Citation Management Software

Instruction, Handouts & Tutorials | Manuals & Support | Obtaining the Software
FAQS: Citation Management FAQ | EndNote/Reference Manager FAQ
Connection Files, Filters, and Updates

 

Local Instruction & Handouts

UofL now has a site license to EndNote, Reference Manager, and WriteNote.
Faculty, staff, and students of UofL can download the software for free! See Obtaining the Software for more information.

Join the UofL citation management user community by adding your tips and fixes. UofL Citation Management Wiki

To join the local listserv for citation management help and issues:
    1. Address email to: listserv@listserv.louisville.edu
    2. Leave subject line blank,
    3. In message space type:
    subscribe citationmanagement Firstname Lastname
    (eg, subscribe citationmanagement John Smith)
    4. Send

 

Manuals & Support

Technical Support:
EndNote Email Support endnote@isiresearchsoft.com
Reference Manager Email Support refman@isiresearchsoft.com
Telephone Support: Phone: 510.559.8592 Fax: 510.559.8683
8a.m. to 5p.m. Pacific Time (-3 hrs.)


Tutorials

 

Obtaining the Software

As of May 1, 2006, the University of Louisville will have a campus-wide site license to EndNote, Reference Manager, and WriteNote. To download EndNote or Reference Manager after May 1, 2006, go to http://louisville.edu/it/services/software/ and click on the link to Free Software after logging in.

 

Citation Management FAQ


What is citation management software?
Citation management software allows the user to enter and organize references or citations for one's research. These products also facilitate the creation of bibliographies and reference lists in thousands of citation styles (MLA, APA, Turabian, etc.). Some of them also allow the user to "cite while you write", i.e. pull references in the correct style from one's database while one is in the process of writing.

Does U of L have a site license to any of these types of software?

Yes, as of May 1, 2006, UofL has a site license to the popular ISI Researchsoft products EndNote, Reference Manager, and WriteNote.

What other citation management software is available besides EndNote and Reference Manager (ISI Researchsoft)?
Although EndNote and Reference Manager are probably the most widely used, some other popular citation management software packages include Biblioscape, Bibliographix (has a free version), Bookends (Macintosh), Citation Library Master, Nota Bene, Papyrus (has a free version) RefWorks, Scholar's Aid, StyleEase, EasyBib, and Noodle Tools (shareware; only do APA & MLA styles but both are cheap). A very detailed up-to-date comparison of some of the major softwares is available from this website: http://www.burioni.it/forum/ors-bfs/text/index.html

What support do U of L Libraries provide for these softwares?
Currently, the U of L Libraries provides basic support and instruction for EndNote X (10) and Reference Manager 11. We are happy to try and help with any of the above softwares, but we have not had experience with most of them.

Can I import references from my Word document?
It's probably not worth trying, because the data held in Word is in an untagged format which means that the software cannot distinguish between the different fields, e.g. author, title, journal title. In order to successfully import references into a EndNote Library (.enl), or a Reference Manager database (.rmd) the software needs to be able to identify each field separately before the reference can be imported into one of the several reference types available. You could go to References->New, and copy/paste each part of the reference into its corresponding field in the EndNote/Reference Manager template, however this would be very time consuming.

However, to avoid having to manually create citations, and risk having lots of typographical errors, it is fairly easy to search and download or save them in Ovid, PubMed, or one of the many other databases with import filters, into you reference management software. After you import them, use the Cite-While-You-Write feature to automatically insert citations into your document and instantly create your list of references.

Can I import references from Minerva (UofL Libraries' catalog)?
Currently, you cannot save results from a Minerva search and import them into either EndNote or Reference Manager. However, you can use the search functions in both to search Minerva. You will need to follow the instructions discussed in the "Can I search databases...question.

 


 

Endnote and Reference Manager FAQ

What is the difference between EndNote and Reference Manager?

Not much, really. The major difference is that Reference Manager is truly networkable and it has the ability to create a web-accessible database of reference fairly easily according to ISI Researchsoft. EndNote has more output styles and more fields available and is the only one compatible with Macintosh computers. To see a nice chart of the differences, go to http://thomsonisiresearchsoft.com/compare/.

