I am way excited about all of the internet research tools shown in class today, but at this point in my research process, none looks more beneficial than the bibliographic tools. I think at the moment I will stick with learning more about RefWorks simply because we have access through OSU libraries. I already have so many resources to search through, so having the ability to organize them and have references and citations created for me sounds fantastic.
I thought Zotero looked pretty cool also, but I do not have Firefox on my computer. What are the benefits to having Firefox? I've heard that it spreads fewer viruses (most likely because there aren't as many users right now as Internet Explorer), but are there are features that make it a worthwhile download? I don't have a Mac, so does it work just as well with PCs? Either way, I can't wait to get to using one of these to start organizing all of the references I've already accumulated.
The last thing that caught my eye was the mindmap software, VUE. I've always used mindmaps and other graphic organizers to bring my ideas into focus and having an online resource that organize thoughts, as well as pictures and other digital content, could be very helpful. I think using this tool (I hope!) could help me figure out exactly what my research question is since I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. Using VUE to see the "big picture" might help me to understand where my research is heading and move me toward it.
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Yes, I think you're right about a bib manager being your most important tool right now. It doesn't really matter which one you choose since I think they are all pretty darn similar. The reason people initially used firefox is because it is built on code that is supposed to be more "stable." I'm not sure what this means really, but my IT husband told me to use it, so I do (I know that's lame). I did notice that when I had a PC and used IE that it shut down on me quite a bit (but this still happens with firefox occasionally too). What I think people like now about firefox are all of the different plug-ins that are available (you can search under tools for all kinds, including zotero). But, really, IE and firefox do the same thing, which is get you to the internet. Maybe you should just get firefox and have it for the times you need it, but use IE as your main browser?
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