Using Evernote for PhD-work

[Bidel 0]

Dear All, 

I am looking for a card system, an archive system to keep my notes for PhD-research, to easily retrieve them, combine and so on. Is Evernote is the right one for this or do you advice me another system? Thank you.  

[DTLow 5,736]

On 2017-10-05 at 1:24 AM, Bidel said:

I am looking for a card system, an archive system to keep my notes for PhD-research, to easily retrieve them, combine and so on. Is Evernote is the right one for this or do you advice me another system? Thank you.  

I think Evernote excels at "to easily retrieve"
There is extensive search features; notes are listed in a simple title index, with snippet and card options
Content is ocr'd and indexed for searching.
Notes can be tagged for easy acess

I archive notes by assigning an "Archive" tag
Notes are linkable; There is a merge function on the Mac/Win platforms

You should create a free account and try out the features

Evernote includes an editor that's adequate for basic notes but I don't consider it a replacement for a dedicated word processor app
I use Word/Pages and attach the documents to a note
Evernote allows any format file to be added as an attachment.  Office/iWork/pdf/image documents are included in the search index

[DrFrankBuck 554]

Bidel, Evernote is exactly the right software to organize your notes. Wish I had it 20 years ago when I did my dissertation. I suggest your research project be a STACK and each chapter in your project be a NOTEBOOK. Each entry will be a NOTE. Use TAGS to identify the to[ic for each note.  

[Lexbrkly 17]

Hi, 

I had this discussion lately. I prefer citavi for my PhD work, since it integrates with word, meaning citation is much easier. 

However, if you work on a Mac and/or don't need the citation feature, Evernote should work. 

It's the old dicsussion of Notebooks v tags, but you could have your whole thesis structure replicated by tags (e.g. Introduction - main part - conclusion) with hierarchical subtags, which would give you the option to use a note containing the source (a pdf file for example) and tag it according to where in your phd you'll use the source. 

 

Regards 

Alex 

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, Lexbrkly said:

I prefer citavi for my PhD work, since it integrates with word, meaning citation is much easier. 

 However, if you work on a Mac and/or don't need the citation feature, Evernote should work.

My notes in Evernote contain files of many formats including MS Word.  If that's a format you need to use, it's supported in Evernote.

[Lexbrkly 17]

3 hours ago, DTLow said:

My notes in Evernote contain files of many formats including MS Word.  If that's a format you need to use, it's supported in Evernote.

Hi DTLow, 

Sorry if I expressed myself unclearly.

What I meant was that with citavi, I have the option in word to insert the citation of the text as a footnote, the form of the citation being related to what kind of text (e.g. article, judgment etc.) it is. Meaning the citation of the text is the same throughout the document and I can change it later as well. It's a bit off-topic, check out a description of citavi if I am still unclear. 

Cheers 

Alex

[JayF 30]

On 10/5/2017 at 4:24 AM, Bidel said:

Dear All, 

I am looking for a card system, an archive system to keep my notes for PhD-research, to easily retrieve them, combine and so on. Is Evernote is the right one for this or do you advice me another system? Thank you.  

Hi Bidel,

Like others on this forum,  I agree that Evernote (as well as other apps) can help as you work on your dissertation.  Since there is life after completing your doctoral studies, I would urge you to develop a knowledge management strategy that will allow you to use what you read and write during your coursework and research as you continue your post-doc career.  I worked on team a few years ago that developed some suggestions for grad students for organizing and synthesizing your information in Evernote.  The link to the site is:  http://evernoteaturi.wikispaces.com/

Good luck with your studies!

Jay Fogleman

[NLGsy 1]

I use and recommend Evernote to everyone in my courses. I have a stack named School and sub-notebooks for various things like Notes for improvement, Resources/Bibliography, Research Coding, and Research Nodes just to name a few. I am able to update it with ideas on my dissertation no matter where I am. I love the app on my phone and computer. There is so much I use Evernote for. 

[DTLow 5,736]

14 minutes ago, NLGsy said:

I have a stack named School and sub-notebooks for various things like Notes for improvement, Resources/Bibliography, Research Coding, and Research Nodes just to name a few

Take a look at the tags feature    
- max 100,000 tags   
- hierarchy for unlimited levels   
- multiple tag assignments supported for a note

[PinkElephant 8,095]

I completely agree - tags are the core of bringing structure into an EN database, not notebooks.

What may help a lot concerning research and teaching are saved searches. This will allow to retrieve information easily and without rethinking over and again what you are looking for. Saved searches can be modified to serve as templates for similar search jobs. They work great if combined with tagged notes.

[Bidel 0]

Thank you all for your valuable information! I really appreciate this. 

May be you can help me with the following questions as well: 

I want to write my dissertation in Evernote and use "incitations" like in Word and at the end produce bibliography and references from Evernote. Is this possible. Can I integrate the functions of Evernote and Endnote in one?

Thanks. 

[DTLow 5,736]

15 minutes ago, Bidel said:

I want to write my dissertation in Evernote and use "incitations" like in Word and at the end produce bibliography and references from Evernote. Is this possible. Can I integrate the functions of Evernote and Endnote in one?

Evernote provides a note editor   
This is not word processing quality and the format is enml (basically html)

i suggest you require a word processing editor like MS Word or Apple Pages   
The document can be store in Evernote as a note attachment

[JeremyDowell 0]

Evernote is a perfect way for a study driver, and for what you want to do. I have been saving in Word format some essays and docs of Ph.D. importance for already a year. I work on https://studydriver.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/ and, therefore, I have frequently to work with Evernote. So you have to entrust it to keep your documents because it is safe, and is out of documents' danger of disappearance.

[Clare42 1]

I use Evernote for many of my works, and it's my huge helper

[FredMoore 0]

That's why I actually got it. Now for my Phd. but for other writings. It's indeed a huge helper, and it's good to have all the info you need in one place