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Reference Management Software for NWP

Posted: 2020-04-29 13:02:50
by jrochest
Hi all -- I'm sure this is a stupid and ignorant question but I can't get a currently helpful answer from a forum search -- I get answers from 2009 -2014, but NWP is different now.

So.

What reference managers (ie, bibliographic managers) can I use with NWP? I'm currently using NWP 3.0.4.

I'm an old-school academic who has never made the jump to an RMS -- largely because Endnote, Zotero and Refworks are all integrated with Word, which I hate and only use when I have to. My dissertation and early papers are in Word Perfect, and since 2005 my book manuscripts and papers are mostly in NWP. I really REALLY don't want to be forced to use Word -- which has improved since the year 2000 but is still loathsome.

I now HAVE to choose and install one of these fsck and I'm not looking forward to it. Are the standard ones (Endnote, Zotero, etc) compatible with NWP? Or would I have to use Bookends, which seems to be the only one that's available for NWP?

Am I stuck with an incompatible RMS or do I have to stop using my favorite word processor?

please help

joanne

Re: Reference Management Software for NWP

Posted: 2020-05-01 12:54:06
by Þorvarður
Hi joanne
Or would I have to use Bookends, which seems to be the only one that's available for NWP?
It's not the only one available, but it's the best available. If quality is a criterion then Bookends wins hands down.
Are the standard ones (Endnote, Zotero, etc) compatible with NWP?
Yes, but they are not tightly integrated with NWP as Bookends is. Take a look at Tools > Bibliography and you'll see that there are 6 commands available in NWP which directly interact with Bookends. This means you can enter references into NWP and format the final paper much faster and more straight forward than if you use EndNote or Zotero.
Another point in favor of Bookends is the proverbial good support. Ask a question in the Bookends forum and you will receive an answer within minutes directly from the developer himself. Bookends is updated on a regular monthly (!) basis. Send a feature request to the forum, and the chances are high that you'll find the feature in the next version. It's hard not to go into raptures when one thinks about Bookends support. -- There is also an iOS app available.

As far as the others are concerned, I see no reason why a Nisus user should use EndNote. Keep in mind though, that EndNote and Zotero allow you additionally to create online library groups to share information with colleagues and others who are working on the same projects as you.

Zotero, although free, comes with a high price: the current Mac version (v5.0.85) can't format your RTF paper if it finds diacritics or umlauts in the reference! I don't know how long it takes to fix such bugs in Zotero.

Papers works only with MS Word and, according to an email they sent me, they have no plans to support anything else. Sente is dead.

Finally I would like to mention Litlink. Wissensmanagementsystem für Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften
[2022-07-10: Invalid link removed. Current link is now: https://litlink.nbusch.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3]
It has been around for 20 years and is free. The development was financed by the University of Zürich/Switzerland. It's based on FileMaker Pro, but you don't need FileMaker to run it. It was already very impressive when I checked it out a few years ago. If I remember right, the program is available in both German and English.

Update 2022-07-23: Litlink is dead. :–(

I now HAVE to choose and install one of these fsck and I'm not looking forward to it.
Don't you worry, it's actually fun to work with Bookends. Be prepared though to spend considerable amount of time learning how to use it to the fullest. The time you'll need depends largely on the reference style you are going to use, which in turn depends on your field of study. Bookends comes with many pre-formatted (English) styles. Maybe you can use one of them, and then you are already ready to go when you first launch the program. However, if you write in another language than English or your reference style is an exotic one, then you'll have to tweak the style that comes closest to it, or use the Format Manager to create your own style from scratch, and that can sometimes be a daunting task.

What's the name of the reference style you are going to use?