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Faculty Overview of Evidence Informed Practice (EIP): Info Management

Tips & Techniques for Keeping up with Research

Components of an Information Management System

An efficient information storage and retrieval system will not only help you through the next few years but also facilitate a smooth transition to clinical practice.

Many highly functional, free and fee-based info management programs are available, but none of them does it all. Your system will work best if it has a mix of tools, including:

  • Individual database accounts: Most major databases have a feature that allows you to set up an account to save your searches and selected studies, for example PubMed's MyNCBI.
  • Note taking and archiving resources: Primarily used for creating and managing your notes, e.g. for classes, your Clinic Notebook, and saving clips (parts) of websites; examples: Evernote, Voodoo, and One Note. See the BU Student Council videos for more specific information.
  • Research managers/PDF organizers: Save, organize and annotate research articles with your own notes and highlights. Some tools, such as Mendeley, also provide a social component that lets you share studies and explore those that others have found.

Top Info Management Systems

Unless you are already using a product like EndNote, we suggust you use Mendeley as your reference manager. Mendely functions as a PDF organizer, and academic social network; it allows you to highlight sections of a PDF and insert your own comments (!). Available as a free version (allows you to save about 3,000 pdfs), and also in fee-based versions (with more storage). Available for Macs, PCs and mobile devices. See the sub-tab, Mendeley How-To Videos for details of Mendeley's features.

http://www.endnote.com/

Search databases and the web, save citations and/or full text articles, organize them in your own way, cite as you write to automatically create bibliographies for your papers ... Watch this video: How to use EndNote in 7 minutes. (Really.)

One-time purchase; student rate, approx. $115.00.

 

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