Best Device for Reading PDFs

[masqingtape]

Hi all!

I'll be starting my Master's program in just a few weeks and I'm wondering what kind of device is best for reading PDFs. These PDFs will most likely be chapters from scanned books as well as long, downloaded articles. How do you take on PDFs? With an e-reader? iPad? Something else? If you know of something that works for you, I would love to know the basic specs for your device and which apps you use to read the PDFs (if any).

For my purposes, printing out and handwriting annotations is best - and doable now that I have graduate printing privileges - but I still want to keep all my PDFs together and easily accessible/readable on a certain device. I can read the PDFs on my PC but I'd really like something that fits in my hands a little better.

Thank you! 

 

[BabyScientist]

I like my 2 in 1 laptop for that. I load all relevant pdfs into one note, where I can annotate them as I please and keep them organized. 

[E-P]

For my MA, I used Evernote.  I've now switched over to Mendeley for the PhD.  If I had stayed in industry, or were planning on staying in industry, I'd've stuck with Evernote.

[PokePsych]

Definitely save them in a reference manager! It will also allow you to make notes, highlight parts of the paper, etc. I also put them in folders and give them keywords so I can search for relevant papers easily in the future. For this reason, I use my laptop or PC to read them.

I used to use mendeley, now switched to EndNote because I like the sorting and search functions better. There are cracked versions online - but you don't have that from me. Your uni will be able to get you a 'real' version anyway. 

If you prefer to print them, you could consider scanning them and uploading them. But definitely start building your own 'library' of papers, it's going to help you in the end.