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description: Creating and working with studies
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# Studies

[Studies](../../key-concepts#studies) are the primary unit of work in Study Tracker and make up the bulk of record keeping, but how you choose to define and utilize them is entirely up to you ([we do provide some guidance](../frequently-asked-questions#how-should-i-define-studies-and-when-should-i-add-new-ones)). When you are ready to perform some wet- or dry-lab work on a new study, Study Tracker should be the first place you go before getting started. The reason for this is that Study Tracker will take care of some of the tedious first steps in preparing the systems you are required to work within by creating a few things for you:

* A unique [Study Code](../../key-concepts#study-codes) that can be used to identify your study in the lab or in other systems.
* A folder and summary notebook entry in your electronic laboratory notebook system (eg. Benchling).
* A folder in your organization's cloud storage service (eg. SharePoint or Egnyte) for capturing documents & results.
* An optional source code repository in a connected Git server (eg. GitLab) for managing data science notebooks.

You can reference the below diagram for an example workflow for when and how to use Study Tracker:

<figure><img src="https://157675233-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FWzxr1lQXVcdFuqP1WfyV%2Fuploads%2FL4UDWsu9PQBXNYIEhthU%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=c11f795d-4a01-495c-a37e-a0278598fa86" alt=""><figcaption><p>The basic study tracker workflow</p></figcaption></figure>
