A readme file provides information about a dataset, file(s), or software and is intended to help ensure that the files can be correctly interpreted, by yourself at a later date or by others when sharing or publishing data, code, or software.

These README templates are provided in multiple formats for your to adapt and use for your data:

-.md (markdown, a language for text formatting that can be opened using a markdown editor or as plain text)

-.txt (plain text, which can be opened and edited in a text editor; to download you may need to control-click or right-click and save the file)

The accompanying guide to writing “readme” style metadata for your code and software can be found here: https://data.research.cornell.edu/data-management/sharing/writing-readmes-for-research-code-software/

Information about markdown can be found here: https://www.markdownguide.org/