Higher Education Administration: Managing

Organizing as you Search

EndNote X9 - the most recent version that has been licensed by UAB.  You can get started by checking out this research guide on EndNote.

"Research" accounts - almost every database gives you the option of creating an account. For more information click here.

Zotero - a free tool that many researchers swear by.   Reportedly, the plug-in for the browser works really well.

Notebook - research shows we remember more when we write it down.  (Thank goodness because my handwriting is atrocious.)

Organizing as you Read

As you do research, keep track of your sources, and organize them into groups.  You might group them based on common methods, research question or findings. 

• source information you will need to write your references
• claims and/or main findings
• methods (if important)
• assumptions authors have made (which you might agree with or find infuriating)
• page numbers and content of phrases or statistics you might want to quote/cite