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Reference Management Tools: Which One is Right for You?

Ania Dymarz, Life SciencesYolanda Koscielski, Criminology & Psychology

Reference Management Software

Agenda• Common features and functionality• What do you need? (Quiz)• An overview of specific resources– RefWorks– Zotero– Mendeley

Reference managementHow are you handling it now? What tools have you tried?

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Reference Management Tools:

What’s the point?

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Reference Management Software:Common Features and Functionality

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Commonalities

• Import citations from various places– Ways to import vary (direct, PDF, browser)

• Store citations in one place• Manipulate citations– Folders, annotations, editing, searching, trends

• Share citations– Shared account, user groups, online reading lists

Commonalities

• Centralized access to your research materials– PDFs or Where Can I Get This? Link

• Bibliography creation– Standalone or paper-integrated

• In-text citation insertion– e.g., RefWorks’ Write-n-Cite

Citation management: What do you need?

What do you need? vs. What would be nice to have?

• Free?• Compatible with library resources?• Allows for collaboration?• User support?• Easy to learn? • Able to store/manage PDFs of articles?

QUIZ TIME!

• Which Citation Manager is Right for Me?

• Please take 5 minutes to fill out the self-quiz.

• We will then review our results

Take a Bite!

An overview of three different citation

management resources

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• Subscription-based (library pays)• 2 parts: – Main web-based citation management platform– Downloadable plug-in for inserting citations in

your paper, creating bibliography (Write-n-Cite)• Data stored on Canadian servers (Scholars

Portal)

Demo

Advantages:• SFU Library support available• Robust interface• Works well with library products, databases, &

Google Scholar• Friendly to citation entries from a wide variety

of bibliography types (books, magazines, journals…)

• A citation management software “classic”

Disadvantages:• Not without glitches, particularly Write-n-Cite, and if

working between WnC versions or PC – Mac platforms

• Learning investment –economical if you have lots of citations

• Weaker for social networking extra features

Take a Bite!

FOIPPA

By Hoohaaphotos: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1261/5099987038_61ff5143ea_z.jpg

FOIPPA• Background: legislation & cloud computing • Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy

Act [RSBC 1996] CHAPTER 165• 30.1 A public body must ensure that personal

information in its custody or under its control is stored only in Canada and accessed only in Canada…

• http://www.sfu.ca/itservices/about/depts/cio/cioblog/articles/2012/don-t-cloud-sfu-data.html

https://www.zotero.org/ • Free, open-source• First released 2006; latest version: Zotero

4.0.1.2• 3 parts: – Plug-in-based citation management software– Plug-in for inserting citations in your paper from

word processing software, creating bibliography– Web version available: access personal content and

connect with other researchers

• Works best with Firefox, but also with Chrome and Safari

• Downloads a variety of record formats from most SFU databases & from web pages

• Can grab image of page if metadata not available

• Can grab metadata for PDFs • Integrates with Word, Open Office, LaTeX

• Creating collectionshttp://www.zotero.org/support/screencast_tutorials/collections

• Word Integration Pluginhttp://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_integration

Demo

Advantages:• Quick to learn, simple to use• Works with nearly every information source• Can sync references from multiple computers• Simple to share sources with others• Can take notes, tag records

Disadvantages:• Works best with Firefox• Not “officially” supported at SFU but large

user community (forums, disciplinary lists), documentation, open-source development

• Free space limitations

Let’s take a look: 1. Importing Citations– Import a citation from the catalog (1)– Import a citation to an article with pdf (4)

2. Manipulating your citations– Create a folder (1)– Add a note (2)– Create a bibliography (3) Take a Bite!

• Started in 2008, sold to Elsevier 2013• Free – 2 GB personal space *

• Three parts– Mendeley Desktop

• For storing and organizing PDFs and citations• For generating bibliographies (via a word processing program)

– Mendeley Web • For sharing documents and networking with other researchers

– Word & Open Office Plugin*There are also ‘premium’ (read ‘not free’) accounts available.

Mendeley Web interface:

Mendeley Desktop interface:

• Advantages– Allows you to drag and drop PDFs (including entire

folders of PDFs) into Mendeley and it will extract metadata for citations

– Can ask Mendeley to “watch” a folder and automatically import new documents into your library

– Can sync references across multiple computers– Can annotate/highlight/tag documents – Sharing with public and private groups;

networking with other researchers

• Disadvantages– Not as seamless with databases as most other

citation managers• E.g., it’s difficult to add batches of citations

– Would be difficult to use on campus due to the required plug-in for creating a bibliography

– “Not officially supported” by the Library – Free space limitations

An overview: • Importing Documents into your Library (2 min.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=qRiAIaqdAOg

• Organizing Your Library (3 min.): http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=VD1z0boSpQY

• Generating Citations with the MS Word and OpenOffice Plug-ins (2 min.): http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=zkrVbBSrK_w

Demo

Let’s take a look: http://www.mendeley.com/

1. Let’s find research groups in your area of interest?– Explore popular papers & active users in your

group

2. Look for a specific paper.– Find info on readership stats & related research Take a Bite!

Mendeley• Free account

– 4 members– One private group – 100MB

• Upgrade $50/month = 5 group members

https://www.mendeley.com/upgrade/team/

Zotero• Free account

– Unlimited members– Unlimited groups– Storage space same as groups

owner

• Upgrade storage i.e. $20/yr = 2 GB

http://www.zotero.org/support/storage

Group Comparison

Which One is Right for You?htt

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Feedback

Thanks for your participation!