So in my previous post I discuss a possible workflow for writing essays and in particular gathering data from online sources. What about web sites??

Well lets imagine the scene. Your at your home computer and youve done some searches on the usual databases but you want something more. Ok, so you take a stab and do a google search. You find a few sites that are of use to you and you want to bookmark them.

The next day you go to college and have some 5 minutes to spare so carry out a similar search on the library computer. You find some links but a) your not sure whether you bookmarked this at home b) you dont want to have two sets of bookmarks of links.
When you get back home and start doing some research you think "now where did I bookmark that site that was about rheumatoid arthirtis and patients experiences" You would love it to be clearly outlined but alas it isnt! The bookmark has some random title, quite possibly even "untitled"!! how useful!!

Enter del.icio.us.There are some excellent resources in understanding this tool (e.g. this one but I prefer pictures than just text so Im going to give you a quick run-through.

The bit after you've written your essay is always boring, prone to error and quite frankly a nightmare.

Previously I have written stuff like so:

1. Gather information. This is largely from doing database searches (OVID, OTDbase, Cinahl, Pubmed) etc.. as well as a hunt around the library's books for relevant literature
2. Read some articles/books and note down some points..
3. Gather my points and categorise
4. Plan where all the bits go
5. Write the thing
6. re-write the thing.. (!)
7. 2 hours before the deadline sort out the references and citations. Usually this is followed by:
8. "Aaarrgh! Where the heck did I get (Digby, Poncebury-Smythe, Smashey, Nicey 1996) from!!" After a quick look through my random bits of paper with the references written down I fail to find it. Damn. I have to delete the reference (or just hope nobody looks for the the citation in the reference list - which they usually do)!!

I've written a quick overview of what I now do. If it's a bit over your head dont fret! Just have a play with some of the tools that interest you - most importantly citeULike. The more people that use it the better it becomes! (CiteULike aims to do more than just "bookmark citations" for a good overview read the FAQ)

I've taken a collection of various Acronym's from around the place, stuck them together, tidied it up, and put it in the glossary database. If you have any more entries I'd love to know!
Please note that some of the entries haven't converted fantastically well - I'm working on fixing that. Also note that these terms may not be the particular terms used in your PCT/place of work, so use with care when using in your notes.

Also just out of interest really, I made a podSite/Guide from the information. Download this, unzip it, and place it on your ipod in the notes folder. Now you should have a trusty portable guide. Tell me what you think..

Here are a couple of pics to show you what it looks like:

The Main Menu:

A sample page:

OT blogs. Why are so few OT's out there involved with publishing anything on the net?? Read on for a bit of a opinionated rant...

site categories have been updated!

I own a powerbook and make frequent use of the glowing keyboard when the light is a bit dim. This keyboard from logisys, claims to be one the of the brightest on the market. Also has a interesting feature - it flashes when your mobile rings.