This document provides an overview of selecting a reference management system. It discusses several options including MS Word's citation feature, EndNote, Reference Manager, Zotero, and Mendeley. Each option has different strengths in collecting references, formatting citations and bibliographies, and storing reference libraries. The document emphasizes that no single system is best for everyone and that users should consider their discipline, skills, and departmental standards when selecting a reference management program.

1. University Computing Service
Selecting a Reference Management System
23rd March 2010
Rosemary Rodd rr25@cam.ac.uk
LL-support@ucs.cam.ac.uk
HELP-DESK@UCS.CAM.AC.UK
Welcome
University Computing Service

2. University Computing Service
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3. University Computing Service
General Information
 Objectives: select the best reference management
program FOR YOU
 Pre-requisites: prior use of a wordprocessing
program and web browser
 Duration & Break: 15 minutes
 Course Material: slides
 Delivery Style: lecturer
 Follow-on courses: EndNote Desktop, EndNote Web

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 Sign in: Pink Attendance Sheet
 Please fill in Green Review Form at the end of the course
 Let us know if you need assistance: Please ask questions
General Information

5. University Computing Service
Too Much Choice!!
Possibilities include:
o MS Word’s in-built bibliography feature - free as part of Word
o EndNote Desktop - £89
o EndNote Web - Free for Cambridge University members
o Reference Manager (Windows only) - £180
o Procite (Windows only) - £180
o Zotero - free to download open source
o Mendeley - free to download open source
o Papers - £30 No citation feature.
o BibTeX - free, but complicated to learn/integrate with document

6. Multi-Stage Process
o Collecting references
o Reading the material (I hope!)
o Citing into a document which represents your own
original work.
Programs are not equally good at handling each stage

7. Follow the herd
If everyone else in your department uses a particular
program, you may be well advised to do the same.
o Peer assistance.
o Ease of exchanging files.
o Output is likely to conform to local standards.

8. Where are your references??
• Somewhere in cyberspace?
• Somewhere on your computer, but you
don’t know where?
• In your documents folder?

9. Does it matter?

10. YES!!!

11.  If you can’t be sure whether important data is
backed up or not.
 If you CAN’T back up your data because you
can’t find it.
 If you can’t access your data because
someone else’s servers are down.
 If you over-write your data because you are
confused about which is the most recent
version.
 If your partner over-writes your data because
they are confused!
 If the CIA want your reading list.

12. MS Word
• Little ability to harvest references from online
sources: must be typed in.
• Reference layout can be changed without re-
typing by using layout styles
• No facility to modify layouts.
• References are stored inside your normal
word documents and backed up with them.

13. EndNote Desktop
• Excellent ability to harvest online references. Can be
complicated to set up.
• Reference layout can be changed without retyping
using output styles
• Output styles can be edited.
• References should be stored in the documents
folder, but the unwary user can easily select an
obscure (and dangerous!) location.
• Poor warning messages if you are about to overwrite
an existing file when creating a new one and
dangerous default file naming.

14. EndNote Web
• Excellent ability to harvest from online
sources. Simple to set up.
• Reference layout can be changed without
retyping using output styles
• No facility for user to modify output styles
• References stored on Thomson Reuters’
servers in the US

15. Reference Manager
• Excellent ability to harvest online references. Can be
complicated to set up.
• Reference layout can be changed without retyping
using output styles.
• Output styles can be modified by user.
• References should be in the documents folder but,
as with EndNote desktop, it’s possible for a naïve
user to set up a different location by mistake.

16. Zotero
• Excellent ability to harvest references online. Simple
to set up.
• Reference layout can be changed without retyping
using output styles.
• Only “power users” can modify output styles.
• References are stored inside the local Firefox
preferences folder and also synched with Zotero
servers, but this can be turned off.
An unwary user might assume references are NOT
stored on the local machine.

