How do YOU organize copied (paper) journal articles?

[riverteeth]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I'm finishing up my fifth year of grad school (history), but I've still failed to hit upon a satisfactory system for organizing all of the copied (paper) journal articles / book sections that accumulate like little mountains all over my appartment.

I'm very much looking foward to the day when an affordable e-ink e-reader will be available that allows for practicle notetaking, but till then, I'm still a slave to the copy machine. I just can't organize my thoughts as well reading a pdf on my laptop.

My system now is this: If I determine an article to be worthy of holding on to, i.e. there's at least a small chance I'll want to cite or refer to it in the future, I first enter it into Endnote (bibliography software, as most of you know I'm sure), compete with keywords, abstract, etc. If I want to read it carefully, I'll definitely print or copy it, mark it up, and organize some notes in a word doc. Then I file the paper copy in a hanging file folder, organized by author. That way, when I need to refer to, cite, or re-read the article later, I can search for it in Endnote and look at my notes on my computer, then find the paper copy filed away.

So what do some of you do?

Thanks!

Edited June 25, 2010 by riverteeth

[Riotbeard]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I'm finishing up my fifth year of grad school (history), but I've still failed to hit upon a satisfactory system for organizing all of the copied (paper) journal articles / book sections that accumulate like little mountains all over my appartment.

I'm very much looking foward to the day when an affordable e-ink e-reader will be available that allows for practicle notetaking, but till then, I'm still a slave to the copy machine. I just can't organize my thoughts as well reading a pdf on my laptop.

My system now is this: If I determine an article to be worthy of holding on to, i.e. there's at least a small chance I'll want to cite or refer to it in the future, I first enter it into Endnote (bibliography software, as most of you know I'm sure), compete with keywords, abstract, etc. If I want to read it carefully, I'll definitely print or copy it, mark it up, and organize some notes in a word doc. Then I file the paper copy in a hanging file folder, organized by author. That way, when I need to refer to, cite, or re-read the article later, I can search for it in Endnote and look at my notes on my computer, then find the paper copy filed away.

So what do some of you do?

Thanks!

I have plastic hanging file trunks (about a foot cubed) where I organize them by subject/project, same with photocopies of primary sources, etc. I am trying to get more digital despite the fact that I hate reading off a computer, so I usually read, mark on the article, and transcribe the notes, etc. It's a pain but it forces me review what I just read.

[poco_puffs]

I just spent this morning sorting through some of those very plastic hanging-file boxes that Riotbeard mentioned, with the hopes of getting rid of some of the stuff I've accumulated during my undergrad (with the hopes of referencing it in grad school and career later on). Alas, I didn't get rid of very much, but I did have a chance to review my system and make some changes. I'll keep boxes for things organized by subject (grouped in kind, probably, but maybe alphabetized) and separate boxes for things organized by period (chronological, methinks). It's a modified system of how I organize my books in their shelves, and I'm silly proud of how organized my books are.

I'm also thinking of keeping handwritten (thus easily changed) summary sheets for each large folder or an entire box so I can pull it out and easily reference whether what I need will be in that folder or box. Authors or subjects that have an obvious need for placement in one or more boxes could just get a note on that summary sheet.

I'm an English Lit gal, though, so I don't know how a system like that would work for something outside of the humanities.

I also struggle with reading PDFs. I'm a very visual person, but I think the physical act of handling the page and writing notes, as opposed to just typing them in a margin box, helps tack the information into my brain. Of course keeping all my books and notes has created a huge quantity of heavy, flammable, dusty material that I have to move from apartment to apartment, but there's something comforting about, say, remembering an article that might be helpful and being able to find it in my own archives as opposed to just finding a copy online or borrowing through the library.

