What APA formatting software do you use?

[NHPilot]

What formatting software, (if any) do you use for papers. I use PERRLA because it's inexpensive and comes with 3 licenses. It works great for formatting, but I have been looking at others for the citation databases. Eazypaper looks good, but is expensive (subscription model) plus it's easy to use, but is simplistic.

I know Endnote is the "standard" but is also expensive, and looks hideously involved with a huge learning curve.

So what do you use?

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[AcronymAllergy]

I personally use Endnote, but only because I'm able to get a copy free through my university. Once that's no longer the case, I'm not quite sure what I'll switch to, but I'll definitely come back to this thread for some suggestions.

 

[Ollie123]

I wouldn't say Endnote is "hideously" involved, but its not straightforward. Like AA, I get it for "nearly" free ($10) through my university. I've heard good things about Mendeley, but haven't used it.

The major downside to Endnote is that it is SUPER buggy, and often leaves me wanting to throw my computer/their programming staff out a window. Unless they've patched it recently, it does not import DOI numbers correctly which means you have to fix the vast majority of them. It allows you to search online and automatically download articles. This would be nice if it friggin worked, but the only database it seems to link with properly is PubMed, it seems to only have about 1/10 chance of downloading the PDF properly. Even the search for some reason seems limited...I'm not sure if its PubMed that sucks (I usually use PsycInfo) or Endnote itself, but I've had it fail to find tons of articles I know are there, even when explicitly searching for them.

I keep meaning to try some new software, but much like my eternal good intentions of switching from SPSS to R for stats, I never find the time to actually sit down and learn it.

 

[NHPilot]

I say Endnote is "hideously" involved because it has about a gazzillion styles, downloads and add ons.....

PERRLA works well for me for formatting...but you have to manually enter citations into the local database....there is no collaborative database.

Eazypaper appears to have a collaborative database shared by all it's users, plus a library database.....but there don't seem to be a lot or reviews of it out there.

 

[mewtoo]

You should look at Mendeley. http://www.mendeley.com/

I just downloaded it and I'm going to play with it later, but it seems promising. Its free so what do you have to lose?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I wouldn't say Endnote is "hideously" involved, but its not straightforward. Like AA, I get it for "nearly" free ($10) through my university. I've heard good things about Mendeley, but haven't used it.

The major downside to Endnote is that it is SUPER buggy, and often leaves me wanting to throw my computer/their programming staff out a window. Unless they've patched it recently, it does not import DOI numbers correctly which means you have to fix the vast majority of them. It allows you to search online and automatically download articles. This would be nice if it friggin worked, but the only database it seems to link with properly is PubMed, it seems to only have about 1/10 chance of downloading the PDF properly. Even the search for some reason seems limited...I'm not sure if its PubMed that sucks (I usually use PsycInfo) or Endnote itself, but I've had it fail to find tons of articles I know are there, even when explicitly searching for them.

I keep meaning to try some new software, but much like my eternal good intentions of switching from SPSS to R for stats, I never find the time to actually sit down and learn it.

Like Ollie mentioned, I've also heard good things about Mendeley.

As for EndNote's bugginess, yeah, I've given up using its article search function. I just download the citations and manually import them into my citation collections at this point. The DOIs look to have all remained intact that way. I think this'll sometimes lead to the authors' initials not being formatted correctly, though.

 

[Pragma]

Software? Whatever happened to just typing it up?

I'm oldschool. I cut and paste references I use often and type in new ones.

 

[deadmau5]

yeah my previous supervisor - everything was typed, we had no software.

this time around though we have a campus license for EndNote, I have to say I've gotten used to it's quirks and it is really helpful. there are a ton of settings you can play around with to make it spit out exactly what you are looking for.

 

[dumbledoresgirl]

software? Whatever happened to just typing it up?

I'm oldschool. I cut and paste references i use often and type in new ones.

+1

 

[FadedC]

I'm a pretty big fan of PERRLA too. It's not perfect, but it's cheap and very user friendly.

