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@diastole1
Overcoming overwhelm
Many important things to me get blown out of all proportion all the time. Projects, life situations and goals I really care about become constant daily nightmares stopping me from enjoying sleep and my day. I come to resent myself for having shown any interest in things and curse my stupidity for being so easily taken in by my own and other peoples’ ideas. I think I suffer from this kind of…
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What is a Reference Manager?
Reference manager. Citation manager. Bibliography manager. Whatever name you call it, they are all names for management software used for in-document citation and organising your personal PDF and reference library. Aimed at academics and authors, this management software helps to organise citations as well as reformat references for manuscript resubmission and revisions.
Quite simply (far too simply), reference managers help organise all those pdfs academics have on their computers so they can find them and cite them in-document when writing manuscripts. And, even after creating a bibliography a reference list format can be changed with a few clicks in manuscript.
But the reference managers of today have a much broader scope of use and innovative function.
One small step to take for a giant leap forward in academic life
Since the first reference managers of the 1980s, the software, as expected, has become extremely sophisticated and, what used to be a simple tool for organising references, has become so much more than just keeping your citations in order. The software now does so many useful things encompassing not one aspect but the entire reading and writing work-life of the academic.
There are numerous Reference Managers available offering various features including;
Cloud storage and synchronicity: One doesn’t need to worry about all the original files on a single hard drive or even to back things up - it’s all up in the cloud and can be synced to all the devices you need.
Search and discover: Search your own libraries more easily and discover new and top related articles based on your library.
Manage your bibliography: Export personally curated bibliographies and reference lists in any style format you want and prioritize your reading.
Take notes: Built-in annotation tools help the reader mark important aspects and keep all the comments searchable in context of the original text.
Metrics of articles: Seeing exactly who’s cited them and even blogged about them, broadening your network of specialists and viewing discussions beyond the PDF itself, again helping you to prioritize your reading.
More amazing features:
File-management
Automatic file renaming
Institution proxy integration
Search engine integration
Watch folders
…so much more
The above list of clever things reference managers can do is not the full impressive scope but you should get the picture. We live in a tech-driven world now which is a very exciting time for software innovation, the ideas for which are coming so thick and fast the reference managers are adding new and amazing tools to their repertoire all the time.
Keep it together
The core commodity of research is the PDF, yeah funding too, ok, but it’s how the majority of research is communicated so why not have the best software tools for this main commodity of academic life?
Searching library databases, reading research, making notes, writing papers - these core elements to academic life can often be a fragmented and messy processes; getting lost in a paper-trail of references and notes.
The reference Manager is integral to the continued understanding of a field of study making it easier to find and report research, have continual access to huge libraries of research as well as one’s notes available instantly through personal mobile devices. Reference Managers have broken down the barriers of a once fragmented academic life by keeping the research all together.
The last word in research
While we may be biased in our preferred choice of Reference Manager, ReadCube, we believe in the importance of Reference Managers as a primary tool in the life of the academic and just hope that every academic chooses one that suits their lifestyle.
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Guest blog by Dr Jojo Scoble PhD, evolutionary microbiologist turned writer. Follow her at: @Online_Academic | Blog
ECR vs PostDoc, what's the difference?
ECR vs PostDoc, what’s the difference?
Most of the topics I write for the Online Academic blog is directed at any academic, a person who’s in the academic sector or who’ve gained a higher university degree and still do work related to their qualification. I Tweet a lot of my blogs using hashtags, I’m a little lazy when it comes to searching for new ones, but I generally stick to Phd or ECR related ones because this encompasses all…
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Evernote - the Academics' little big helper
Evernote – the Academics’ little big helper
Everyone needs a side-kick, a buddy to help them get on in academic life because It’s nice to know someone has your back every now and again and Evernote was my side-kick when I was doing my PhD as well as during my post-doc, not to mention in my personal life too, oh, and so that means… OK, you get what I mean.
(I help academics in their everyday life by writing blogs about useful apps, tools,…
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ReadCube - The pdf organiser, reader, note-taker, paper tracker...
ReadCube – The pdf organiser, reader, note-taker, paper tracker…
ReadCube is many things; it’s like an iTunes for your PDFs but SOOOOOO much better cuz it works really well (sorry Apple, not.), its a pdf reader, it make searchable notes, annotates pdfs, finds new articles, yes, ReadCube actually does that for you! Oh, just read the blog. I am writing this piece for a great friend, ‘Becca, who’s just started her PhD and she knows I advocate using lots of online…
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Top Online Academic blog posts of 2015
Top Online Academic blog posts of 2015
It’s now 2016 and I’ve had a look at the stats of the Online Academic blog to see which posts have come out on top in 2015.