[Riotbeard]

I just spent this morning sorting through some of those very plastic hanging-file boxes that Riotbeard mentioned, with the hopes of getting rid of some of the stuff I've accumulated during my undergrad (with the hopes of referencing it in grad school and career later on). Alas, I didn't get rid of very much, but I did have a chance to review my system and make some changes. I'll keep boxes for things organized by subject (grouped in kind, probably, but maybe alphabetized) and separate boxes for things organized by period (chronological, methinks). It's a modified system of how I organize my books in their shelves, and I'm silly proud of how organized my books are.

I'm also thinking of keeping handwritten (thus easily changed) summary sheets for each large folder or an entire box so I can pull it out and easily reference whether what I need will be in that folder or box. Authors or subjects that have an obvious need for placement in one or more boxes could just get a note on that summary sheet.

I'm an English Lit gal, though, so I don't know how a system like that would work for something outside of the humanities.

I also struggle with reading PDFs. I'm a very visual person, but I think the physical act of handling the page and writing notes, as opposed to just typing them in a margin box, helps tack the information into my brain. Of course keeping all my books and notes has created a huge quantity of heavy, flammable, dusty material that I have to move from apartment to apartment, but there's something comforting about, say, remembering an article that might be helpful and being able to find it in my own archives as opposed to just finding a copy online or borrowing through the library.

Humanities people are just one step away from having stacks of newspapers in their garage, haha.

[poco_puffs]

Humanities people are just one step away from having stacks of newspapers in their garage, haha.

So so so so true.

However, my current goal before I move is to continue making epic trips to Goodwill and recycling whatever old papers I can stand to get rid of. I got rid of 60 books, a gigantic box of clothing, and lots of odds and ends last week. Even though we'll be in a bigger place in the new town, I really am not looking forward to carting any more junk between cities than I absolutely must.

[LockeOak]

I ditched the papers entirely and bought a tablet PC for this purpose. That way you can write on the screen to mark up papers, and you always have your entire library with you. I travel a fair bit and it's much easier this way. I've also found Mendeley works better than EndNote in many ways (a Mac equivalent is a program called Papers).

[Postbib Yeshuist]

I've started asking for a PDF copy an I've been surprised how often that's been OK. There are still the odd paper packets, but most of the time they're from a book or journal I can access easily enough, so I read them through, take a few notes, then recycle. I hate paper.

Edited July 3, 2010 by Postbib Yeshuist

[hejduk]

Why is 'Google' viewing this topic??

Clarification? After reading through this thread, I'm unsure what your question means.

My thoughts on the thread: i'm a packrat when it comes to analog vs digital as well. I much prefer physical papers, but am attempting to find a method that works for me. I think I"ll get an Ipad, where I can view PDFs, mark them up as well, and then also utilize dropbox between my laptop and Ipad when I need to sync notes, etc.

I haven't really made the commitment to any one program yet (Endnote, etc), but I'm damn sure I need to before my PhD program starts this fall. I've been looking into Zotero and the like, but still haven't figured out what is the best. I'm hesitant against cloud storage, but wonder if there is a program that allows you to store both locally and in the cloud. I just don't trust having my database of PDFs on some random server that can crash and never to be found again.

[Behavioral]

Clarification? After reading through this thread, I'm unsure what your question means.

My thoughts on the thread: i'm a packrat when it comes to analog vs digital as well. I much prefer physical papers, but am attempting to find a method that works for me. I think I"ll get an Ipad, where I can view PDFs, mark them up as well, and then also utilize dropbox between my laptop and Ipad when I need to sync notes, etc.

I haven't really made the commitment to any one program yet (Endnote, etc), but I'm damn sure I need to before my PhD program starts this fall. I've been looking into Zotero and the like, but still haven't figured out what is the best. I'm hesitant against cloud storage, but wonder if there is a program that allows you to store both locally and in the cloud. I just don't trust having my database of PDFs on some random server that can crash and never to be found again.

Most of my papers are digital since I have an extremely large (around 400 papers from my two honors theses in undergrad and my summer reading list so far), so tagging keywords is a must when I want to reference something (Mendeley is also great for this).

