Now is Not the Time to Save Trees

So, you're writing your thesis (or major research paper or dissertation). You've probably got a tonne of articles, book chapters, and other resources to read. Maybe you're trying to save money by reading them off your computer or iPad. Maybe you're trying to avoid "wasting" so much paper. Maybe you're trying to save your back because paper copies are heavy to carry... But really, you should just print them and get on with reading, analyzing, thinking, and writing.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm the first person to say that you should only print what you must, that you should use recycled paper, that you should print on both sides (shrinking the pages so that two can be printed on each side), that you shouldn't waste paper. I'm a big fan of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle). But this is one of those times when I say, "Print! Print it all!"

There's a practical reason for this: with a print copy, you can highlight important parts and make notes to yourself in the margins. You can colour-code and label. Now, I know many people will say that they can highlight and make notes on electronic copies -- and that is true -- but it's really not the same. Returning to the annotations in an electronic copy of an article can be quite clumsy and time-consuming. The benefit of the hard copy is that after you've done the reading, highlighting, and notating, you can then physically rearrange your sources for the writing process. You could pile them according to topic area, you could stack them in the order you intend to cite them, you could arrange them in any number of ways that suit the task at hand. And as you work through a stack for a particular section of your thesis, you can move them to a discard pile, which can be surprisingly motivating as you actually see your progress (with fewer and fewer articles left to reference).

There is something about the way that we physically interact with our readings and hand-write notes that helps with recall and thought processes. And it certainly can't hurt to give your eyes a rest from all of those glowing screens. Maybe I'm old school on this point, but I really do believe hard copy is better.

So take it from me: now is not the time to save trees. And if you feel guilty, then plant a tree or two when you're finished your thesis.