Key Takeaways
- Every note carries a source field. An unsourced claim is unusable within months, and the notebook counts how many of yours are unsourced.
- Disconfirming evidence gets its own note type, because that is the category a research log usually lacks.
- Thesis versions let a note be tied to the view it was written under, so a revised thesis does not quietly rewrite its own history.
- Storage is your browser, on this device. There is no account and no server copy, which also means there is no server backup.
- Export to JSON regularly. It is the only backup that exists, and it imports back cleanly.
What Is a Research Notebook?
A research notebook is an evidence log kept while the work happens: one short, dated entry per thing found, each pointing at the document it came from. It is the raw material a written view is later assembled from, not the view itself.
The reason it needs to be a tool rather than a text file is that the useful questions are structural. Which of these notes actually has a source. How many of them disagree with the current thesis. Which ones were written under a thesis that has since been revised. A flat document cannot answer any of those without being read end to end, which is exactly what nobody does six months later.
The design constraint that follows is that nothing here scores or ranks. Counting how much of a log is sourced is a fact about the log. Counting how much of it is disconfirming is also a fact about the log. Neither says whether the underlying idea is any good, and a tool that pretended otherwise would be manufacturing confidence out of bookkeeping.
Investment Research Notebook
Notes are stored in this browser only. Swoopr Investment never receives them and cannot recover them. Clearing site data, using private browsing, or switching device or browser will lose them. Export to JSON to keep a backup.
Notebook summary
Notes
Backup and transfer
The Seven Note Types
The types exist to make a log searchable by the kind of thing recorded, not by keyword alone.
| Type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Observation | Something noticed in a filing, a transcript, or a data series, before it has been interpreted. |
| Supporting evidence | A primary source that supports the current view. |
| Disconfirming evidence | A primary source that argues against it. The category most often missing. |
| Open question | Something not yet answered, recorded so it is not quietly dropped. |
| Risk | A way the thesis could be wrong, with the condition that would reveal it. |
| Calculation | A number worked out from a source, with its inputs written next to it. |
| Decision | What was decided, when, and on what basis. The entry that makes a later review honest. |
A Workflow That Survives Six Months
- Set a thesis version before you start, even something as plain as "v1". Every note taken under it carries that label.
- Record each finding as its own note with a source URL. One note per fact beats one long note per session, because filtering only works on separate notes.
- Paste tool output into the linked-output field. A section map from the SEC Filing Section Navigator or a change list from the SEC Filing Difference Viewer is more useful attached to the note than remembered.
- Deliberately look for disconfirming evidence and record it. Check the disconfirming share afterwards: a log at zero means the search did not happen.
- Export to JSON at the end of a session. The export is the backup.
- When the view firms up, write it in the Research Workbench and bump the thesis version. Older notes keep the version they were written under, so the record of how the view changed stays intact.
Storage, Privacy, and Data Loss
- Local only. Notes live in this browser's local storage under one key. There is no account, no sync, and no server copy.
- Not backed up for you. Clearing site data, browsing privately, or moving to another device or browser loses them. The JSON export is the only backup.
- Not encrypted. Local storage is readable by anyone with access to your browser profile. Do not record anything you would not want read on this device.
- Never in analytics. Note content is not included in any analytics event. Only counts of actions are recorded.
- Link safety. Only http and https evidence URLs are accepted, so a note cannot carry a script-bearing link into the page or into an export.
- Not reachable by an agent. Browser-agent tools on this page operate only on notes passed into the call. Nothing exposes the contents of your stored notebook.
What This Tool Does Not Do
- It does not evaluate an investment. No score, no rating, no suitability conclusion, and no recommendation.
- Coverage numbers are not quality measures. A high evidence-coverage share means the notes carry links, not that the reasoning is sound.
- It does not verify sources. A URL is stored as typed. Whether it says what the note claims is on you.
- It does not sync. One device, one browser, by design.
- It does not hold a portfolio. No positions, no prices, no broker connection of any kind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are my notes stored?
In your browser's local storage on this device, under one key. Nothing is uploaded, and Swoopr Investment has no copy and no way to read them. That also means notes do not follow you to another browser or another machine, and clearing site data deletes them. Export regularly: the JSON export is the only backup that exists.
What is disconfirming evidence and why does the notebook track it?
Disconfirming evidence is a source that argues against the view you currently hold. The notebook gives it its own note type and counts what share of the log it makes up, because that is the category people skip. A research log made entirely of supporting evidence is a record of a search for agreement, not a record of an investigation. The count is descriptive: it says what the log contains and draws no conclusion about whether the thesis is right.
How do I back up or move my notes?
Export to JSON, which writes a file containing every note plus a version stamp. Import reads that file back, on this device or another one. A malformed note in the file is skipped and reported rather than aborting the whole import, so a partially damaged backup still restores everything that survived. The Markdown export is for reading and sharing; it cannot be imported back.
Why does every note ask for an evidence URL?
Because a claim without its source stops being usable within weeks. Six months later a note reading "margins are compressing" cannot be checked, while the same note carrying the accession number of the filing it came from can. The notebook accepts only http and https links, and reports what share of the log carries one, so an unsourced record is visible rather than assumed.
How is this different from the Research Workbench?
The notebook is an evidence log: many small, dated, tagged notes accumulated while the work happens. The Research Workbench at /research/workbench/ is one structured document walked through in order, ending in a written view. They are meant to be used together, notebook first and workbench second. Neither produces a recommendation, a score, or a suitability conclusion.
References
This page describes a tool rather than a regulated rule, so its reference list is short by design: the sources below cover where the primary documents a note should cite actually come from. No statistic on this page is drawn from an external dataset.
- SEC: EDGAR Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): the programmatic access points behind the filing and XBRL links a sourced note should point at.
- SEC: Accessing EDGAR Data: how to retrieve and cite a filing, including the accession number that makes a citation permanent.
- Swoopr Investment: Editorial Policy: the sourcing standard this site holds its own content to, which is the same standard a research note benefits from.
Jurisdiction: United States. Last reviewed by the Swoopr Editorial Team in August 2026. This page is educational and is not personalized investment advice.