Hi Pippa
Just spotted your kindle question, about academic writing, and been using mine for the same thing. Has been really useful as it organises it all for you so you don't have to carry stuff about or store it, it's like having your own database for it.
You can highlight bits of text (press central button, options appear onscreen) and then there's a function which pulls all your highlights into a list onscreen, which is really useful. I find it more handy than doing the same in paper books.
You can also add notes to the text, although it's a bit fiddly as I am using the keyboard onscreen with the cursor (i don't know if you can use it with a pen to 'tap' the keys or not). I found that many of the texts I needed were on kindle (history subject), but not all.
Also, you can read pdfs on it, either by emailing them to your own kindle email or using the cable to your computer and 'physically' putting them there yourself. That's been so useful. I haven't been able to change font size in pdfs, but if you rotate the screen the text is big enough to read, and you can still use highlighters.
When I've finished my dissertation (if ever!) I'll read all the other stuff I've got on there! Hope that helps