Documentation may refer to the process of providing evidence ("to document something") or to the communicable material used to provide such documentation a document.

Documentation may also refer to tools aiming at identifying documents or to the field of study devoted to the study of documents and bibliographies
Subfields of documentation include:

• Scientific documentation
• Technical documentation
• Legal documentation
• Administrative documentation
• Historical documentation

Documentation understood as document is any communicable material (such as text, video, audio, etc., or combinations thereof) used to explain some attributes of an object, system or procedure.

A working document is a type of technical report that is a work in progress, a preliminary form of a possible future document. A working document indicates a commitment on the part of the issuing organization to implement the document and do further work in the area outlined in the document. Several revisions of the working draft may be issued before the final document is written, or the document may be made obsolete by future developments.

The term "Best Practice" has been used to describe "what works" in a particular situation or environment. When data support the success of a practice, it is referred to as a research-based practice or scientifically based practice. As good consumers of information, we must keep in mind that a particular practice that has worked for someone within a given set of variables may or may not yield the same results across educational environments.