Hi,
i am just about to hit the six month mark into my PhD and of course still in the "reading, reading, and more reading" stage. While I don't have much trouble to remember the content of papers (once given a hint) it is nearly impossible for me to remember the name of the authors for ANY paper - i cannot even remember the names of the important people in my field although i tell a lot about the papers they have written :(

that really annoys me - does anybody have a tip on how to get the names to the papers into my head??

thanx and a nice weekend!

i have no advice but i can only sympathise!!! I have the same problem

Once you've been on a conference it will be much easier to put a face to a name and you will remember. Have you tried to organize your papers according to the last authors name? Then you'd have all the work of one group together and can put the name on the back of the folder.

I was just going to post the same thing! If you see the person at a conference or have a conversation with them after a seminar etc, it is much easier to remember. I find myself picturing them when reading their papers!

don't worry, some people are better is rememmbering global ideas (like main idea of the paper), some in details, like author's name. And the more you will read, the longer you will work in your field, the more easy it will be to rememmber details...

It's early days. By the time you finish your PhD, the authors (and the findings) of those key papers will be irreversibly imprinted on your brain!

thanx for all the answers, i am glad that i am not alone with this problem.

i am currently using JabRef (http://jabref.sourceforge.net) for keeping track of what i have read, that works pretty nice. the idea with the pictures is pretty good, i will try that!