When you create materials for research, you can associate the materials as primary source documentation with your research records.

In an admissions or advancement setting, you might want to keep track of news articles. To capture these, you could create a research-scoped newspaper clipping material. That way, with a Staff Research research source to collect awards, business activity, or other news items, the details can be captured in the research record, and a copy of the newspaper clipping can be associated directly with that record. 

In a student success setting, research-scoped written notes materials can be used to better track details not included in a research entry. With a Faculty Early Alert research source on the student record, where written notes are collected during a meeting with a student, copies of these notes can be associated directly with this record.

Creating research-scoped materials

To create a research-scoped material:

1. Go to Database → Materials.

2. Select Insert. An Insert Record in Materials popup appears.

3. Configure the following settings:

   • Status: Active

   • Folder: Select an existing folder or select Other and enter a new folder name.

   • Key: Provide a computer-friendly (lower case, with no spaces or special characters) name for the material. For example, newspaper_clipping or faculty_early_alert_notes.

   • Name: Enter a human-friendly name for the material. For example, Newspaper Clipping or Faculty Early Alert Notes.

   • Scope: Research

   • Access: Admin Only

4. Select Save.

Associating research-scoped materials with research records

To connect a research material to an individual research source:

1. Open the record page where the material should be attached.

2. Select the Materials tab on the record page. A list of materials for the record appears.

3. Select New Material.

4. Configure the following settings:

   • Record: Select the select list and scroll down to the Research Sources category. All sources for the record will be listed in reverse chronological order. Select the appropriate source to associate with the material.
     

   • Material: Select the appropriate research-scoped material.

   • Memo: If desired, add a descriptive memo. For example, Constituent’s obituary or Written alert note.

   • Source: Select one of the available options:

     • PDF / Document: The uploaded document is a PDF or will be converted to a PDF.

     • Scanner: Select a scanner preset from the list (this opens Slate Desktop).

     • File (no conversion): The uploaded file will remain as-is and will not be converted to a PDF.

   • Upload Document: Select Choose File to select the material to be attached to the research source.

5. Select Upload. A thumbnail image of each material page appears.

6. Select Save.

The material can be viewed along the other materials associated the record, as well as when viewing the associated research source.

Research material metadata

Use material metadata to collect information related directly to a material. This is often useful when processing incoming documents because it can provide additional descriptive detail about the contents of the material.

Also, material metadata forms can update research values on the associated source and record details during document processing. Material metadata form details can be found on the Metadata tab when viewing a material that has a completed material metadata form. 

📖 Material Metadata