to those thinking of using something like endnote, it is very pricey. even for students with valid student ID who get a 50% discount, it is still expensive. tim has put up an entry on his blog about an alternative called Zotero which is a Firefox plugin. it can do something similar (but with lesser flexibilities). go to tim's blog below to see the full blog entry (with some screenshots).
Referencing for the financially challenged
Rich students/scholars and those in institutions with the clout to get a good deal use Endnote (or some similar full featured expensive) bibliography and referencing tool. The rest of us use Zotero, which is a brilliant free Firefox addin. That I have mentioned before but has got even better with version 1.0. Zotrero is great for taking the info from webpages, and often Library catalogues. It would extract the data from the University catalogue, but I'm no longer teaching at the Uni, and the College catalogue is not Zotero compatible. My workaround has been to search Google and click the Amazon link - Amazon is Zotero compatible - but that only works for recent books, enter a tip from Judy Redman, that I bookmarked long ago, but only really tried today: use WorldCat you can even get a Firefox tool to add WorldCat to your search box in the tool bar (I know the first one works, but do try the second):
OCLC WorldCat Catalog worldcat.org and away you go, fast, free and accurate referencing, now just click and paste into your essay/article/book...
Type in a search term (left) and you go to a page (right) from which you can select the book you need and from the page that appears (below) and for a moment watch in wonder the Zotero "Saving Bibliography Item" message before right clicking the new entry, and presto you are ready to enter the item in your document!
appendix:
chris heard has dropped in to give his comments on endnote. for mac users, he suggests bookends.
there is also something called Refworks. anyone have any experience with that?
Updated: tim has added a second entry on how to install and use Zotero. this entry has him narrating along which makes it like a tutorial! check it out:
http://www.bigbible.org/blog/2008/01/zotero-is-brilliant-and-integrates.htm
Referencing for the financially challenged
Rich students/scholars and those in institutions with the clout to get a good deal use Endnote (or some similar full featured expensive) bibliography and referencing tool. The rest of us use Zotero, which is a brilliant free Firefox addin. That I have mentioned before but has got even better with version 1.0. Zotrero is great for taking the info from webpages, and often Library catalogues. It would extract the data from the University catalogue, but I'm no longer teaching at the Uni, and the College catalogue is not Zotero compatible. My workaround has been to search Google and click the Amazon link - Amazon is Zotero compatible - but that only works for recent books, enter a tip from Judy Redman, that I bookmarked long ago, but only really tried today: use WorldCat you can even get a Firefox tool to add WorldCat to your search box in the tool bar (I know the first one works, but do try the second):
OCLC WorldCat Catalog worldcat.org and away you go, fast, free and accurate referencing, now just click and paste into your essay/article/book...
Type in a search term (left) and you go to a page (right) from which you can select the book you need and from the page that appears (below) and for a moment watch in wonder the Zotero "Saving Bibliography Item" message before right clicking the new entry, and presto you are ready to enter the item in your document!
appendix:
chris heard has dropped in to give his comments on endnote. for mac users, he suggests bookends.
there is also something called Refworks. anyone have any experience with that?
Updated: tim has added a second entry on how to install and use Zotero. this entry has him narrating along which makes it like a tutorial! check it out:
http://www.bigbible.org/blog/2008/01/zotero-is-brilliant-and-integrates.htm
Comments
i am just evaluating it with a student's copy of endnote x1 to see how user friendly it is. a bit late for me to use on my thesis as it is nearing completion. i cannot afford the program myself as it is over 1,100 malaysian dollars (50% discount if i am a student)!
I am using EndNote 9.0.1 which I find very useful, flexible and user friendly. I did not have to do yearly upgrades. EndNote is also upto date with the Unicote.
I shall be interested to know about your experience with Zotero