated workflows: Streamlined research processes
• 📊 Multi-format output: HTML, PDF, DOCX support
• 🤝 Collaboration ready: Git integration and shared components

Usage Examples

Quick Paper Setup

# Initialize a simple theory paper
source("tools/project-initializer.R")
initialize_project("my-theory-paper", "simple-paper")

# Start writing immediately
cd ../my-theory-paper
quarto preview paper.qmd

Empirical Study Workflow

# Create comprehensive research project
initialize_project("cognition-study", "empirical-study")

# Run analysis pipeline
Rscript R/00-build.R

# Generate reports
quarto render

Grant Proposal Timeline

# Set up grant application
initialize_project("nsf-proposal", "grant-application")

# Generate interactive timeline
quarto render timeline.qmd

Template Details

📝 Simple Paper

• Structure: Minimal, writing-focused
• Use cases: Theory papers, commentaries, book chapters
• Output: PDF, DOCX, HTML
• Setup time: < 5 minutes

🔬 Empirical Study

• Structure: Complete research lifecycle
• Use cases: Data collection, analysis, reporting
• Features: IRB docs, R pipeline (10 scripts), data management
• Setup time: 10-15 minutes

💰 Grant Application

• Structure: Proposal development and management
• Use cases: NSF, NIH, foundation grants
• Features: Interactive timeline, budget tracking, compliance
• Setup time: 15-20 minutes

📚 Literature Review

• Structure: Systematic review methodology
• Use cases: Meta-analyses, scoping reviews
• Features: PRISMA workflow, citation screening
• Setup time: 10-15 minutes

🎤 Conference Presentation

• Structure: Presentation development
• Use cases: Conference talks, academic presentations
• Features: Slide templates, abstract support
• Setup time: < 5 minutes

Advanced Usage

Custom Template Combinations

Mix elements from multiple templates:

# Start with simple-paper, add empirical components
cp -r templates/simple-paper/ ../my-mixed-project/
cp templates/empirical-study/R/ ../my-mixed-project/

Shared Resources

All templates access shared components in _shared/: - admin/: Author tracking, publication management - scripts/: Common R functions and utilities

• docs/: Guidelines and documentation standards

Automation Tools

• template-chooser.R: Interactive template selection
• project-initializer.R: Automated project setup
• validate-templates.R: Quality assurance testing

Best Practices

• Start minimal: Choose the simplest template that meets your needs
• Use version control: Initialize Git repositories for all projects
• Document decisions: Keep clear records of methodological choices
• Plan for reproducibility: Structure files for easy sharing
• Collaborate consistently: Use same templates across team projects

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create feature branch: git checkout -b improve-template
3. Make changes and test thoroughly
4. Submit pull request with clear documentation

See _shared/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

Support

Documentation

• Template-specific READMEs with setup instructions
• General guidance in _shared/docs/
• Automation help in tools/ directory

Troubleshooting

• Path issues: Use here() for file references
• Missing packages: Check template README for requirements
• Quarto errors: Verify _quarto.yml configuration

Getting Help

• Open GitHub issues for bugs or feature requests
• Check template documentation first
• Review existing projects for examples

License

MIT License - see LICENSE.md for details.

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Professional academic research templates - streamline your workflow with specialized, tested templates for every research type.