Product: Endnote 2.3 on Windows 98.
Author: David L.Little, PhD Candidate
Department
of Studies in Religion, University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia
I
have tried or discussed them all! Well, many of them anyway. I'm talking
about personal information managers, bibliographic databases, anything
that has been designed to help researchers keep track of information
they have already located and processed. Since my academic career started
in 1976 I have started and gone beyond using notecards, filing cabinets,
manual and electric typewriters, carbon paper and any organisational
system that offered ways to help me keep up with the evergrowing body
of research information I have accumulated over the years. EndNote has
provided me with a way to keep track of all my information like nothing
else I have ever used.
Over
the past few years I have seen many beginning researchers (usually PhD
candidates) come through the department trying to create their own information manager with relational databases, spreadsheets, and other software programs. The time they spend on such projects is amazing, and I have never seen one succeed yet! Actually, as I think about it, I've not
seen one database manipulator finish their PhD either, though I'm sure
there must be a few somewhere who have. At the end of the day, Endnote
saves so much time, already does what other people are trying to do
on their own and has at least 2 strengths that commend itself over all
of these other methods I have seen. Why re-invent the wheel?
In
the first place, I don't think many individuals realise that Endnote
will locate any word anywhere in any of the fields. This is an amazing
search capability. The Keywords list can be left empty, it really matters
little which field you enter information in. I now enter all my information
in the Abstract or Notes section. Abstracts, short reviews, brief papers,
anything in text form goes there. The majority of my bibliographic records
have 5 or 6 pages of information in them. When I am looking up a particular
word or concept I do an Find search and it brings up every
record with that word or concept. Quotes I want to use for my research,
or anything else I have stored away will be listed. It is all in one
place and at my fingertips. For a forgetful person like myself, this
is something I can not do without!
But
secondly (and yes, I know you are not to start a sentence with "but,"
but this story is about doing things a little differently!) you can
do all of your bibliographic records, footnotes and the like for which
EndNote was originally designed to do anyway. I have over 600 records.
Imagine me trying to put all of those in a bibliography manually! Imagine
me trying to remember what is where, trying to sort them alphabetically
or keep track of their location in a random manner. With EndNote it
is simple and organised! I have gotten to the point where I consider
bibliographic management a bonus, because for me the idea of a personal
information manager that really works is of first importance. Control
of information is foundational to research. Nevertheless, even the bibliographic organisation feature is a very real, practical, timesaving bonus I can no longer do without!
Another
important use of EndNote is that I can put my own word, number or code
in one of the fields (in this case, usually the label field) to notify
me of the physical location of any records I might have. These signs
can also be used to alert me of some special category I might have that
I wish to keep to myself for the time being. In other words, EndNote
can help me maintain private categories of information I have in my
files and still let me know what I have and where it is. This is just
another way in which EndNote is a versatile information manager.
All
in all, I have used Endnote for years now, recommend it highly, and
will continue to do so at every opportunity. The instruction book that
comes with it is helpful, clear and has a great index. Nevertheless,
EndNote is so easy to use I rarely need the book, except as a refresher.
If I can get EndNote to work for me, it will work for you, too!
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