PERRLA works well for me for formatting...but you have to manually enter citations into the local database....there is no collaborative database.

.

 

[JeyRo]

That's such a waste of time and can be prone to errors depending on which citation style you have to use. Additionally, the beautiful thing about citation software is that you can change the entire reference style of a document in a few clicks. Super handy for submitting to a different journal, etc.

I never even knew there was such a thing as citation software until now.

 

[NHPilot]

I never even knew there was such a thing as citation software until now.

The software is great. Like a said I use PERRLA and it works really well. It's very inexpensive as well....something like 40 bucks for 3 licenses. It works on Mac also.

And a big thanks to those who recommended Mendeley......awesome stuff....I tried it out and immediately started using it. I am doing a paper about gifted adolescents and it imports everything, article, cites, bib, etc. directly from Sage. I think it will work great with PERRLA!

 

[Psychadelic2012]

Software? Whatever happened to just typing it up?

I'm oldschool. I cut and paste references I use often and type in new ones.

I never even knew there was such a thing as citation software until now.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I had no idea this existed. Makes my writing, thus far, that much more of an accomplishment, I'd say!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I definitely wrote my thesis and first couple articles in grad school (as well as pretty much every paper for my classes) without any kind of reference management software. I then started using it for my comp exam paper, and was hooked. As has been mentioned, perhaps the single greatest advantage it offers is the ability to switch between various citation styles, which can be particularly helpful if you switch from a journal that uses APA to one that prefers numbered citations, for example.

It requires a decent amount of work on the front end inputting/importing references, but if you write in the same topic area(s) pretty consistently, then once your database is built, it's ridiculously easy to maintain.

 

[aagman01]

I used End Note throughout grad school, including with my dissertation that I am defending shortly. End Note was a life saver. The only "glitch" I had was with an improper multi-author citation - it involved a fix that took about 30 seconds total by formatting "off-line"
after I had completed the paper.

What formatting software, (if any) do you use for papers. I use PERRLA because it's inexpensive and comes with 3 licenses. It works great for formatting, but I have been looking at others for the citation databases. Eazypaper looks good, but is expensive (subscription model) plus it's easy to use, but is simplistic.

I know Endnote is the "standard" but is also expensive, and looks hideously involved with a huge learning curve.

So what do you use?

 

[bmedclinic]

I use Mendeley to sort my journal articles but imo it's not been great for the actual references, citations, etc. For me, it's just easier to do that myself. Also, I'm a FOSS advocate and so paying for software makes me pretty sick. Just my deal, though. At least Mendeley is usable on all platforms.

 

[EmotRegulation]

I've been using Mendeley for about a year now, and so far I quite like it for database storage. I like that it can be used across multiple computers (home, work) and that citations can be shared with others. It also saves a copy of the PDFs and allows a lot of note-taking, which is awesome. Plus you can basically just add files to your library and it imports all the salient information (note: you will want to verify, as it sometimes makes mistakes).

As someone else said, though, I'm not sure how great it is for actual reference section formatting. I've been old school (copy/pasting/typing in myself) and only recently delved into letting some software do its thing. Provided the reference is imported correctly to begin with, it seems to work fine.

Plus....free!

 

[wigflip]

The only "glitch" I had was with an improper multi-author citation - it involved a fix that took about 30 seconds total by formatting "off-line"
after I had completed the paper.

We had this on one paper as well: several of our references kept getting automatically changed because Endnote had them wrong.

 

[Pragma]

That's such a waste of time and can be prone to errors depending on which citation style you have to use. Additionally, the beautiful thing about citation software is that you can change the entire reference style of a document in a few clicks. Super handy for submitting to a different journal, etc.

Fair enough - and I may get on board eventually. But it seemed like too much work (and another reason to procrastinate academic tasks) when I was in school.

