Comments on: How to write a better, less stressed lit review

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 01:29:00 +0000

In reply to Emily Agnew. Yes, I thought the idea of using coloured text was very clever. Full credit for that should go to Lisa Champion, not to me!

By: Emily Agnew

Emily Agnew — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:21:00 +0000

Daphne, thanks for this very helpful article. I have a long article coming up and will use your tracking record…and will play with the source color idea for future writing.

By: Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 23:49:00 +0000

In reply to Nan Solomons. Thanks for your concrete suggestions, Nan! That's pretty cool that the software will include the citation along with each highlight/note. I wish I had had this tool when I wrote my honours thesis back in 1979. I had to use a typewriter. It was brutal.

By: Nan Solomons

Nan Solomons — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 19:15:00 +0000

I am a big EndNote fan of to keep track my sources because I am not dependent on an Internet connection to pull sources. However, there are better tools for capturing notes from one’s readings. I’ve experimented with NVivo and DOCEAR but found them too cumbersome.

My favorite tool for highlighting text and making notes is Citavi. It’s open sources, free, and super easy to input data and to extract data. You “tag” your highlights to categories of your design and then you can get a list of all of your highlighting/notes by category. Each highlight/note includes the citation. Also, highlights can be attached to more than one tag.

I wish I had had this tool when I was writing my lit review!