Whether one is writing a research paper, speech, studying for a class, compiling a list of articles and books for a book club, or creating a shared bibliography of resources, reference managers and note-taking applications (or apps) are useful in the research process. Before the research process became digital, a researcher may have used a note-card system for keeping track of references and their citations.1 Note-taking apps and reference managers help researchers organize research materials and references by topic, author, date, or other characteristics that a researcher may find important. With these digital resources, researchers can keep all of their digital research in one place. In this blog post, I provide an overview of two note-taking apps: OneNote and Evernote and two reference managers: Zotero and Mendeley.
First, let’s begin with definitions. A note-taking application allows users to type or use a stylus to create notes that are born digital. These notes may be exported in various formats and into email. Also, a user may scan documents into the app. A reference manager allows for the automatic or manual importing of sources into the reference manager. There is an option to add the full-text, screenshot, etc. of a source. The reference manager will automatically generate a citation in a standard citation style for the reference, however, researchers may still need to edit the citation to make sure that it is formatted properly. Users may import and export the bibliographic information of these references in a variety of formats.
Evernote and OneNote allow users to create notes, organize notes into notebooks, share notes and notebooks with others, and import a variety of file formats. Both Evernote and OneNote are web-based, however, they both have applications for smartphones and desktop computers. Users who want more information how to begin using Evernote may visit Evernote’s official YouTube channel for tutorials and review Evernotes help and learning webpages. Microsoft has provided a series of video tutorials on OneNote in addition to a short guide on how to create a notebook. OneNote and Evernote have a lot of features in common (notes, notebooks, and tags), however users who prefer to use a stylus to take notes may prefer OneNote.2
Reference managers such as Mendeley and Zotero allow researchers automatically to import items such as webpages, journal articles from databases, citations to books from WorldCat.org, and other sources. When the reference managers import an item, they obtain the bibliographic information from the item such as title, author name, date created, etc. and create a record for that item. Users may choose a citation style and export a citation for one item or an entire list of works cited. Zotero allows users automatically to insert citations into Word, Google Docs, and Libre Office. Mendeley allows users automatically to insert citations into Word. Both Mendeley and Zotero allow users to add notes to items. While Mendeley has an app for smartphones, Zotero does not. However, Papership is an app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that researchers may use to connect to their Zotero or Mendeley accounts to import items into Zotero or Mendeley. Mendeley has help guides and a support center on its website and Zotero provides documentation with instructions on how to use its features. Researchers who are looking for a reference manager that is geared toward legal information, may use Jurism, which has a user interface which is similar to that of Zotero yet has additional features for citing legal information and foreign language materials. In 2019, I created a LibGuide entitled Zotero for Legal References, in which I provide an overview of how to add a collection, style, and item to Zotero in addition to useful tips. The University of Colorado Boulder University Libraries has published a user-friendly chart of steps on how to install Zotero and Jurism in a LibGuide entitled Multilingual Reference Management. Boston University Law Libraries notes 3 Ways to Use Lexis & Westlaw with Zotero which is based on the Zotero Research Guide created by Jason Puckett at Georgia State University Library.
When researchers are taking notes, generating citations, or looking for a place to store digital copies of journal articles in an organized way, reference managers and note-taking apps can be of use. These resources allow for the organization of information and the automatic creation of reference lists. I have created a comparison chart of the features of Evernote, OneNote, Mendeley, and Zotero as well as Resources for Organizing Research.
Endnotes