Project: Look at each of the following tools, and evaluate following the steps below.

Outcome: Create an evaluation document describing each tool. 

Steps:

  1. Pick a tool from the list below and investigate it.
  2. If the tool is a citation management product, test it by importing records from Highwire, JSTOR, Inspec, Barton, Web of Science using the tool. 
  3. Write a brief description of what the tool is and what it does.
  4. Answer the questions below.
  5. Give a recommendation about whether you think this tool should be promoted at MIT.

Tools to evaluate:

Questions for evaluation:

  1. Is it a desktop or web application?
  2. Is it a free open source or fee-based program?
  3. How big is that learning curve? (How difficult is it to figure out?)
  4. How many steps to do a certain task (downloading records, exporting records, etc.)?
  5. How complete and clean are the records?
  6. How well does it cite web pages and non-traditional sources (ex. data sets, blogs)?
  7. Does it integrate with word processing software?
  8. How well does it handle full text?
  9. Does it store the pdf?
  10. Can you search & annotate the pdf?
  11. How many available citation formats are there?
  12. How customizable is it?
  13. How easy is it to maintain the collection when you have a lot of records?
  14. Is there any known use at MIT?
  15. Does it work with BibTeX?
  16. Does the application work well with our tools?
  17. Are there any other defining characteristics?
  18. Can you use it from off campus easily?
  19. Who created it?
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