An affair with EndNote

EndNote is one of those pieces of software that, after using it, you can’t figure out how you ever did without. I downloaded a 30-day trial at the EndNote Web site and fell in love after about a week. Mine and EndNote’s romance was quick — shifting from the puppy love phase to total dependency very quickly. Now, EndNote and I visit almost every day, and I am completely fulfilled.
If you are:

a grad student or someone who loves to research (or both),
tired of those silly works cited and source rules,
someone who is terrible with names but good with keywords,
detail-oriented and/or
obsessed with arranging things

EndNote might work for you like it has for me. The trial is free and requires no credit card. One caution: if you download it, you’ll love it, so be prepared to spend $89 (a steal if you purchase it online). This piece of software will save you countless hours of pulling your hair out, making sure the periods and commas are in the right place in your theses, projects or papers. As a past thesis writer, I wish I would’ve known about this product last year. Here’s a brief overview:
When you open endnote, all you have to do is create a new library and start adding your sources. [image] All are arranged in a sorted list. [image]
For each source, you can type in all the information available. You can also assign keywords for later searching. I like to link the reference to a PDF or Web version of the publication, so I can quickly refer to it when I need a quote. [image]
Finally, the best feature of EndNote is its ability to instantly reformat a citation depending on which style you choose. There are almost 1,400 styles from which to choose, so I doubt you’ll have a problem finding yours.
Another great feature is EndNote’s integration with Microsoft Word. Once you download EndNote, Word adds a toolbar in the Tools menu. The EndNote toolbar lets you reference your sources directly from the EndNote program.
For a lasting affair with a piece of software in graduate school, turn to EndNote.