Real student research projects provide project based learning opportunities, that provide opportunities for students to develop student learning autonomy, to become independent researchers, enquirers and learners (Winn ,1995; Ritchie and Rigano, 1996). The Literature review of any project is critical to inform the researcher(s) of the previous research in the field and how to proceed in the research.
The internet and publication databases has led to proliferation of ready access to literature material, therefore the need for bibliographic management software has been necessity, and led to the desktop applications; EndNote, RefWorks, BibTeX, and Zotero, Fitsgibbons and Meert (2010), these have become time saving research and academic writing tools. However, students are increasingly mobile learners as result of smart devices, Nortcliffe (2013), researching, developing and writing on their final year dissertation on their mobile devices, taking every opportunity to engage and participate in their learning. Therefore students need mobile bibliographic management apps to assist in the collating, management, and organisation of the literature sources. The digital poster will demonstrate three curating tools currently available on smart devices (smart phones and tablets); EndNotes, Diigo and Mendeley.
References
Fitzgibbons, M., & Meert, D. (2010). Are bibliographic management software search interfaces reliable?: A comparison between search results obtained using database interfaces and the EndNote online search function. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(2), 144-150.
Nortcliffe and A. Middlleton (2013) The innovative use of personal smart devices by students to support their learning, In Increasing Student Engagement and Retention using Mobile Applications: Smartphones, Skype and Texting Technologies, (Eds) Wankel, L. and Blessinger, P. (eds), (Cutting Edge Technologies in Higher Education). 175-210, Emerald, Bingley, UK.
Ritchie, S. M., & Rigano, D. L. (1996). Laboratory apprenticeship through a student research project. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33(7), 799-815.
Winn, S. (1995). Learning by doing: Teaching research methods through student participation in a commissioned research project. Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 203-214.
