Reference Software

MrsManda

Hello,
Can anyone recommend some good reference software and the best place to buy it from? Preferrably as cheap as possible.
Thanks

atypical

According to Wikipedia there are plenty of free options to pick from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software#General

melancholly

i've always used Endnote - but i didn't pay, the uni did, and i'm not sure it's 'good', more that i've had a few years to get used to its particular little 'quirks'!

i have heard good reviews of zotero which you can get as a firefox plugin to make exporting citations to the database really easy (although i haven't tried it myself, in case Endnote stopped working as a result!!)

Mankysteve

I use the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zotero
It works well for me firefox plugin bases and works best with openoffice.

MrsManda

I have MS Office so not sure how well zotero will work. I'll have a go
Does anyone else have any recommendation re Endnote vs Reference Manager?
I can get either for ~£65

Mankysteve

There is a MS office plug in but i never got it work but nether did i try that hard to get to work as the openoffice one works so much better and I hate the interface on the new MS office package.

glider3560

melancholly wrote: »

i've always used Endnote - but i didn't pay, the uni did, and i'm not sure it's 'good', more that i've had a few years to get used to its particular little 'quirks'!

i have heard good reviews of zotero which you can get as a firefox plugin to make exporting citations to the database really easy (although i haven't tried it myself, in case Endnote stopped working as a result!!)

I use Endnote Web as my uni pay for it. I agree it isn't the best but has several advantages. You can import references from most journal websites and it also connects to databases such as the British Library, so you don't have to enter details about every book (just ISBN). As it is online, it works on whatever computer I use.

sweetstudent

Why not just look at Harvard/Oxford referencing guides at in your learning centre. I find that so much easier and you will learn how to do it, to the point where you will no longer need the guides (except for obscure ref's)

melancholly

sweetstudent wrote: »

Why not just look at Harvard/Oxford referencing guides at in your learning centre. I find that so much easier and you will learn how to do it, to the point where you will no longer need the guides (except for obscure ref's)

that can work, but when you have 100+ references to include in a document, software helps no end! knowing what the rules should be is still important - i've had to tweak the outputs within Endnote to ensure that DOIs get added and things like that. in terms of managing the 400/500 references in my thesis, doing it by hand wasn't an option (and having a searchable database of all the references you need can be invaluable when you forget author names!)

Char_pdc

In the past I have used Refworks, which was reccomended by my uni. You log-in with an Athens username (or Shibboleth if your uni subscribe to that) and its free. It also comes with a downloadable plug-in for Microsoft Word so you can reference as you type and then generate a bibliography when you are done, in the format you choose

I found it alright although I had to check the biblipgraphy thoroughly as some references did not import correctly from the journal into the software.

Might be worth having a look to see if your uni subscribe to one?

sweetstudent

melancholly wrote: »

that can work, but when you have 100+ references to include in a document, software helps no end! knowing what the rules should be is still important - i've had to tweak the outputs within Endnote to ensure that DOIs get added and things like that. in terms of managing the 400/500 references in my thesis, doing it by hand wasn't an option (and having a searchable database of all the references you need can be invaluable when you forget author names!)

I had in my dissertation 162 references (10,000 words). They were in a separate document. I'm not trying to say that my way is the best, but it was a suggestion - which can help if they go onto Masters/PhD.

Just out of interest was your thesis at doctoral level?