Can I import references from my Word document?
It's probably not worth trying, because the data held in Word is in an untagged format which means that the software cannot distinguish between the different fields, e.g. author, title, journal title. In order to successfully import references into a EndNote Library (.enl), or a Reference Manager database (.rmd) the software needs to be able to identify each field separately before the reference can be imported into one of the several reference types available. You could go to References->New, and copy/paste each part of the reference into its corresponding field in the EndNote/Reference Manager template, however this would be very time consuming.

However, to avoid having to manually create citations, and risk having lots of typographical errors, it is fairly easy to search and download or save them in Ovid, PubMed, or one of the many other databases with import filters, into you reference management software. After you import them, use the Cite-While-You-Write feature to automatically insert citations into your document and instantly create your list of references.

Can I import references from Minerva (UofL Libraries' catalog)?
Currently, you cannot save results from a Minerva search and import them into either EndNote or Reference Manager. However, you can use the search functions in both to search Minerva. You will need to follow the instructions discussed in the next question.

Can I search databases from within EndNote or Reference Manager?
The Connect feature of EndNote, and the Internet Search feature of Reference Manager allows you to search remote databases (such as PubMed, EbscoHost, ProQuest, etc) from within the software for those databases that have existing import filters. Because of the limited search capability compared to that provided by searching the database directly, we suggest you not use the Connect/Internet search feature and instead import your search results.

However, we do suggest you use the Connect and Internet search features of EndNote and Reference Manager to search library catalogs, including the UofL Minerva catalog from within EndNote and Reference Manager. For EndNote, download the Connection File (see Connection page). For Reference Manager, you will need to follow the instructions to create a Z39.50 host and database file for Minerva (see Connection page).

Other connection filters are built into the software that allow you to connect a large number of library catalogs including the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, and many others. In fact, it is probably better to search those larger catalogs, instead of the UofL catalog, if you are just looking for citations, and do not need to know if UofL Libraries has the item you are searching for.

Should I create several libraries/databases or just one?
It is generally advisable to create one library/database for all of your references in Endnote and to assign keywords to each citation; this will help you to identify a subset of references on a particular subject while retaining the master list as your permanent database. If you wish, you can copy citations from the main database into temporary databases for specific projects, then delete any temporary databases that you may have created when you are finished. Reference Manager can pull citations from more than one database.

How do I exchange citations between the two packages?
It is possible to import citations from Endnote to Reference Manager, and vice versa.

To convert a Reference Manager database into EndNote:

  • From EndNote's File menu, choose Open. A standard Open File dialog appears.
  • Change to the folder where your Reference Manager database is stored.
  • Select one of the Reference Manager data files and click OK or Open.
  • Choose Convert to begin conversion of the Database. EndNote suggests a name for the EndNote library that it will generate. You may change the name or location where it the new library will be saved.
  • Click Save.

In Reference Manger, it is possible to open and convert databases that have been created in EndNote.

  • From the File menu, select Open Database
  • Select the name of the database you want to open and click on the Create Reference Manager database button. The name and location of the Endnote file will be displayed and the name of the Reference Manager database to be created.
  • Click on Convert then click OK.

How do I get a copy of EndNote or Reference Manager?
As of May 1, 2006, the University of Louisville will have a campus-wide site license to EndNote, Reference Manager, and WriteNote. To download EndNote or Reference Manager after May 1, 2006, go to http://louisville.edu/it/services/software/

I need more help! How can I get it?
ISI ResearchSoft has help available via e-mail or telephone. You should also consider joining the e-mail user group (listservs) for either Reference Manager or EndNote where you can post questions and get help from users around the world! Who knows, you might also make a friend or find a long lost colleague. There are also archives for these listservs: http://www.researchsoftware.nl/kb/gforum.cgi has archives for all three ISI products and http://lists.adeptscience.co.uk/endnote/ has another copy of the Endnote archives. EndNote users should also check the EndNote FAQ.

 

 

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