Reading Articles in PDF

[LaserPrinter]

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Although I am appreciative of the technological advances the field of psychology has taken in terms of our now having the ability to access information online and going paperless, I find that reading articles formatted into columns are annoying to read in pdf files. Constantly scrolling up and down within the same page makes my eyes crazy. It makes me wonder: why is it that journals still print in columns instead of in manuscript style? And a second question: is there some method of changing columned articles into book style that I've missed? Much obliged if you know.

 

[busybusybusy]

I honestly don't know the answer to either of your questions, but I also hate that. Just wanted to commiserate.

Actually, I hate reading any journal article in PDF, I kow its not *green* but I still print them out....

 

[mvan1]

While it is a pain, there is a positive. You can go to "tools-annotate" and leave notes for yourself about pertinent info in the article. I do this quite often and it's a life saver when reviewing articles for a lit review.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

While it is a pain, there is a positive. You can go to "tools-annotate" and leave notes for yourself about pertinent info in the article. I do this quite often and it's a life saver when reviewing articles for a lit review.

I tried something like that....but then ended up printing out everything and going old school with highlighters and writing in the margins. I found the portability of being able to bring printed copies everywhere with me to be advantagous, but this was all done way before iPads, readers, ultra-portables, etc.

 

[nononora]

There are several ereaders (Sony comes to mind) that have the ability to reformat on the go, meaning that you'd be able to read the PDF as prose in na book-like format. However, this largely depends on how complicated the PDF file is as most ereaders cannot render images/graphs accurately.

You could also try a PDF to Word converter. That may work for you in theory, although I imagine there'd be some minor editing involved.

 

[deadmau5]

something that might help = 2 screens. you can easily hook a second monitor up to any computer.

or a wider screen. I have one that is 23" - it's still a bit tight to have the pdf and a word file open, but it's a lot better than a 18/20" screen.

 

[LaserPrinter]

something that might help = 2 screens. you can easily hook a second monitor up to any computer.

or a wider screen. I have one that is 23" - it's still a bit tight to have the pdf and a word file open, but it's a lot better than a 18/20" screen.

I've seen monitors that look like a monitor on it's side, as in the length is more the width rather than the usual length < width comp monitors. Could I just get regular monitor, put it on it's side, and then adjust the picture so that it is rotated?

 

[LaserPrinter]

While it is a pain, there is a positive. You can go to "tools-annotate" and leave notes for yourself about pertinent info in the article. I do this quite often and it's a life saver when reviewing articles for a lit review.

You are officially a teacher. Thanks for that comment!

 

[futureapppsy2]

To be contrarian 😉, I love reading articles electronically. Hard copies just seem so cumbersome to have around, especially when reading a lot of articles for a systematic review, meta-analysis, etc.

 

[loveoforganic]

I tried something like that....but then ended up printing out everything and going old school with highlighters and writing in the margins. I found the portability of being able to bring printed copies everywhere with me to be advantagous, but this was all done way before iPads, readers, ultra-portables, etc.

Ditto. Reading off the computer just sucks too when you're doing it for hours. Make a folder with dividers to keep articles organized however you like and keep an excel spreadsheet to compile notes on articles (anyone who doesn't do this, start)!

 

[deadmau5]

I've seen monitors that look like a monitor on it's side, as in the length is more the width rather than the usual length < width comp monitors. Could I just get regular monitor, put it on it's side, and then adjust the picture so that it is rotated?

yes you can. i've never done it before, and I assume you have to make sure you can get a monitor that does this, but I have seen them in some of the labs.

 

[loveoforganic]

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