Academic referencing made (really) easy
I usually don't get excited over software. But an academic reference manager claiming to be "like iTunes" and turns out to be excactly that simple and intuitive, allowing me to stay organised in research and save hours of time, is almost to good to be true.
I was introduced to Sente by word on the street - the PhD street to be specific - and I have patiently waited for their next major update before purchasing it. A few days ago Third Street Software thus decided to release a public beta of Sente 6, which I have been testing since.
The interface is quite intuitive. I create a library for each project, and when I come across a new source I just drag and drop it into the library window. Sente will then attempt to find the reference for me, or allow me to search for the reference myself:
The articles are then copied into the library file, which allows me to throw away the downloaded files, usually named something obscure like "sdarticle-9707104011.pdf" from my download folder, and browse the articles inside Sente. The software further allows me to organise the library in a very iTunes-like fashion, including a rating system with the famous iTunes stars.
When I start writing the essay, report, dissertation or whatnot, I keep my Sente library open and drag and drop references into the document as I type. Then I just add {bibliography} wherever I want to put it and select a style (APA 5, obviously) to make Sente automatically convert all references for me.
I've only used five articles in this example library; the undergraduate edition of Sente allows up to 250. Postgraduate researchers need even more and as the library grows to huge sizes there are very powerful tools to keep it organised. But that's a different story. I could post screenshots of my dissertation library when I get there, but I presume the demand for it would be quite low. More examples and the software itself is available here. Unfortunately, Sente is available only for Mac users - those stuck with Windows will have to use Endnote.