Throwing away PhD notes

[allegretto]

Hello. I am having a clear out and I have loads and loads of handwritten notes I made and articles I printed out for my PhD (which has now been awarded). Can I throw them out? I know this sounds really daft but a small part of me thinks "what if they made a mistake and I have to somehow prove that I wrote it?!". What did you do?

Depends on the type of data. For example I am in Stem and we have to keep data for 15years for human studies.

Have you published everything? I would keep data until publication in case you need to reanalyse.

But articles printed can go for sure (you can always get them again if you really need them)

I still have the data (transcripts of interviews) but I have loads of copies of early drafts of each of the chapters.

I've still got all mine, many years later. (Humanities) Not because I ever thought I'd need them for any official reason, but I have quite often wanted to refer back to the articles I photocopied (as it was back then!) or material I collected that I ended up not using in the thesis. Some of it I've used in articles, or for teaching purposes, over the years.

Can you scan them? Some photocopiers on our campus do that fast.

Keep it ! Every day there are new, potentially desperate, people doing systematic reviews.

I got rid of a filing cabinet full of photocopies in the last year or so, they are all easily available online now. As for data, mine involved programming and an attached CD (!), I think that's mostly superceded now, but I do have paper listing of everything.
I would definitely get rid of earlier drafts of chapters, surely the final version is the only one that counts? How long since it was awarded?

How long since it was awarded?

Six months.

I ceremonially disposed of mine after submission, before the viva. Maybe the wrong thing to do, but it was very satisfying. I had a lot on computer, so I knew it would be ok.

I deleted the computerised notes after I graduated, keeping just the drafts for each chapter. Now even those are gone as my laptop gave up the ghost.

It is the most liberating feeling, and I think underrated.

Ok, six months I can understand you're attached to them, and I'm glad I didn't dispose of mine before the Viva as my rewrite required a complete change of order for my chapters... But the early drafts, now the final version has been completed, awarded and everything, I would ditch, especially if you need the space (I just left most f my paperwork in said filing cabinet for a few years)

I got rid of loads of my notes the other day. I graduated 7 years ago

Thanks! I got rid of about a quarter of them in the end - enough to be satisfying but not enough to make me panic that I have thrown away something useful!

I've still got mine! Really ought to bin them. I got my doctorate yonks ago. I need to Kondo my office!

“Every day there are new, potentially desperate, people doing systematic reviews.” What does this mean in relation to keeping your notes please?

Don't throw your notes out! I still find mine useful now, 20 years after starting my PhD!