Perhaps you are a university student learning the ropes of proper attribution in essay writing. Or maybe you’re an academic whose credibility turns, in part, on including a comprehensive listing of reference materials. Or perhaps you are a journalist who specializes in non-fiction writing that demands clear identification of your sources. In all of these situations, a bibliography manager can make your life easier.

There are surprisingly few bibliography managers available for the iPod, and none developed by the big boys (Endnote, Bookends, Sente, Reference Manager) as a portable complement to their sophisticated desktop versions.

The iTunes store currently lists about half a dozen paid bibliographic managers. They are:

• iCitation
• iBibliography
• iSource
• Works Cited
• Library List

All are basic in their features. In fact, with one exception, their feature set is nearly identical. They range in price from $0.99 to $1.99.

What do such basic managers offer?

Most allow you to choose an input template that varies by type of source. For example, iCitation lets you choose among Book, Magazine, Newspaper, Website, and Journal. iSource adds TV Shows and Films to that list of possibilities. Entering your data consists of nothing more than moving from one field to another. Typically the output, which you can often preview on screen in formatted form, adheres to the guidelines established by MLA, APA, or the Chicago Manual of Style. Some, like Library List, let you create bibliographical lists by subject and add notes to each entry. So far, so good.

Getting information into these apps is straightforward, and getting it out is just as easy. iSource and Works Cited let you email your bibliography to yourself. You can then paste the straight text bibliography into your research paper or article. This means some additional formatting, such as italicizing or underlining, will still be needed. Library List permits emailing as well, but also lets you export your data as a CSV file, making it compatible with most spreadsheet programs. iBibliography goes one better, promising that you can synchronize your data with its online service at ibibliography.net. Unfortunately, the site was down when this review was written — not a good omen if you rely on such access as a normal part of your workflow.

In short, these are all really basic tools with a limited feature set. This is fine if you are a student writing an occasional essay or a journalist simply tracking your sources for a one-time article. What’s a buck or two to simplify the tedious process of formatting a bibliography? Try several until you find one that seems right for you.

If you require a more robust app, however, consider Papers ($9.99) and its desktop equivalent ($42). Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely, if you need a current list of your sources with you at all times.

Outlines impose order on confused thoughts — like mine. They visually sort the wheat from the chaff, allowing us to separate the main threads of our arguments from their supporting evidence.

As you jot down Chapter 1, and then Section A, and then Sub-section a, your thoughts gain a structure they may not have had before. Even if your thoughts always emerge in a fairly well organized form, an outline may allow you to spot logical inconsistencies that escaped your mind’s eye or to nudge you toward a more refined structure of the piece you shall write eventually.

CarbonFin Outliner for the iPod is, in my view, the best application in an uncrowded field. It has all the hallmarks of a great digital outliner:

• hierarchical tasks and sub-tasks
• drag-and-drop
• easy collapse and expansion of items
• note taking ability with full-featured editor
• undo and redo changes
• optional check-boxes (to signify task status, e.g. complete or incomplete)

I’d be thrilled if these were its only attributes, but CarbonFin Outliner offers much more. When you buy this program, you not only get the iPod version but also access to a free, online synchronization service that keeps your data safe and allows you to edit your content in your browser. You can also print from your account. The implementation of these online features is a case study in elegance.

Files exported from your iPod can be either straight text or in OPML format. Inclusion of the industry-standard OPML format means that you can open your files cleanly in a desktop program such as the more powerful OmniOutliner or even (gasp!) Bonsai for Windows. This also means you can import your existing OPML outlines into CarbonFin Outliner. It all works flawlessly and is a godsend for those who, like me, like to jot down thoughts for new articles while riding the train, and then refine and annotate them at home later.

But, as they say on the teleshopping channels, that’s not all! If you have the latest version of Outliner — Version 2.1 — you can set up an online sharing network that lets you invite others to edit the outline. Fantastic for collaborative work across the miles.

I’d be hard-pressed to suggest improvements to this wonderfully intuitive program and its online companion. A true desktop version would be great, but given the app’s ability to work with existing desktop giants like OmniOutliner, that seems a petty observation. Instead, let me suggest that you head over to the AppStore on iTunes, plunk down your $5, and revel in the organizational ease of this consummate outliner-in-your-pocket.

When you launch WriteRoom, the screen is blank except for three buttons and a standard search bar. Press the plus key on your right at the top of the screen and WriteRoom takes you to the screen where you normally create your documents. We’ll come back to the other buttons on the toolbar in a moment.

Once you have created a new document, the screen divides into  a writing area and the standard pop-up keyboard. The metaphor underlying WriteRoom is the blank page. Nothing else is visible except for a Done button, which saves your current document, and a Docs button that offers you a list of all the documents you have saved. You can also scroll through your list of documents by pressing the right and left arrows that customarily hide behind the keyboard until you press Done. The program works equally well in portrait and landscape modes.

The last button on the main screen is situated between the right and left arrow buttons. Push it and you’ll be presented with four options:

-  Delete Document;
-  Email Document;
-  Rename Document; and
-  Document Statistics.

The functions of the first three are obvious. Document Statistics tells you how many paragraphs, words and characters are in your selected document. This feature is a godsend for writers, like journalists, who must hit a specific word target.

If you’re the type of writer who finds even a few little buttons distracting, you can use the normal zoom gesture on the screen and the entire toolbar will vanish, leaving you with nothing but a blank screen and the keyboard. Pinch the screen and the buttons return. Nothing could be simpler.

Aside from a certain design elegance, WriteRoom doesn’t appear to offer anything more than many of the other note-taking programs available for the iPhone. But if you return to the Docs screen you’ll find a button at the top left that allows you to synchronize your work via Wi-Fi using any standard web browser. You can also edit your documents or create new ones in your browser that sync automatically with your iPhone.

The most powerful feature of WriteRoom is also accessible from the main Documents screen. Let’s say you like the convenience of being able to edit documents on your iPhone but prefer to write on a big screen. Hog Bay Software lets you set up an account at www.writeroom.ws using your Google account information. You can then create or edit documents online and sync them to your iPhone whenever you have the chance. This free service even date- and time-stamps every saved revision. Hog Bay says this feature is still in beta, so you may not want to trust it with your most precious documents but I have used it for weeks without a hitch. The one proviso to remember is that writeroom.ws is not a secure site, so don’t do anything you may regret like using it as a repository for your passwords, credit card numbers or other sensitive data.

Mac users who do all their writing in Scrivener will be pleased to know that they can now import WriteRoom documents directly into their word processor of choice. This is a really commendable example of developers working together to benefit those who use their respective programs.

WriteRoom is a program every serious mobile writer should own. It costs just $5, and includes a coupon for $5 off the desktop version. Where I come from, this essentially means that the iPhone version is free. How can you go wrong with an offer like that?

The blog will feature irregular postings of news and reviews suitable for professionals and wannabee professionals who write with Mac computers and iPods/iPhones/iPads. I’m no expert — just a user like you — but I do have 30+ years of experience in both fiction and non-fiction writing on computers. (Yes, I’m THAT old.) I guess the important aspect of my experience is that I’ve probably encountered, and tried to find ways around, just about every problem a writer can have. I hope you’ll find something here that helps you with your own writing.

What will the blog cover? Digital software with the potential to make your writing life easier: outliners, mindmapping programs, word processing applications, bibliographical programs, submission trackers, dictionaries and thesauri, and much, much more.

If there’s anything you’d like to comment on, or suggest that I review, please get in touch with me. All constructive discussion is welcome.