======= Date Modified 30 01 2008 19:01:04 =======
So, probably most of you have a reading log to keep track of stuff you have read for your research.
Which program do you use ? Or maybe you use paper ?
What exactly do you note down apart from the obvious title, author, publisher and year ? How much detail do you get into ?


As I am starting to do this, I love tips and ideas, so that I can do it efficiently right from the start.

Endnote, Zotero, both seem good!

I'm a new convert to Zotero and I can't understand why anyone would use Endnote now! So, Zotero, and all the detail I need for a biblio, plus sometimes comments and stuff, but this tends to sit outside of this usually

Hey there,

Zotero available here http://www.zotero.org/

News story about Endnote (Thomson/Reuters) suing Zotero publisher http://madisonian.net/2008/09/28/endnote-v-zotero/

I've just downloaded Zotero, will use it for a couple of weeks and feedback here.

I've also just downloaded Zotero.
I wonder if it is as useful for someone who uses a lot of offline reading as well ?

Well you'd have to manually put the references in, unless you can find them online, but you'd do that with any software, wouldn't you? Most of my stuff is not online. Zotero uses Firefox for functionality but you don't have to be online to use it. Have you looked at the 2 demo video things? I found them very useful.
I have got some references by finding them somewhere, eg Amazon, and then downloading them from there to save my typing.

Eternal - Just started a thread on using Freemind ... this is a mind-mapping tool that allows you to plot out your thoughts re projects. The specific reason I referred to this is because it allows you to link to specific files i.e. saved soft copies of paper or URLs. Since you say that you are starting, you might be able to make time to get used to this software (or something like that). Whatever about storing your notes/refs, compiling them into a meaningful organised story that you can then transfer to your supervisor clearly is like gold-dust. Just a thought.

For the record, Forza EndNote!!!

======= Date Modified 01 Oct 2008 16:27:48 =======
Zoteo seems to be ok, but what bothers me that I have to type out or copy a lot of stuff for my bibliography... Isn't there some way that the reading log could be integrated with whatecer you use for bibliography ?

Alice: You are right, I've tinkered around with zotero and found that its pretty convenient for that

Bonzo: That's exactly what I am trying to do ! I want to start out right, so that I don have to waste time filing or re-filing stuff later on. Any suggestions from you are very welcome !!!
I use Linux BTW

Mind mapping software is a fantastic idea, it would really help me with making a structure out of my stuff !

Is there any way mind-mapping software would link to bibliography info or a reading log ?
I don't want to have to type it all out three times: once for bibliography, once for reading log and once for mind maps.

Eternal: Just started using this software myself. I would assume that there is some means of integrating both, but I don't think it would be as automatic as you would like. Worst case scenario is that you just refer to the Endnote (or whatever Reference software you are using) by means of the record #. That way, you won't have to type out the full title. Will let you know more when I use it a bit over the weekend (giving myself a day or two just to get accustomed to it)

I commend the spirit of getting things sorted initially but remeber that it is a long process of continous learning so don't put yourself under the kosh at the start.

At the risk of sounding Zoteo obsessed ;-) you can export the stuff out and the paste it into Word (or whatever superior word processing package you are using),and then you have a biblio. Endnote does this for you more, so is more integrated, but imo the problem with Endnote doing this for you is that it will make mistakes, there will be something somewhere in there incorrectly, and because you were taken out of the process you are less likely to spot it. I'd rather do the biblio a bit more manually than spend ages checking, when I won't check so well as it will be too passive an activity. The functionality of Zotero is more important to me than the integration of Endnote, but horses for courses.

(Viva Zotero!;-)8-)

My superior word processer is Latex ;-)

I've tried Zotero and I'm impressed !

It is quite easy and quick to use, and I can organise offline references, links to files and PDFs on my hard disk, and links to web pages in one place.
Plus it has a cozuple of neat features:
It lets me annotate the web pages that I add to the Zotero library. I can highlight text, and add sticky notes. That's quite important for me, because I believe in marking and noting everything I go.
I can add little independent notes. They can be on a book, journal etc, or can be free-standing (I can also connect them to related zotero entries, or add tags). Perfect for the random scraps of information that I need to store !
Zotero can find books or articles for you in your local library. Although it had access to only one of the libraries that I use, I was still impressed !