Internet and Social Networking Research Tools for Academic

Writing

Copyright © 2014 Todd A. Whittaker(todd.whittaker@franklin.edu)

Introduction• Writing well is challenging enough

…grammar, usage, style…elegance and parsimony…interest and flow…argument validity…critical thinking…deep analysis

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Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

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Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

Image credit: http://www.globeuniversity.edu/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/write.jpg

Somewhat easily solved through templates in MS Word.

Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

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Very time consuming using traditional tools and databases.

Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

Image credit: http://www.globeuniversity.edu/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/write.jpg

Not difficult, but interrupts writing flow.

Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

Image credit: http://www.globeuniversity.edu/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/write.jpg

A big issue, and highly mechanical – ripe for automation.

Introduction• And then we make it harder.– APA style formatting– Finding appropriate sources– Proper citation style– Reference management

Image credit: http://www.globeuniversity.edu/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/write.jpg

The focus of this talk.

Tools for Academic Writing• Google Scholar– Find research articles– Full text integration with library databases

• Mendeley Desktop– Document management with cloud sync– MS Word plugin for citations & bibliographies– Research communities on mendeley.com– Bookmarklet for web sites

Demonstration!

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Not working?

Where you can get these slides

http://bit.ly/TaL2014

12

Questions?

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The end

Thanks for your attention!

Step 1: Locating Sources

Log in to your Google account, and navigate to scholar.google.com

Step 1: Locating Sources

Click on the “Settings” menu (may be under the “More” dropdown)

Step 1: Locating Sources

Click on “Library Links” and search for libraries for which you have access. Put checkmarks next to ones you want. Click “Save.”

Step 1: Locating Sources

Search for your research interest.

Step 1: Locating Sources

Links for downloading from the web or through library databases defined previously.

Step 1: Locating Sources

Citation counts are a reasonable proxy for quality.

Step 1: Locating Sources

Clicking “cite” will format an APA, MLA, and blah bibliography entry. But that’s too much work.

Step 1: Locating Sources

Copying and pasting the citation is too much work. Plus, we may reuse this paper in later writings. Let’s save the paper and reference to a citation manager.

Step 2: Managing Sources

Navigate to mendeley.com and sign up and download the client. Install it.

Step 2: Managing Sources

Downloaded papers are synced in the cloud. Log in to your Mendeley account to enable the feature.

Step 2: Managing Sources

Drag and drop downloaded papers into Mendeley. Folders can organize projects.

Step 2: Managing Sources

Highlight the imported paper and click “search by title” to fill in bibliographic data from the web. Then click “Details are correct.”

Step 2: Managing Sources

Click “sync” to upload all papers to the Mendeley cloud. Now multiple computers can access the same papers!

Step 2: Managing Sources

Click “sync” to upload all papers to the Mendeley cloud. Now multiple computers can access the same papers!

But, how does this help us cite sources as we write?

Step 3: Citing Sources

To integrate with MS Word, click on the “Tools” menu and then “Install MS Word Plugin.”

Step 3: Citing Sources

Now an additional element will appear on the references tab in Word: the Mendeley Cite-O-Matic.

Step 3: Citing Sources

Start writing the paper. When you come to where you want to cite, click on the REFERENCES tab in the toolbar and then click on the Mendeley “Insert Citation” button. Or, just press Alt-M.

Step 3: Citing Sources

Start typing a few characters of the author’s name or title of the paper. Then, pick the entry.

Step 3: Citing Sources

Mendeley inserts the properly formatted citation. These can also be manually edited.

Step 3: Citing Sources

To create the references page, navigate to the bottom of the document and insert the marker.

Step 3: Citing Sources

Then, on the references tab, click on “Insert Bibliography” from the Cite-O-Matic. This only needs to be done once.

Step 3: Citing Sources

The bibliographic data is inserted. Any future citations of different sources will update this field automatically.

Step 4: Web Sources

To cite web pages or content on web pages (i.e. Google Books results), install the Web Importer bookmarklet.

Step 4: Web Sources

Drag this into your bookmarks toolbar. Click it on a web page to insert a reference into your Mendeley library. Sync the desktop and cite.

Step 4: Web Sources

Example of books.google.com import. Also works with WorldCat.

Step 5: Research Communities

Explore groups and people on the Mendeley web site to locate others with similar interests. Find potential collaborators or other interesting papers relevant to you.

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