I posted 30 times, which generated 26,820 views from 13,0002 visitors, so that’s at least two views per visitor.
The most avid readers were from USA followed by the UK and Australia, Canada, and Germany. Many many thanks to all of you who came to visit.
Top FIVE posts of 2015
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Why Academics use Twitter
Why Academics use Twitter
I’ve mentioned before ‘how’ academics use Twitter, but this doesn’t cover ‘why’ they use Twitter.
I’ve heard Twitter be referred to as a global online ‘water cooler’ or ‘rec room’ for academics, a place to hang-out and feel support from others in the same career. There are also some advantages of being connected to those in other institution but of the same field since you hear about…
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Twitter Apps and Tools for academics - Maintenance
Twitter Apps and Tools for academics – Maintenance
What kind of maintenance tasks are there to do for my Twitter account?
This is a good question since many people I’ve spoken to don’t even think they have to do anything to their account other than tweet when they feel like it. So, what am I talking about? I’m talking about maintenance which, in my experience, includes the following:
Follow-back: Look for more followers and followback those…
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Crafting a Personal Brand for Academic Professionals
Crafting a Personal Brand for Academic Professionals
An absolutely superb prezi (presentation) on Academic Branding with great content and advice. Thank you Dr. Abraham Hmiel :)
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The Twitter Rules you may not realise you've been breaking.
The Twitter Rules you may not realise you’ve been breaking.
Rules — if you don’t know them then how do you know you’re breaking them? Here are some highlights of the Twitter Rules that you may not realise you’ve been breaking!
Twitter Rules and Best Practices
The internet is host to many products and services and Twitter, like all the other internet companies, try to make sure its users adhere to certain rules and regulations. How often do you click ‘yes’…
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Topical Academic hashtags
Hashtags are used in a number of guises. Here I list the hashtags used most commonly within academic communities with a brief general description of the intentional use.
Remember: hashtags, even the curated ones, can be used at any time since there is usually always some talking on that particular subject.
PhDs and Academics
#Academia
Tweets on anything to do with Academia
#Scho…
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Integrating Twitter into your existing work routine
You’re already busy in your job, so how are you going to fit in (more) social media? I think about Twitter as more of an augmentation to an existing work situation; the business-card; the living network of contacts; the journal club and literary resource.
Whatever your existing routine might hold within it, Twitter can overlay onto it.
Scenario 1. You are reading a paper – Tweet a link to the…
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Favouriting on Twitter - it’s not a ‘like’ button
Favouriting a Tweet is a really great function for a number of reasons, and like a re-Tweet doesn’t necessarily mean endorsement, favouriting doesn’t necessarily mean like.
Uses of Favouriting:
Bookmark: maybe the top reason people bookmark, I sure know I’ve used it for this reason; I just don’t have time to read the link from within the Tweet now and want to save it for later
Acknowledgement: HT…
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An exercise and tips for compiling a great Tweet
You know 140 characters isn’t a lot of space to be conveying a long message, so sticking to one issue and point in each Tweet is key. Don’t forget, including a link always gives more information so the talent is to try and get the audience interested enough to click on the link, reply, or take another action.
Remember - One Tweet = One fact or point
What are you Tweeting for, remember? So in as…
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An Exercise in Forming a Good Twitter Bio
No-one reads your Twitter bio with care especially when they are surrounded by other bios and pictures. But you can create a Bio that will attract more of the right Followers not only from a glance but by appearing in topical search results too.
Below I detail how I create them. Please feel free to add your comments at the end of the blog to share your best tips and ideas.
Below is a…
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Make your own professional-looking profile pics
Make your own professional-looking portraits
Not everyone has the opportunity for professional portraits, so I’ve developed an easy way to create some, and with the help of a few online apps for editing.
STEP ONE: Natural light — This is the most important part. Daylight is needed to give not only a good quality self portrait, but is also fantastic when taking pictures of objects.
For self portraits, place yourself in front of a frosted…
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Twitter-speak, definitions and other stuff.
As a part of the Twitter for Academics book I’m currently writing, I’ve made a list of terms, words and general stuff to know.
Everyday nouns and verbs: These words are the language of Twitter; the names of the tools and features of the environment.
Banner Pic
n.
The large picture at the top of an account profile
Bio
n.
The personalised short written description or biography in a…
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