This document provides an overview of the Mendeley reference management platform. It describes Mendeley as a research workflow manager that allows users to save, read, annotate, and collaborate on PDFs and references across desktop, web and mobile devices. It outlines how to add documents to Mendeley by dragging PDFs, adding references from other managers, or using the web importer. It also explains how to organize references in folders, generate citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word, and collaborate through private and public groups.

1. www.mendeley.com
Make Citing and Referencing a Breeze with
Mendeley
Chloe Lei
HKBU Library
Sep 2018

2.  What is Mendeley?
 Add/Migrate PDFs + References
 Organize PDFs + References
 Generate Citations + Bibliographies
 Collaborate by Joining + Create Groups
 Discover New Research
Outline

3. What is Mendeley?

4. Desktop
Web
Mobile
• A research workflow manager
• Save, read and annotate PDFs
• Allow easy collaboration
•Accessible across devices
What is Mendeley?

5. Summary of the Platforms
Platform Requirement Functions
Mendeley
Desktop
Downloaded
software
• Adding, organizing, reading, &
annotating documents
• Needs to download new updates once in
a while
• Generate citations and references via
the MS Word Plug-in
Mendeley Web Browser-based • Adding, organizing, reading, &
annotating documents
• No need to download new versions
• Mendeley Suggest
Mendeley App Android & iOS • On-the-go reading and annotating
• Mendeley Suggest

6. Mendeley @ HKBU
HKBU Library
offers this!
Get this by
signing for an
account on
campus!

7. Add/Migrate PDFs + References
(set up your Mendeley library)

8. Mendeley Web
Mendeley Desktop
Your Mendely Library

9. Overview of adding documents
You have different options to set up your library:
• Drag and drop PDFs into Mendeley Desktop
• “Watch folder” to automatically import PDF files
• Add existing reference files (e.g. BibTex, RIS, Endnote)
• Use Web Importer to add from online databases
• Add from the Mendeley Research Catalog

10. Drag & Drop!Citation information is automatically extracted!
Drag & Drop PDFs
(works on both desktop and web version)

11. Metadata Extraction from PDFs
• Usually works better for newer PDFs than older PDFs, or
PDFs that are made of scanned images
• In the cases of incomplete or inaccurate metadata, you
may need to manually correct the records
• You can also try the “Update Details” function

12. “Update Details” Function

13. What‘s a Watch Folder?
This allows PDFs to be imported to Mendeley automatically from
designated folders on your computer

14. Migrate from other reference managers
• Transfer documents from Refworks, EndNote, Zotero…in seconds!
• Detailed instruction on the Mendeley Research Guide

15. Web Importer- Grab citations off the web
www.mendeley.com/import

16. Using the Web Importer

17. • Works for major academic websites (e.g. Scopus,
PubMed, Nature, PLoS, and Google Scholar)
• Useful for adding references without the PDF
documents readily available (e.g. books)
• Allows direct PDFs import for certain websites if
available (e.g. Google Scholar, ScienceDirect)
Web Importer- Supported Sites

18. Add files manually
For journal articles, look up information by a
document’s unique identifier (e.g. DOI) to speed
up the process!
Manual entry may be needed for “unusual” types of
references, such as government bill,

19. Organize PDFs + References

20. Manage Your Library
Star your favorite papers
Documents can be marked read/unread
Open attached PDF files in integrated viewer
View the type of document attached
(pdf,. pptx, .docx, excel, etc)
Create folders, and folders
within folders

21. Cloud-Based Highlight & Annotation
(desktop)

22. Cloud-Based Highlight & Annotation (web)
Select highlight colour

23. Cloud-Based Highlight &
Annotation (mobile app)

24. Full text search across all of your documents
Free text search or limit by title, author,
year, notes etc.
Filter by authors, tags, publications or keywords

25. Full text search within PDF viewer

26. Generate Citations +
Bibliographies

27. Microsoft Word Plug-In (3-Click)
1
2
3
Done!

28. Insert In-Text Citations
Citation Inserted!
Select any
citation style!

29. Insert Bibliography (1-click)
Bibliography Inserted!

30. Copy Formatted Citations Directly
Copy in Mendeley Desktop, paste in MS Word

31. Inserting Footnotes

32. Collaborate by Joining + Create Groups

33. Create Groups in Mendeley
Private groups
contain full text
of documents –
restricted to
members only
Public groups
share references
only, are
publically
searchable +
anyone can join
or ask to join

34. Private Groups
• Limit to 100 members per group
• You can create unlimited number of private groups
• Unlimited sharing of full text documents within a private
group

35. Inviting People to Your Private Groups
• Invite people to your group by the email
address they used to register for Mendeley

36. Share Your Papers with Your Research Team
In a private Mendeley group you
can share full text documents to
collaboratively mark-up research.
Access your work online and
collaboratively write papers.
Collaborate

37. Getting started in Groups
Groups menu show the
groups you created,
joined or follow- Add
documents or references
to group by dragging and
dropping.
Toggle central view to see dashboard, documents in group
or members

38. Mendeley and Copyright
• PDFs you upload to Mendeley are not available publicly
• However, researchers can upload files to their “My
Publications” folder – these can be accessed by any Mendeley
user for download
• You need to follow publisher restrictions in this regard
(similar to the upload of full text to the Institutional
Repository)
• Special page on our Mendeley Guide dedicated to this issue

39. Discover New Research

40. Mendeley Suggest
Mendeley recommends new papers to you based on
the content in your library and what other similar
researchers are reading
Mobile AppWeb

41. Search the Mendeley Research Catalog
Web
Mobile App

42. Learn Readership Statistics + Related Research
Social statistics
help you learn
about others
using this paper
Have related
research
suggested to you

43. Quickly add new research to your library
Save directly to your Mendeley
Library
Find full text via
the Library link

44. More Info: Mendeley Help Guides
https://www.mendeley.com/guides

45. Thank you!
Questions?