17. Mendeley
• Doesn’t directly search online sources: mainly
intended as a repository of PDF files discovered by
other means.
• Reference layout can be changed without retyping
using output styles.
• Only “power users” can modify output styles.
• References are stored inside the user’s Library
directory, but synched to Mendeley’s servers

18. BibTeX
• Doesn’t search online sources.
• Reference layout can be changed using
output styles.
• Users can modify output styles
• References are stored as a plain text file in
the documents folder

19. GIGO!

20. http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/
Quality Control Quality Control
Free Internet tutorials on a range of subject areas produced
by a consortium of UK universities to give students the skills
needed to evaluate information sources.
Mostly aimed at undergraduates, but still of some use at
postgraduate level to give a broad view of what professional
sites are available.

21. QuickTime™ and a
H.264 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Better than working….
Gloucestershire Reintegration Service, (Teachers TV: 2006)
http://www.teachers.tv/video/3488 (downloaded 25/03/10)
Available under a Creative Archive Licence.

22. I downloaded the “Ruff behaviour” video from Teacher’s
TV to embed it in this presentation.
Before doing this I clicked the “licence information” link to
check the terms on which the original copyright holder had
provided it.
This confirmed that it was OK for me to use it for
educational purposes in my own work, provided the
authors were acknowledged.
Am I legal?

23. Copyright Law in the UK
Be aware of the “fair use” regulations on copyright
materials.
If you feel brave you can read 69 pages of advice from the
University’s legal department
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/offices/legal/copyright/copyright.pdf
Basically you should not download, photocopy, or scan
whole books or journals unless they are so old that they
are no longer in copyright or the copyright owner has
given you permission. EDITIONS of very old works may
still be copyrighted by the publisher who has made them
available).

24. How can I use this video?
This video ("Work") is made available to you under the Creative Archive
Licence for: ･ Personal non-commercial educational use in the United
Kingdom only
In addition: ･ You may alter edit or modify the video in any way and create
derivative works from the Work; ･
You may make copies of the Work or derivative works or store any copies of
the Work or derivative works; ･
You may distribute the Work or any derivative works on a non commercial
basis to or within educational establishments in the United Kingdom only.
You must not: ･ Sell the Work or any derivative work; ･
Alter edit modify or use the Work in any way which may be illegal, derogatory
or otherwise offensive or in a way which may bring us in to disrepute; ･
Distribute the Work outside of educational establishments.

25. http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/
Quality Control
Quality sources for postgraduate research
The University Library’s Electronic Resources web page
should be your first point of departure for online research as
it lists all the databases to which the UL subscribes. These
change very frequently, so it’s a good idea to return to the
page every so often.

26. Quality Control WoK/WoS
o Owned by Thomson Reuters who also own EndNote,
Procite and Reference Manager
o Because these are a “stable” of products they are
designed for effective interoperability (e.g. Zotero can
harvest citations from WoK, but can’t automatically find
full text articles).
o Authoritative, with human oversight, and tools to
investigate relative importance of papers (e.g. controlling
for heavy citation of BAD science by articles refuting
them).

27. Quality ControlAvoiding plagiarism
Correct referencing helps to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
Working through the online tutorial produced by Elizabeth
Boling, Theodore Frick, Meltem Albayrak-Karahan,
Joseph Defazio and Noriko Matsumura at Indiana
University Bloomington will help if you are unsure when to
insert references to sources you have consulted.
https://www.indiana.edu/~istd/
(and you can even print yourself a certificate at the end if
you complete their final test with no errors).

28. Quality ControlAvoiding plagiarism
You could also take a look at
http://www.plagiarismadvice.org/
and the interactive subject-based tutorials available from the
University of Leicester’s website
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/ld/resources/study/plagiarism-tutorial
You need to be aware that the term “plagiarism” is now
used for instances of careless referencing as well as
deliberate, dishonest cheating.

29. Quality ControlNo one product is right for everyone
o A user with minimal computer skills, but good, fast &
accurate typing may be safest with MS Word. The best
choice if few useful references are available to harvest
online (e.g. critical edition of 18th century letters).
o Someone in a department where everyone uses BibTeX
may get on well by fitting in with the rest.
o If you enjoy experimenting with gadgets, you may be
happy using a mix of Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote.
o In a discipline which requires complex reference layouts,
EndNote desktop may be the only viable option.
o If you are a spy you do not want the CIA to look at your
reading list!