For my physical documents, I first separate into two piles (read and unread). From there, I have to go on my computer and create an archival/retrieval system where I write out the citation (or use Endnote) and then write a few keywords there so I could later reference it with a CTRL+F function rather than read each and every abstract again. From there, I just sort alphabetically by first author's last name.

[goldielocks]

Well, my system isn't really polished yet so this thread has gotten my gears turning.

Right now, I organize my articles either in binders or in my filing cabinet. I dedicate binders to individual papers/thesis chapters. The main articles I'm drawing from (or at least the ones I'm using most at the moment) go in my binder for that paper. All others go in my filing cabinet, grouped into hanging files, by project/topic.

[ZeeMore21]

Thankful for this thread! I will be starting a PhD program this fall so I really am thinking about how to organize future articles. I'm still wondering if I will eventually go digital, I'm still not entirely comfortable with computers since my last computer crashed and I ended up losing important documents.

[ktel]

I'm thinking I'm going to do some combo of digital and paper. Digital is certainly easier to organize and retrieve articles, however I like being able to physically highlight certain sections and write in the margins for important papers.

[juilletmercredi]

I can't deal with all of the freaking paper. I was printing things out all over the place and I had so much paper. I don't have enough space for it all, nor did I really have the room for the file cabinet I kept saying I was going to get. So I recycled it all and I am on a completely electronic system, with my articles saved on my computer and backed up on Dropbox. I take notes in a Word document. I'm trying to get more sophisticated, especially since I'll begin my dissertation work in earnest soon. I'm getting an iPad and using a note-taking program like Evernote to take notes on the tablet and sync them between my computers (work and home) and the tablet. Plus entering articles electronically into Zotero is so much easier than doing it manually - at least in my field, since we don't generally have to step foot in a library at all - and organizing electronic files is easier than organizing paper files, AND I read articles far more quickly on the computer/electronically than I do on paper.

I know that doesn't help you. FWIW when I had paper before I got fed up, I stored it in manila folders in plastic hanging file boxes just like the first commenter here. They were very poorly organized. My plan was to buy a big file cabinet (Office Max sells some pretty affordable ones - at least the hanging kind) and all of those hanging folders, and then organize them by author's last name. I'd enter it first, read it, make my notes/marks/whatever, and then file it. You can also put your notes into Endnote in the notes section - a little summary or the abstract of the paper so you know what you are looking for, so you don't have to have a zillion documents open.

I always am awed by you humanities folks.

Hejduk, I love Zotero for many reasons, so I recommend it. I can't stand EndNote. And you can use Dropbox to simultaneously store your papers on the cloud and on your hard drive. What I do is I simply organize my things on my hard drive, then when I'm done saving new articles I copy the entire folder into my Dropbox, or I just copy the new articles if there are only a few of them.

[hejduk]

I always am awed by you humanities folks.

Ha! I'm afraid to ask, but why not. Why are you awed by "humanities folks"?

Hejduk, I love Zotero for many reasons, so I recommend it. I can't stand EndNote. And you can use Dropbox to simultaneously store your papers on the cloud and on your hard drive. What I do is I simply organize my things on my hard drive, then when I'm done saving new articles I copy the entire folder into my Dropbox, or I just copy the new articles if there are only a few of them.

Awesome! I've got another thread bookmarked that deals with Zotero vs Mendeley (I think that's the other online bib program, right?), but I"m always interested in getting more info. I have the same workflow for using Dropbox (organizing on HDD, and then copying to Dropbox), so I'll take a serious look at Zotero.

How long goes it take to get comfortable with Zotero? Pretty easy to get used to it? Endnote, IMHO, is just horribly complicated.

[neuropsych76]

I have no idea how to organize copied paper in journal articles. When I did my honors thesis in undergrad I had a huge binder with tons of papers in it. I tried to keep them organized by topic and relevance but it ended up being a huge mess of folded/missing/ripped articles that were completely unorganized.

