Technical Computing Magazine - Issue 37

Instant relief from information indigestion

Stephanie Marshall
Product Specialist

New EndNote X2 lets you quell your appetite for knowledge while avoiding bibliographic bloat!

With the internet delivering a limitless flow of information direct to your desktop, it takes a mighty reference management software like EndNote X2 to filter out the intellectual clutter and home in only on what's relevant to your work. EndNote makes it ultra quick and easy to find exactly the literature references you need by searching hundreds of internet databases and instantly importing all kinds of relevant citation data into a personal library which can be configured to suit your own research preferences.

And when it comes to using those references in your work, EndNote gives you the streamlined tools to generate citations, bibliographies and figure lists instantly while you write in thousands of publishing styles. Recent EndNote converts who used to struggle to keep their references in order or put them into a usable format for writing without the help of dedicated reference management software, will testify just how much time and effort EndNote saves them every day!

So when Thomson Reuters set about developing the next version of EndNote, they wanted to make sure its renowned research-revolutionising features were super accessible to everyone who used it. They carried out a series of usability studies to ascertain which parts of EndNote were used the most, which features were difficult to locate or master, and how easy the software was for novices to navigate. Their discoveries have led to a series of interface enhancements:

New EndNote X2 has been laid out much the same as your email inbox; your reference groups are now organised like email folders down the left hand side of the screen; summary information about highlighted references is displayed at the bottom of the screen just like an email preview pane, while the main screen displays the full list of references similar to your email inbox. The assumption is that most people know how to use email, so why not apply this familiar interface to EndNote and make it even easier for any level of user to navigate?

During the study, the online search option seemed to elude most people - hidden away behind tabs, so in version X2, it's been pulled to the forefront in plain sight for quick and easy access. The reference preview and reference search panes are now directly accessible via two instantly-interchangeable tabs.

New customisable Smart Groups provide a better way of fast-filing the favourite topics you research the most. Once you've defined your groups, any related references gathered during new online searches are automatically filtered into the folders. And now new or updated references are date-stamped so it's even easier to keep track of recent additions or updated records. Other new features include the addition of a trash folder, so deleted references are recoverable during a single session. Plus users can now view library and record summaries, providing a snapshot of the key metrics such as groupings, counts, date last updated, most used reference types and more.

But the feature causing the most stir among software reviewers and users alike is the 'find full-text' feature. This allows you to select references, then ask EndNote to search online and locate the corresponding free fulltext documents where available. The software then automatically downloads and links each document to its appropriate reference. If EndNote can't find free pdfs to download, it will add a URL to the EndNote reference to link it to the article online instead. So even if you're not willing to pay for downloads, EndNote X2 gets you as close as possible to the full text document for future reference. All this means you get the most comprehensive library with the minimum effort.

A word of warning though! Rather than downloading material for the whole of your library in one go, it might be better to do it bit by bit. One EndNote user recently set the 'find full-text' feature to work on the whole of his library (around 17,000 references.) EndNote managed to find and download an impressive 10,000 pdfs. Unfortunately, because the search session had been active for 12 continuous hours, it triggered a security warning and the user's IP address was automatically blocked! It just goes to show - moderation is the key! email folders down the left hand side of the screen; summary information about highlighted references is displayed at the bottom of the screen just like an email preview pane, while the main screen displays the full list of references similar to your email inbox. The assumption is that most people know how to use email, so why not apply this familiar interface to EndNote and make it even easier for any level of user to navigate?

Work online or offline with your references

Another new feature in EndNote X2 lets you easily transfer whole groups of references to and from your desktop library to EndNote Web; Thomson Reuter's browser-based bibliographic tool. It's not as full featured as EndNote X2, but has more than enough reference managing functionality for the average undergraduate. It also makes the perfect storage stop-gap for EndNote users working away from their main desktop library.

While EndNote Web is currently available solely to academia, the developers are already aware of the work potential and usefulness of such a web-based research tool in commercial organisations. Watch this space for more news!