Quote:
Originally Posted by gotreef
Zotero is great as a free option but I wouldn't use it if I was anything other than a undergrad; personal opinion of course. I would recommend using endnote as it is widely considered the standard in reference managers, at least in the scientific community. It integrates well with MS Word (Without making assumptions on what type of grad prog you're in, if you write papers with 30+ references, you'll wonder how you ever lived without this feature), ensures proper formatting, and most journal repositories support direct exporting.
Of course it's not free and that sucks. Assuming you're not morally flexible enough to find a free copy somewhere, keep in mind that endnote is almost considered a mandatory program (at least it is in my discipline). Most universities offer this program at a steep discount to students (It costs $25 at my school). However, many departments also have site licenses you can tap into and as it's also degree relevant, it's not too hard to tap your grant to spring for it.
Still somewhat paranoid about losing your meticulously maintained collection of papers? No problem, since dropbox is just a "folder" all you have to do back it up is hardlink that folder if you use *nix or a mac (I think macs can do it, don't own one though) or, if you use windows, have it set to backup that directory or install Mozy (once again a reference link, click http://www.mozy.com if you don't like me). |
My current masters program in in Public Administration. My previous one is in Accounting, and my next one is will (probably) be in Management Information Systems. After that, I'm aiming for a Ph.D. in Public Affairs.
I don't know if there's a "standard" piece of software for either Management Information Systems or Public Affairs, but according to the professors I talked to, no such standard exists for Public Administation. (I wrote almost no papers in the Accounting program, so it didn't matter.) However, they did say good things about EndNote, too.
The problem I have with EndNote is the UCF licensing agreement. EndNote is free, but only as long as I'm a student at UCF. Since I'll be graduating by the end of the year, I see a large payment in my immediate future as I loose the academic license. Which, as you say, sucks.
I have no problem getting you a commission, except that I already use Mozy for my backups. If I decide to use DropBox for any other purpose, I will definitely click on your link.
Thanks for the info.