Tracking and managing your research?

Peter Knupfer Discussion

One of H-Net’s original remits was to discuss ideas about new software and methods.  The past 15 years have seen a widespread expansion of web-based and standalone research and writing tools and resources.  The subject came up briefly in the author’s blog.  Over the past year I was on a volunteer beta team for Nota Bene v13, a 40-year-old suite that includes a word processor, a bibliographic database, a textbase (for searching), and a Z39.50 library catalog search/retrieval module.  That program changed my way of research and writing, and I discovered that hundreds of scholars had been using it, especially in the humanities. 

Scholars tend to lag in adapting to new technologies or tools. Given our dependence on computers and networks, I’m curious how much any of this has worked its way into the community that focuses on the Civil War era.  What software or web services do you use for managing and tracking your research (bibliographical management, note-taking, etc.) and writing?

Peter

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Hi, Peter. I've used Scrivener for several years, recently updating to V.3. It works on either Mac or Windows and has all sorts of features that make writing easier: document storage, hypertext links to notes and citations, even a fairly good synonym finger. I don't know how it compares to Nota Bene, but it serves my purpose (writing books) very well.