What inspired or motivated you to use this tool/resource?
In a nutshell, to address 鈥Time,鈥 鈥Accuracy,鈥 鈥榓nd听Productivity鈥. 听
Those of us who have been in academia for a while will remember creating references manually and will have had piles of printed documents near our desk, all of which will have contained annotations and highlighted sections, which made referring a tedious exercise. Not to mention the frustration of incomplete references because the journal details were illegible due to poor photocopying skills.听
Reference management tools (RMTs) can introduce and build an efficient workflow when conducting research from听诲颈蝉肠辞惫别谤测听迟辞听补蝉蝉颈尘颈濒补迟颈辞苍听迟辞听citation.听
What was your aim in using this tool/resource?听
The aim is to bring together existing research papers/information that exist across multiple devices and online storage spaces into one single cloud-based piece of reference management software. Thereby saving time and energy and creating a synergy between discovery and assimilation which would otherwise not exist. Mendeley allowed me to do all this.听
What did you use the tool/resource for? 听
I used it to compile my research for a masters鈥 level course, but it is also useful to compile a document library relating to my day-to-day work. Keeping track of new innovations is hard, but having a quick solution to store online information at the time of exposure which can then be reviewed at a more convenient time means I won鈥檛 waste time going through browser history logs or simply missing out on interesting articles.听
How well did the tool/resource perform, would you recommend it? 听
I recommend a reference management tool to whoever will listen! Mendeley in particular is a simple accessible and free tool which is easy to learn. New features are being added all the time.听
The time saved is impossible to measure. You store, read, annotate, and cite from a single tool which is cloud-based and so your research material is always with you (it even has an offline mode). It transforms the way you interact with information, not just in the ways mentioned above, but it also provides tools to make individual notes, tag articles with keywords (making searching your ever-expanding library of articles easier,) and provides a notebook for you to organise thoughts, create to do lists, compile definitions, list new research strands鈥 This keeps you focussed on what you are reading whilst allowing you to record what you need to do next, all without leaving the tool.听
In addition, the variety of sources of information available online has grown due to web technologies and social media and contains complex metadata鈥 referencing these can cause consternation among students and RMTs can help with this. Switching styles is also a breeze.听
How well was the tool/resource received by students?听
The times a postgrad student has told me that they wish they had known these tools existed when they were an undergrad grows with every passing semester. Faces literally light up! Especially those who have struggled to create references manually. They seem to enjoy the organisational aspects as well. Having a single repository of information and the ease in which new articles can be incorporated is a big plus.听
They also like the integration with Microsoft Word as it is seamless, making citing articles and creating a reference list really easy.听
Share a 鈥楾op Tip鈥 for a colleague new to the tool/resource听
I would say 鈥Tagging鈥 and creating 鈥Collections鈥. This may stem from being a librarian, however, don鈥檛 under-estimate the benefits. I realise it鈥檚 an extra step but imagine your Mendeley Library in three years鈥 time 鈥 Full of wonderful papers and articles. The standard search tool is not precise enough, however if you have used keywords as tags from the start, and organised papers into collections, then you will be able to bring up the perfect article in seconds as tagged entries can be viewed within each separate collection. In essence, use the whole tool, not just the citation aspect.听
How would I summarise the experience in 3 words?听
Transformative Research Methods听
Recommended reading:听
Bapte, V.D. and Bejalwar, S.A. (2022) 鈥淧romoting the Use of Reference Management Tools: An Opportunity for Librarians to Promote Scientific Tradition,鈥澨DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology,听42(1), pp. 64鈥70. Available at:听.听
Reis, M.A.F. et al. (2022) 鈥淜nowledge management in the classroom using Mendeley technology,鈥听The Journal of Academic Librarianship,听48(4), p. 102486. Available at:听.听
SharePoint Resource:听听
Contact for more information:
Marc Duggan:听marc.duggan@bangor.ac.uk