Week 11: Service Review Endnote

[Deborah Fuller]

Knowledge and its application are important for international competiveness  and Australian universities are judged on their research performance . However, academic research is under constant threat of  funding cuts and so time has become a valuable commodity to the researcher, with a need to perform the research as efficiently as possible. Reference management tools when used effectively have the power to increase the efficiency of the research process.

Endnote is a reference management service provided by QUT library aimed at researchers and post-graduate students. I downloaded it earlier in the semester following a lecturer’s recommendation, but after transferring the pdfs of the class readings that were in my document folder, it sat on my desktop gathering dust. Following program reviews submitted by my peers, I decided I should make Endnote my friend. I first watched a video linked from the QUT library site How to use Endnote in 7 minutes, which was good, but left me wanting to learn more. When I found I had an unexpected Tuesday off work, I registered for the class. The class was fully interactive and although it was 2 hours long, it sped by. It was aimed at Windows users, which suited me, as that’s my platform of choice. However there was a Mac user at the class and although the teacher tried to help, she admitted she had limited knowledge of Mac. As the world seems to be divided between Windows and Mac users and Apple appears to be rapidly taking over the world, I feel that holding separate classes for Mac users would be beneficial.

Despite not feeling confident with Mac the librarian teaching class was knowledgeable about Endnote, which is important as the field of research and its management is evolving continually  and librarians need to be up-to date with this. Academic librarians must see themselves as partners in the research process, ensuring that the researcher is information-literate and able to perform effective literature searches and management. By providing Endnote, teaching its use and providing ongoing support, QUT librarians are demonstrating their willingness to be participants in this partnership. E-research is becoming increasingly common , with an increasing number of students studying online. Therefore, access to research needs to be available off campus and QUT does provide links to online resources on its Endnotes FAQ page. Although I feel that it does not replace the class and maybe they could teach online simultaneously using Collaborate or have a recording of a class available. The fact that the class is only available on a Tuesday can be a problem, if like myself Tuesday is normal working day.

Following the class, I now feel confident in utilising Endnote for managing my references and have even gone as far as deleting the duplicates in my document file. It is very user friendly and the cheat sheets provided in the class will be invaluable in the future. There is also a link to the UQ website which has written factsheets online for using Endnote, a service which I will likely be using in the future, as needs arise. I would definitely recommend my peers utilising this excellent service provided by QUT library

• This topic was modified 9 years ago by Deborah Fuller. Reason: link broken

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[Peldon P]

Hi Debbie, as usual very interesting post, how beautifully you write 🙂 I learned to use Endnote only in my second semester, now I can’t imagine uni without Endnote; it is a necessity 😉 I create separate Endnote library for each of my subjects to avoid confusion. I know there are still many students who cannot use the application. I only wish they put in extra effort to learn or the library communicates and make students aware of this. 🙂

[Deborah Fuller]

Thanks for your kind comments Peldon, I agree with you Endnotes is an invaluable tool and I wish that I had made the effort to do the class earlier. I have a separate group for each subject with subgroups in that for large assignments. I hope to be able to use it to its full potential next semester when I have time to sort it out properly. I, like yourself think the program should be better promoted, as it was only after reading earlier blog posts that I realised its full potential

[Sarah Ross]

Hi Debbie,

I first used Endnote ten years ago and found it more hindrance than help.  I was using the Harvard reference standard and found I could do it in my head easier.  I have now been converted to Menderley which I like a lot.  The best thing is that you can marry an Endnote reference list with a Menderley one!

The class sounded good and managing references is better when you can trust some software.  I still like Menderley!

Cheers, Sarah

 

[Deborah Fuller]

Thanks for your feedback Sarah, I’ve never heard of Menderley, but will look at it in the break as it may work better for  me than Endnote. I supposed QUT have Endnote so they promote that, which isn’t a bad thing as they purchase it for us. It is always good to hear other viewpoints.

[Tracey Allen]

Hey Debbie,

I was really interested in your post as I too have wanted to learn how to use Endnote.  I also am unable to attend on a Tuesday because of work commitments. Were you able to download a copy of Endnote from the uni? As it seems to acquire personally costs $180 for a student. I have just been using Microsoft Word’s ‘manage sources’ which is working ok for me at the moment.

Thanks,

Tracey

[Deborah Fuller]

Hi Tracey, You can download Endnote for free from the library site, here’s the link and if you can’t get to the sessions there are some useful videos on You-Tube, although I’ve not tried them (something for me to do in the semester break). Hope that helps you.

Debbie

[Tracey Allen]

Thanks Debbie

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