Synthesis Main Window

This chapter provides an overview of the Synthesis Main Window. The Main Window

The Main Window consists of the following functionality:
  • Menu Bar: The Menu bar consists of the following top-item menu categories: Project (Change Project, Project Settings, Preferences, Import/Export Project) , Paper (Include/Exclude), Tools (Online Search, Kappa Calculator, Sample Column, Derive Meta Data, Author Statistcis, Grey Literature, Scan for PDFs, Extract PDF Images), and Help (User Manual, Update, Licensing, About). See Menu Bar.
  • Search Bar: Provides the interface for querying the references already imported into Synthesis. The search supports boolean operators (i.e. AND, OR, NOT), proximity searching (i.e. within X words), and targeted search (i.e. search only title, abstract, fulltext, etc). See Searching in Synthesis.
  • AutoTag Visable Rows: Provides the ability to Tag the references beimng displayed in the Reference Table with keywords. See autotag.html#autotag.
  • Research Ratings: Allows the ability to filter the references displayed in the Reference Table based upon their Inclusion/Exclusion status. See Researcher Ratings.
  • Reference Table: Is a spreadsheet like interface where the References within Synthesis are displayed. The Reference Table is strongly linked ot the Search Bar which provides the ability to filter references based upon keyword searches. Additionally, Right Click functionality for copying/pasting cells, copying references and displaying the column information in a graphical format is provided. See Reference Table.
  • Download All Papers: Provides an automated approach for downloading PDFs for all "Included" references. See Download All Papers.
  • Import Citations: Allows references to be imported into Synthesis obtained through a bibliographical website (i.e. Web of Knowledge, Ovid Embase, Scorpus, etc.) via a RIS or BibTex file. See Import Citations.
  • Export to CSV: Allows the references currently being displayed in the Reference Table to be exported to a CSV (Comma Separated File) file for secondary analysis. See Export to CSV.
  • Export to RIS: Allows the references currently being displayed in the Reference Table to be exported to a RIS (Research Information Systems) file so that the references can be used in external Cite and Write applications (e.g. EndNote, RefWorks, etc.). See Export to RIS.
  • Tabs in Synthesis: There are several Tabs located on the Synthesis Main Window. These tabs provide the following functionality: Paper details, Statistics, Biography, Word Cloud, Topic Clusters, and Project Information. See: Tabs in Synthesis.
  • PDF Viewer: The PDF viewer provides the ability to view the PDF for the associated reference. The PDF viewer provides the ability to automatically have keywords highlighted, as well as, having the ability to manually highlight text and add comments within the PDF. See PDF Viewer.