The advantages of reference management software - The art of managing your references [Voice-over] It’s late Thursday morning. Fred is looking for a citation he wrote down. He’s been searching for over an hour but can’t find it anywhere. Admittedly, organization is not Fred’s forte. Sometimes Fred uses a bookmark to remember a quote. Other times he writes it down on a notepad. Or uses post-its. Sometimes Fred will take a picture of it with his smartphone. He even created a folder on his desktop called “useful citations”, but it could just as well be called “random stuff”. Fred was ready to try anything! [Dialogues] Librarian: Are you Fred? You live here? Fred: Yes. Librarian: I’m a reference management program and I solve problems. Fred: Great timing. Librarian: I know, I was called. Librarian: Right. No time to waste on pleasantries. If my information is correct, time’s running out. Right, Fred? Fred: Yup Librarian: Okay, let’s see. We have: a messy room, information without references and a paper that’s due at noon today. It’s exactly 11:22 a.m. Which leaves us less than 40 minutes. If you follow my plan, we should make it with time to spare. [Voice-over] There is no silver bullet. When it’s too late, it’s too late. That’s why it’s important to use a reference management software from the beginning, which will allow you to: • Save and centralize complete references for documents that you want to cite in your paper. • Create a personal library where you can easily sort, group and find your references, without even having to cut and paste. • Add notes and attachments to your references that you can consult off-line. • Add tags that will make retrieving your references easier. • Export your references to a bibliography that is formatted to meet accepted standards. All bibliography management software packages offer hundreds, even thousands of bibliographic styles. You can also change or update your citation style with a single click. • Share your reference library with a group. • Use several devices and synchronize your notes. Last, but not least: most software is free and can be integrated with word processors, making it easy to cite works while writing your paper. You’ll find a table listing available software in the “Key Points”. To conclude, if you’re intimidated by new applications remember that our librarians offer workshops on reference management. [Dialogues] Librarian: The reference you are looking for: Jürgen Habermas, The Public Sphere, published in 1962, page 234. Fred: Gee, thanks. Sorted! Librarian: Yes, indeed, I sort, I file, I update. Well, got to go. Oh, and next time, don’t hesitate to call me sooner.