Zettelkasten Forum


What part does a Reference Management System really play?

Having watched almost all of @ctietze and @sfast's videos and read both here on the forum and elsewhere, I still don't fully understand the role of a RMS. Is it correct that the orginal, core functionality was to keep a running list of all articles a researcher read and have the RMS create a reference list in whatever format needed?

And over time the different RMS software has evolved to also include functionality like highlighting in pdf's, notes etc?

Comments

  • The RMS is what it says: It manages the references. NOT: What is referenced. A big difference.

    The *.bib-file is just a list of references. To put in proper terms: For the footnote fuck fest in a well researched text it puts the fucks in the fest. :smile:

    I am a Zettler

  • With “not what is referenced” you mean the content? The core functionality of a RMS is to make it easy to generate footnotes in the correct format, based on entries in the RMS, each with a title, author etc?

    But many RMS does have more functionality beyond that, but that’s where Zettelkasten is another option?

  • @thoresson said:
    With “not what is referenced” you mean the content? The core functionality of a RMS is to make it easy to generate footnotes in the correct format, based on entries in the RMS, each with a title, author etc?

    Yes.

    @thoresson said:
    But many RMS does have more functionality beyond that, but that’s where Zettelkasten is another option?

    Depends to what functionality you refer to. Many RMS offer to manage pdf-files for example. This is not reference management but rather file management. The text is not a reference.

    I am a Zettler

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