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Scrivener for Windows versus Writing outliner add-in for MS Word
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Posted by Mitchell Kastner
Nov 3, 2011 at 08:01 PM
I purchased a license for Scrivener after I read the (ungainly) work around for using Endnote within Scrivener. After reading Pavi’s post about how Mendeley will correctly format subsequent citations to the same source after the embedded Word documents are merged, I am concerned that Endnote will do likewise when the Scrivener documents are merged into an RTF file. Do you have any experience with Endnote correctly formatting subsequent citations into an RTF that has been merged from Scrivener documents?
I must say that Scriviner has an APA template for writing journal articles, from which the unwary might assume that it has a facility for handling citations. It’s a tad bit misleading IMHO.
Posted by Dr Andus
Nov 3, 2011 at 08:29 PM
Mitchell Kastner wrote:
>I purchased a license for Scrivener after I read the (ungainly) work around for using
>Endnote within Scrivener. After reading Pavi’s post about how Mendeley will
>correctly format subsequent citations to the same source after the embedded Word
>documents are merged, I am concerned that Endnote will do likewise when the Scrivener
>documents are merged into an RTF file. Do you have any experience with Endnote
>correctly formatting subsequent citations into an RTF that has been merged from
>Scrivener documents?
I’ve only gone through the process once but I can’t see there being a problem. When you export your documents from Scrivener, it will put them into a single RTF file, where the EndNote code is still raw. As the formatting of the EndNote citations will happen in Word, I don’t envision any formatting problems. Obviously you may have to manually exclude authors or dates or add page numbers or other desired notations where necessary but that shouldn’t affect the style of the citation.
Posted by Pavi
Nov 4, 2011 at 07:01 AM
Hi Folks,
Based on these replies, I should point out that I was incorrect and that Writing Outliner should also allow Mendeley/Zotero citations to be merged. So I am ultimately using UltraRecall’s outlining structure to mimic the features of Writing Outliner.
So if you want research and writing environment with Mendeley/Zotero integrated, UltraRecall works well. For an excellent research and writing environment without Mendeley/Zotero (but with EndNote, etc.), Scrivener would be a good choice. For a writing environment with Mendeley/Zotero but not robust for research, Writing Outliner is perfect.
There is no inherent reason to have research and writing in the same application (ie. UR), although it become convenient for storage and backup. Since I am already using Storybook and UltraRecall, adding another writing environment seemed unnecessary since most of the features are able to be duplicated. If I didn’t use UR, I would almost certainly buy Writing Outliner for the academic reference integration.
Best, /Pavi
Posted by Mitchell Kastner
Nov 8, 2011 at 02:12 AM
Mitchell Kastner wrote:
>Scrivener for Windows is offering a negligible discount—-4 bucks——until
>11/7/2011 when they are rolling out Ver. 1.0. I have already purchased a license for
>Writing outliner add-in for MS Word, and I would like comments on your experiences, if
>any, with these two programs.
>
>Btw: I still do not believe that either program is
>useful for academic or legal writing since neither has a facility for storing,
>retrieving and inserting citations.
Posted by Mitchell Kastner
Nov 8, 2011 at 02:28 AM
I continue to be exceeedling disappointed in Scrivener’s utility to handle citations and references.
Scrivener has a template to use for journal articles and one type of “document” is for References. I am writing a law-review type article on US Department of Labor workers’ compensation decisions on carpal-tunnel syndrome claims. I am beginning my article with a moderately detailed review of the syndrome itself. One source I am using for Etiology/Pathophysiology is DISEASEDEX; the cite in specific is DISDEX CR1711C. So I dutifully enter that cite as a document under References. Clearly I am going to cite that reference multiple times in separate documents. This is a snap is UR wherein you can link one document to many documents; alas not possible in Scrivener: for sure you can link the text “DISDEX CR1711C” ONCE to another time. But I need to cite it multiple times in different documents but there is no way to link that reference to mulpticle documents for which it is the source.
Yes I understand that perhaps I can import this Word document into Endnote—-I doubt whether Scrivener is compatible with any of the free and superior bibliography mangers——but by creating a template for journal articles, Scrivener more than implies that it can handle references whereas it just cannot——at least seemlessly and efficiently.
I threw away 36 bucks and unless someone knows how to link one document to multiple documents, I am going to have to get back some of my money since there is a 15% restocking fee.
>Mitchell Kastner wrote:
>>Scrivener for Windows is offering a negligible
>discount—-4 bucks——until
>>11/7/2011 when they are rolling out Ver. 1.0. I have
>already purchased a license for
>>Writing outliner add-in for MS Word, and I would
>like comments on your experiences, if
>>any, with these two programs.
>>
>>Btw: I
>still do not believe that either program is
>>useful for academic or legal writing
>since neither has a facility for storing,
>>retrieving and inserting citations.