{"id":18441,"date":"2025-07-15T13:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.clarkson.edu\/library\/?page_id=18441"},"modified":"2025-12-05T10:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:42:10","slug":"metadata-research-data","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.clarkson.edu\/library\/research-tools-collections\/guides\/metadata-research-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Metadata & Research Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cMetadata\u201d just means the data about data – it\u2019s the information about an object. As defined by Jenn Riley in \u201cUnderstanding Metadata: What is metadata and what is it for? A Primer<\/a>,\u201d metadata is \u201cthe information we create, store, and share to describe things, [allowing] us to interact with these things to obtain the knowledge we need\u201d (p. 1). For example, for an academic article, the metadata would include the article\u2019s title, journal it was published in, authors, etc. It would also be the type of the material (article, audio clip), specific format (text, XML, MP4, etc.), and licenses or copyright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it seems relatively minor, it is very important to consider metadata in research! It helps others find, understand, and use content. Several major grant-funding institutions require that researchers make their data available to other researchers so they can verify claims and build on existing research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This video from New York University’s Working with Research Data guide<\/a> demonstrates the importance of metadata in research!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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