I remember writing some of my earliest papers in middle school. Back then, I had really basic word processing software – so basic, it didn’t even do footnotes or endnotes. But my papers required them, so I hacked together a way to put them at the bottom of pages or at the end of the paper, using superscript formatting to insert the foot/endnote marker. Then, of course, if I added more text I had to move the foot/endnotes around manually. It was grueling. Later, I remember my amazement in using word processing software that automatically moved the foot/endnotes around as needed. I was astounded!
Still, one problem remained: pulling together bibliographic information. Every teacher had a different desired format. It was easy to lose periods, commas, and other punctuation in the transfer of information. To my delight, I discovered bibliographic software early in grad school and have never looked back.
I started out using EndNote but quickly became frustrated at the cost of updates. I was especially concerned at the cost for the sake of my undergraduate students, for whom shelling out anything over $25 can sometimes be a concern. So when I started my work at Wheaton, I switched to Mendeley and have never looked back.
Now, I’m teaching courses in which excellent communication of information and thoughts is an important part of our department’s assessment plan. Aside from official assessment, I’m passionate about building our physics majors’ abilities in managing information for both ease and quality of communication. So early on, in our sophomore computer modeling class, I start talking to them about using bibliographic management software. They’re getting this talk as well in my junior/senior mechanics class, and they’ll be getting it this spring as well when I start teaching our advanced lab course. And Mendeley is now a part of my research program; my research students are expected to set up an account and we use a group to share journal articles. I’ve been recommending Mendeley because it has no cost to start using, a feature which is important to me in considering what my students can and can’t pay for. I want them to start building their own library of references that they can carry on to whatever they go on to do. And I want them to start getting used to a social side of academic communication as well. Mendeley fits all these.
What can Mendeley not do? As of right now, it doesn’t have all the bibliographic forms I need for the journals I target, but they’re adding new journals all the time. Syncing between computers isn’t perfect either, but it’s getting better and better. I’m glad to be part of the development of a tool that works well with the way research is done – not the other way around, having to work your research around a tool.
And so this fall I signed up to be a Mendeley advisor, willing and able to spread the word about the program. You can check out my advisor page here. Any questions about using Mendeley (or reference management in general? Is anyone else talking to their physics majors about information management?) Let’s start a discussion in the comments!