Have you ever watched an interesting scientific presentation? Usually, when a presenter shows a figure or mentions a published study, you’ll want to note the paper reference. However, these can be time consuming to write down, especially with names like Karagueuzian. (They’re usually given like “Karagueuzian and Chen 1999“)

There’s a simple solution to this problem. The academic publishing industry solved it a long time ago. Number your references. Even if you want to show the authors and years, you can just put a little number in parentheses, like (1) Karagueuzian and Chen 1999, (2) So and so et al…

But how will people use that? Post the key somewhere that people can find it, and mention it in the presentation. If you don’t have a convenient URL or link page to direct people to, you can always use TinyURL to make a short link that they can quickly write down. Or better, yet, post it on your blog.

Comments? Refinements? Would this help you? Would it drive you crazy?