So I told myself, if I had this much trouble organizing papers in undergrad, it could only get worse in grad school. So I've decided to go digital. I obtained an Ipad to store and read all of my articles. I plan on taking notes on my laptop (and keeping backups of my articles). I'll be using nice apps like dropbox, and a pdf editor as well. Hopefully this works!!

[natsteel]

I use Papers on my Mac to manage my PDFs. When I have an article or book chapter I photocopied, I scan it to PDF and put it in. With Papers, I can search the full-text (or just the title and abstracts) of all my PDFs and I have over 1600. It's also a citation manager so I have basically given up on EndNote, except when I need to share libraries with someone.

[runonsentence]

I too can't read articles carefully enough on a screen. Especially heavy theory—I need a paper copy I can feel at my fingertips, and I mark the crap out of them—both underlining and marginalia. I seldom take additional notes (apart from my seminar discussion notes on class readings), so I at least only have the articles themselves to organize.

I print all my articles double-sided so that they take up less space, and then I three-hole punch them and put them in binders. Because I'm still in coursework, the binders are right now organized by seminar; as time marches onward, I'm sure I'll re-organize and go alphabetical. I can't stand the thought of moving a heavy filing cabinet from apartment to apartment, but hanging folders in a cabinet is sounding really appealing. (Especially when some of my readings are scans from books provided by an instructor and the nature of the margins means that three-hole punches will cut off some of the text.)

[Red Bull]

I have adopted a paperless (in theory) filing system. If I feel like I need to keep any photocopied or printed materials I will scan them into my computer and save them on my internal and external hard drives. This is especially helpful with heavily annotated journal articles that I want to keep. I then recycle the original. While I do prefer reading and writing notes on hard copies, if it is important enough (a rare occasion) I will reprint them so I have them on hand. I do however keep hard copies of items with sentimental value, for example, papers from undergraduate conferences or assignments that the professor wrote something special on. I keep these in hanging files in a couple of clear plastic "rubbermaid style" tubs. One of these days I will get around to mastering digital annotation and hopefully eliminate the need for using paper copies at all.

*While rereading my post I felt it is important to mention one thing. Scanning material does take time that most grad students probably don't want to take on. I tend to scan during down time while watching a movie/television. It works for me and it may work for other grads on this board but not for everyone.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Red Bull

[Strangefox]

I'm still wondering if I will eventually go digital, I'm still not entirely comfortable with computers since my last computer crashed and I ended up losing important documents.

That is not a problem if you use back-ups. I am using several general back-ups (on my other computer, external hard drive, Google Docs) and re-save online the most important files every time I change them. Sounds like a hassle, but this way I am sure that my files and documents are safe. I believe it's easier to organize files in a digital form.

[Eigen]

I have Endnote X2 now, and I like it a lot- the main problem has been using it on my iPad.

With the upgrades in X4 and X5 (the ability to collect metadata from a folder of PDFs, and the ability to upload all your attached documents/organization to Endnote Web respectively), I'm going to upgrade and stick with it. Also, the new Endnote X5 allows the viewing, annotation of, and editing of, PDFs from within Endnote itself, which will be great.

It's great for writing and organizing references, and now with the ability to back up my library (including documents) to Endnote Web and annotate the PDFs within the program, I'm not going to any of the others.

I also really like how easy it is to have one library (I keep mine on Dropbox) that then syncs and opens well on any of my computers. Any changes immediately push through to my other computers, so I'm always dealing with the same references and files on each computer.

[MoJingly]

I was just about to ask this question, so I'm glad somebody already did!

I think I have my system figured out. I'm going to use Mendeley, but then print out the articles that are either really important or hard for me to grasp (since it's easier to get info off a physical copy for me). Then, in Mendeley, I'm going to make a note that I printed this article, and then I'm going to make a note of where I stored it. (For example, the paper I just printed is going to go in the "Rotation #1" binder).