However, they are only good if you use them appropriately. I can't tell you how many undergraduate students I have had that used software incorrectly and the references come out as a mess. Obviously that shouldn't be a problem for a savvy researcher, but automating everything can sometimes create other problems as well.

I have friends that swear by it. But I am old school (by my standards). At least these aren't the days when "cut and paste" literally mean "cut" and "paste" from the typewriter.

 

[Goobernut]

So from reading this thread, I ended up choosing Mendeley and have been using it for about a year now. I mostly chose it mostly because it gets good reviews overall and is free However, a lot of the projects I've been working on lately are small scale. I would really like the ability to throw a single reference in a document (or email, or google doc, or pages) without in-text citations. So maybe I don't know how to use the Mendeley software properly, but I have not found a way to copy and paste a single reference without first tagging an in-text citation. Also, it only works with Word is that correct? I have no problem using it with my longer length papers since I use Word for those, but maybe I'm missing something? Or can anyone elaborate on how the other software handles pasting a single reference. Obviously for often used stuff I've been copying and pasting from my previous works etc.

Mostly I'm dedicated to the idea of reference management software because I love technology, but I really feel like there is a more efficient way (than just storing them in a folder) to review my library of articles and tag them for future review or highlight often used stats/findings. PDF management software tends to be a lot slower (iannotate etc) to load.

 

[Existenz]

There's really no compelling reason not to use endnote. It's pretty standard and most universities give you a free copy.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Fair enough - and I may get on board eventually. But it seemed like too much work (and another reason to procrastinate academic tasks) when I was in school.

However, they are only good if you use them appropriately. I can't tell you how many undergraduate students I have had that used software incorrectly and the references come out as a mess. Obviously that shouldn't be a problem for a savvy researcher, but automating everything can sometimes create other problems as well.

I have friends that swear by it. But I am old school (by my standards). At least these aren't the days when "cut and paste" literally mean "cut" and "paste" from the typewriter.

I agree with you on this. I attempted to use a software program to manage my references once and it didn't format correctly and even after the learning curve and setup time it still wouldn't save me much time. I find it much easier to manage them myself in a word doc. If software works for you, great, but be careful because sometimes extra help like that creates extra work.

 

[researchgirl]

A lot of journals now have an End Note style file you can download, so that you can be sure to use their specific style when submitting publications. I find that enormously helpful!

 

[clip.clop]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I had no idea this existed. Makes my writing, thus far, that much more of an accomplishment, I'd say!

Same here.

I've tried EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero, and years later haven't been compelled to use any of them regularly. The amount of work you put in up front to make sure the software isn't messing things up is ridiculous. Especially now that I can easily get near-perfect references from a quick search in Google Scholar.

Plus, it all depends on your collaborators. Unless everyone is using the same software in the same manner, it's just too much of a messy waste of time. I've found plenty of errors in the way all sorts of software(s) format things. I can honestly say I've yet to see EndNote, much less Mendeley or Zotero, format something 100% correctly unless I'm the only person handling the document (which is hardly ever the case).

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I don't use them regularly, but I can say that the one time they're particularly useful is when you're having to change between citation/reference list styles, especially if you're going from something like APA to one that requires numbering (either by order that they appear in the text, or by their alphabetical order in the references list).

Going through and changing that all by hand is horrible, and is made worse if it's a numbered system and you end up having to go back later to move things around again (and thus risk needing to re-number the whole paper).

 

[clip.clop]

Out of curiosity, what features would a program need to have/what would have to include or be able to do in order for you (not just the most recent poster, but everyone) to use it regularly?

 

[Mad Jack]

APA formatting, ugh...

Good to know there's programs out there for it nowadays.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Out of curiosity, what features would a program need to have/what would have to include or be able to do in order for you (not just the most recent poster, but everyone) to use it regularly?

If I could just copy the citation from where I found it and paste it in and it could tell what all the info was and put it in the right place every time, then I would use it all day long. It's been awhile since I have tried any software so maybe it's out there. If so, I'll try it next time i have a paper or presentation that needs citations.