References

The banes of every researcher's existence are reference articles. You have to have them and you have to find a way to organize them. I suggest you think carefully about how you like to read articles- in paper or electronic forms. Use that method when you set up your organization.

If you like to print out the articles, there are two common organizational methods. One is to have a file box (or cabinet) and file the articles in folders; it is often done by authors' names. A second method is to create reference 3-ring binders; these they can be organized by topic, or author.

If you prefer to read electronically on the computer, I have some free software to suggest: ReadCube <http://www.readcube.com/>, Zotero  <zotero.com>, and Mendeley <mendeley.com>. These were designed for researchers. They let you access all of your pdf files, organize them by topic, search the files, write comments and highlight articles. They typically do not provide a way to write the reference in your paper. An option for that is bibliography software such as Endnote. I don’t use this, because I am terrible about entering them in the database. You will have to decide such things for yourself.

Next time, I will discuss a future research ideas journal. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu