Say you're preparing to write a massive paper, and you have all the references saved on your laptop, but they're all mixed in with the articles you saved from last semester, or maybe you remember that you wanted to cite one of Dr. Dennen's articles, but you have so many saved on your computer, that you're not sure which one you intended to refer to anymore, maybe you always forget to save files in the same format, or perhaps you have so much content saved on your personal computer that you are almost out of space. If any of these sound like you, you're going to love Mendeley! Mendeley is a reference manager/ pdf organizer that makes it easy to curate collections of essays, book chapters, entire books, critques, and even cite and annotate as you go. This is always something I used to save until I was almost ready to turn a paper or project in, but once I began using a pdf organizer, it became a much smaller and less stressful undertaking.
Here is a screenshot of my Mendeley library. I have it saved in 3 main categories. Everything I saved during undergrad is less relevant than I thought it would be, so its all thrown together, in a big messy folder, and maybe i'll organize it later, or maybe I'll end of deleting most of it. Undergraduate research for the Psychology lab I was in is another category. ISLT is the 3rd category. I organize publications by the class they were provided in. Specific projects within the class are separated into additional folders. It is a lifesaver.
There is also a social component to Mendeley. Many researchers choose to share their data online. Similar to Goodreads, articles can be recommended for you based on your interests, and you can join groups and share your research with other users in the online community. You can download the app and add things directly to your libary from any of your devices, or just visit mendeley.com
Of course, this is not an advertisement for Mendeley, there are other reference organizers out there. Zotero and Docear are other popular options, and Docear has provided this awesome side by side comparison between them.
http://www.docear.org/2014/01/15/comprehensive-comparison-of-reference-managers-mendeley-vs-zotero-vs-docear/
Are you using a reference organizer to curate your academic content, or find content curated specifically for your interests? Please share
Thanks Kahla for this awesome information!
ReplyDeleteUmmm... My major tool for reference is EndNote. Am I too much outdated? I used to use Zotero before, but I went back to EndNote.
Let me check Mendeley soon.
The FSU graduate school encourages Zotero and Endnote use. I went to a workshop they held this year in COE's lab. I have Zotero but don't use it as much as I should but one day I keep telling myself I will clean the clutter up from my Downloads. My work Zotero is far more organized.
ReplyDeleteOne of my coworkers swears by Mendeley. I have downloaded it, but never used it. Your post makes me want to try it out.
ReplyDeleteFor generating citations, I often do it a lazy but inefficient way. I end up going to the FSU library, finding the article, and copying and pasting the APA citation from the website.
One of my coworkers swears by Mendeley. I have downloaded it, but never used it. Your post makes me want to try it out.
ReplyDeleteFor generating citations, I often do it a lazy but inefficient way. I end up going to the FSU library, finding the article, and copying and pasting the APA citation from the website.
Interesting! I downloaded Zotero, but I just didn't take to it like I did with Mendeley, perhaps I should give it and EndNote another chance in the future.
ReplyDelete