This has been an exciting week. It was the Fourth of July holiday and we are fortunate to live in a neighborhood with a lot of firework aficionados, so we have enjoyed many days of fireworks and celebrations. The weather has also been kind and on multiple occasions has interrupted the humid, stormy bursts with sunny, yet unseasonably cool days perfect for biking through southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. I was also blessed to have a mini-vacation from work because of the holiday and I was able to rest and enjoy the weather and the festivities.
It was a wonderful week, but the highlight was actually related to my schoolwork and an impending annotated bibliography and literature review assignment. I'm now certain I have never sounded more than a nerd than right now. It's moments like these that I know with absolute certainty I am in the right field doing the work God intends for me!
So, what has me so happy? Well, this past week I have discovered some new game-changing tools that have made the task of research much more enjoyable for me. When I first started down this path towards my doctorate, I realized I wanted to find or create a better way to organize my work. I remembered the frustrations I encountered during my Master's work as I read journal article after journal article. Each quickly became a blur of content that was impossible to make sense of or sort. I recall pouring over pages of notes trying to figure out which article had which quote or evidence.
This week I was introduced to Academic Writer, a tool created by the APA folks to help with academic writing. It is the answer to my long-time longings. First, this tool helps me get all the APA references cited correctly. And it helps me get my papers and bibliographies formatted perfectly. Those are wonderful features, and having this tool this week has been like having an APA writing tutor over my shoulder.
But the best part for me is actually in how it allows me to store and catalog my references. As I discover new resources, I use this tool to not only capture the full citation, I also capture the abstract, quotations, my notes, and even my own tags. As I use these resources in my work, this tool keeps track and allows me to quickly see all the places where I've cited each source.
I wish I could have had this tool at the beginning of my academic journey. I would have loved and greatly benefitted from having such structure and consistency. I would have saved hours and hours of frustration searching through notes, rereading articles, and pulling out my hair. Not only that, I think it would have helped shape my path as I navigated a sea of competing theories and ideologies about education, teaching, and learning. It makes thinking about all these resources clearer than ever.
Thankfully, I have the tool now, and just in time for my work on my action research project and my dissertation. I know better, but it sure feels like the fireworks this week have been timed specifically for my joy!
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