Documenting Research Data
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- Documenting Research Data
- Metadata and Metadata Standards
This guide is a collection of resources shared in Data Services' "Documenting Your Research Data" online modules
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What is Metadata?
- What in the world is metadata and why should I care?This blog post provides a succinct explanation of the importance of metadata.
- NISO Primer: Understanding MetadataThis comprehensive primer describes metadata, metadata languages and metadata standards.
- ETDplus Metadata Guidance BriefThis document, written for a graduate students, describes metadata and how to create metadata for research data.
Finding Metadata Standards
- FAIRsharing.orgFairsharing.org contains a searchable database of metadata standards for a wide variety of disciplines.
- RDA Metadata Standards DirectoryThis directory, maintained by the Research Data Alliance (RDA), lists metadata standards, tools for standardizing research data, and examples of metadata standards in practice for a variety of disciplines: Arts & Humanities, Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Mathematics, Social & Behavioral Sciences, and general standards.
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO)ISO collects and publishes standards for a variety of industries, including research data, designed to be used worldwide. One popular standard is ISO 8601, which standardizes how to write dates and times.
Examples of Metadata Standards
The following examples of metadata standards are used and described in the Metadata Standards module:
- Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS)BIDS is a metadata standard created and maintained by the neuroimaging community. BIDS makes it easier for researchers to describe, organize and share neuroimaging data.
- Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)The MeSH controlled vocabulary is maintained by the National Library of Medicine. MeSH terms are used in PubMed and other NLM databases to describe and search for biomedical information.
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)The AAT is a vocabulary that standardizes terms used to describe art, architecture, and other aspects of material culture.
- Darwin CoreThe Darwin Core Metadata Schema is a community-developed standard to describe biodiversity research data and information.