Introduction
A README file is a simple plain-text document (.txt format) that provides basic information about a project repository, script, and/or dataset. Plain text files can be read by any operating system, including in the terminal (README.txt). README files typically include information on:
- What the project does
- Why the project is useful
- How users can get started with the project
- Where users can get help with your project
- Who maintains and contributes to the project
Purpose
README files provide a high-level explanation of the project/dataset while also highlighting necessary technical information. In theory, when a repository is inherited or accessed by someone new, the Readme file should be a sufficient resource to get that person up to speed on the project. Other reasons can be to document changes to files or file names within a folder, to explain file naming conventions, practices, etc. “in general” for future reference, or to specifically accompany files/data being deposited in a repository.
Information that should be included
Within a README file, the following should be included:
- Access Level
- Date Created
- Date Updated
- Author/Contact Information
- Data Owner/Contact information
- Description of project
- Run Frequency
- Department
- Data Sources
- File information
Example
Template link
Markdown Format
Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Adhering to markdown formatting where possible allows us to be application-independent and platform-agnostic. For more information on how to follow Markdown formatting: https://www.markdownguide.org/getting-started/