Bog is a system for taking research notes in [Org mode](http://orgmode.org/). It adds a few
research-specific features, nearly all of which are focused on managing
and taking notes with Org, not on writing research articles with Org.

# Installation

Bog is available on [MELPA](http://melpa.milkbox.net/).

To enable Bog in all Org buffers, add it to `org-mode-hook`.

    (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'bog-mode)

# Workflow

The Bog workflow is focused around the citekey, which is the only study
information that must be included in the notes. This unique identifier
is used as a link to the BibTeX file and other associated files.

In the example below, the citekey "name2000word" is a study heading. A
study heading is defined as a heading the has a citekey as a title or as
the value of `bog-citekey-property`. When a citekey occurs anywhere else
(like "another1999study" below), they are taken as a reference to
another study (which may or may not have a subtree in this or another
Org file).

    * Topic heading
    
    ** TODO name2000word                               :atag:
    
    <URL for study>
    
    Article notes ... a reference to another1999study ...

The default format for the citekey is the first author's last name, the
year, and then the first non-trivial word. To have BibTeX mode
automatically generate a key of this format, the `bibtex-autokey-*`
settings can be modified.

    (setq bibtex-autokey-year-length 4
          bibtex-autokey-titleword-length nil
          bibtex-autokey-titlewords-stretch 0
          bibtex-autokey-titlewords 1
          bibtex-autokey-year-title-separator "")

# Main features

Many Bog functions take the citekey from the notes. If the point is on a
citekey (like "another1999study" above), then that citekey will be used.
If this fails, many functions will try to take the citekey from the
first parent heading that is a study heading.

-   `bog-find-citekey-file`
    
    Open an associated file for a citekey.

-   `bog-find-citekey-bib`
    
    Open a BibTeX file for a citekey.
    
    BibTeX entries can be stored in one of two ways:
    
    -   As a single file with many entries
    -   As single-entry files named citekey.bib within a common directory

-   `bog-search-citekey-on-web`
    
    Search Google Scholar for a citekey. The default citekey format (first
    author's last name, year, and first non-trivial word) usually contains
    enough information to make this search successful.

-   `bog-rename-staged-file-to-citekey`
    
    Rename a new file.

-   `bog-clean-and-rename-staged-bibs`
    
    Rename new BibTeX files. If a separate BibTeX file is used for each
    citekey, this function can be used to rename all new BibTeX files.
    `bibtex-clean-entry` is used to clean the entry and autogenerate the
    key.

-   `bog-create-combined-bib`
    
    Generate a combined BibTeX file for all citekeys in buffer. This is
    useful if single-entry BibTeX files are used.

Other useful functions include

-   `bog-goto-citekey-heading-in-buffer`
-   `bog-goto-citekey-heading-in-notes`
-   `bog-citekey-tree-to-indirect-buffer`
-   `bog-refile`
-   `bog-search-notes`
-   `bog-search-notes-for-citekey`
-   `bog-sort-topic-headings-in-buffer`
-   `bog-sort-topic-headings-in-notes`

# Variables

Several variables determine where Bog looks for things.

-   `bog-notes-directory`
-   `bog-file-directory`
-   `bog-bib-directory` or `bog-bib-file`
-   `bog-stage-directory`

The variables below are important for specifying how Bog behaves.

-   `bog-citekey-format`
    
    A regular expression that defines the format used for citekeys

-   `bog-find-citekey-bib-function`
    
    A function to find a citekey in a BibTeX file. This determines whether
    a directory of single-entry BibTeX files or a single BibTeX file is
    used.

# Keybindings

A keymap is defined for Bog under the prefix `C-c "​`. If you prefer
something else (like `C-c b`), set `bog-keymap-prefix`.

Some Bog functions are useful outside of an Org buffer (e.g.,
`bog-search-notes`). These functions are available through the
`bog-commander` interface (based of off `projectile-commander`). This
can be bound to a global key for quick access.

# Other approaches

If Bog doesn't fit your workflow, there are a good number of other
approaches to explore. On the Org mode mailing list, there are some [nice](http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/78983)
[descriptions](http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/14756) of systems people have come up with for taking research
notes in Org. For a package that focuses on both taking research notes
and writing research articles, Look into [Org-ref](https://github.com/jkitchin/jmax/blob/master/org/org-ref.org).