electronic journal articles

[mjs]

I might be the only human being on earth who admits to it, but I love reading journal articles. In an effort to reduce the amount of paper I tear through in a week, I'm trying to read them in their electronic formats. However... the stuff doesn't sink in.

The people I know fall into two phenotypes: those who can read articles online, those who can't and there's nary in between.

Do I have some mutation in the e-journal (ejnl -/-) locus or is it just a matter of figuring how to mess with content in the medium (practice, just like learning word processing, shopping, sequence analysis, and every other thing I do on the computer now).

Anyway, just a nitpicky question. Hope everyone's having a nice summer.

mjs

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[tedrik]

well, it sounds like you might be reading a little too much. I like reading articles online as well to save on paper, but this is mostly for the articles that I really only need to get a small amount of info from. For me, if I really need the thing to sink in, then I have to have the hard copy so I can write little notes 'n things. Highlighting and circling difinitely helps me retain the important info...just a though...

 

[zep]

Then I must also carry that allele because I can't read articles on-line. I always seem to download the PDFs that seem really good but then succumb to copying the articles in the library.

 

[leverp2000]

Then I must also carry that allele because I can't read articles on-line. I always seem to download the PDFs that seem really good but then succumb to copying the articles in the library.

Why not just print the articles?

I tend to like hard-copies better, because I can write on them and make notes. Online versions are only good for quick reads.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

I have to admit, I'm one of those bastards that downloads the electronic version of the article, just to print it out. Although I do print it out double-sided, two pages to a side. But, for whatever reason, I can't seem to absorb the material, unless I can make notes on the paper in the margin.

Any ideas???

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Why not just print the articles?

I tend to like hard-copies better, because I can write on them and make notes. Online versions are only good for quick reads.

Admittingly, isn't it somewhat pointless to print an e-article if your only use is personal.

 

[zep]

Why not just print the articles?

I do, unless they are pre-97 or so.

 

[microTAS]

I prefer the electronic method, although I wish I had a tablet PC so that I can underline/circle/jot down notes. Acrobat takes me halfway there, but it just isn't the same.

Having all your journal article on your computer is much easier than a file cabinet though. Plus extracting figures (for presentations), citations, and text is much easier.

 

[xanthines]

Maybe it depends on what type of monitor you are reading the electronic versions. For instance, I can only read about 3 pages on the monitors in the lab because they are the CRT (ie TV) type monitors. On my laptop or the imaging workstations we have I can read all day because they are nice hi-res LCD screens. MY crackpot theory is that you notice on a sub-concious level (or something) that CRT's are "flashing" you 60,72, 85 times per second depending on monitor and settings. LCD's are continous displays. Or at least as close to continous as you can get. Just a theory...

Keep watching the skies.

-X