Citing and Referencing Management

Save hours and avoid citation stress: Stop retyping references or losing track of PDFs. Import books, articles, and websites, then cite as you write. It’s fast, accurate, and much easier than doing it manually. Reference managers like Zotero, EndNote, or Mendeley let you:

• Collect and store references with one click

• Organise sources into folders and tags

• Save and annotate full-text PDFs

• Add citations directly into Word or Google Docs

• Automatically format your bibliography in your chosen style

Protect your academic integrity: Good referencing tools help you stay consistent, track your sources, and avoid accidental plagiarism . There’s a short learning curve, but as you incorporate the software into your research and writing process, you will make fewer errors, with less stress.

Collaborate with confidence: Working on a group project? Most tools sync to the cloud, so you can share and cite from the same up-to-date library.

Which tool is right for you?

This guide introduces Zotero, EndNote, and Mendeley. Each has its own strengths. Explore what works best for your needs and devices

Note: Most reference managers don’t work well together: it’s best to use one at a time on your computer. E.g., if you’re switching to Zotero or EndNote, you may need to uninstall any other reference manager first.

Already have a library? 

You can move your references between tools: just search for guides like “export from EndNote to Zotero”, for simple, step-by-step help.

Need Help?

Join our Referencing workshops or drop-in sessions: check the Library Events page for upcoming classes.

Access self-paced training on the Library Canvas page:

• Citing, Referencing & Plagiarism is an introduction to the key concepts of citing, referencing & plagiarism
• Referencing Software is an introduction to Referencing (or Citation) software – detailing some of the ways it can help you in the process of your research and academic writing
• Ask a question on our Live Chat Ask Us,  

Zotero is an open source, free, easy to use tool that helps you collect, organise, cite and share sources. It supports a wide range of different source types, including journal articles, YouTube videos, webpages, audio files, and PDFs.  Zotero is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

With Zotero installed you can:

• Collect sources in a click: add articles, webpages, books or PDFs from any database or catalogue with the browser Connector.

• “Cite while you write”: the Word and Google Docs plug-ins add in-text citations and build reference lists as you type

• Stay organised: file items in collections, add tags for quick retrieval, and keep reading notes beside each source.

• Annotate & highlight PDFs: Zotero’s built-in reader lets you mark-up articles and pull your highlights straight into notes

• Work together: create shared libraries for group projects and automatically keep everyone’s references in sync

Zotero provides clear documentation on how to use the software: www.zotero.org/support/

There are also video tutorials including general overviews and specific features

Get Started in 5 Minutes

1. Download Zotero desktop (Windows/Mac/Linux) and the Connector for Chrome, Edge, or Firefox.

2. Install and open Zotero:  Word/LibreOffice plug-ins install automatically; Google Docs support appears the first time you open Docs.zotero.org

3. Add your first source: Browse to an article and click the Connector icon, or  Drag a PDF onto Zotero: it fetches the full reference for you

4. Insert citations: in Word/Google Docs choose Zotero/ Add/Edit Citation, pick your style preference (APA, Harvard, Vancouver, etc.), and go.

5. Create a bibliography – place the cursor where you want it, click Add/Edit Bibliography – done!

Explore power features – tags, saved searches, PDF annotations, and ZoteroBib (instant one-off bibliographies) for quick tasks.

Visit up-to-date support pages here: https://www.zotero.org/support/

Quick Links

EndNote is a reference manager from Clarivate (publishers of Web of Science) that allows you to store and manage bibliographic references. Additionally, by using their Cite While You Write (CWYW) plugin you can insert your references in your Word document and create bibliographies automatically.

Clarivate provide 3 versions of EndNote:

• EndNote Desktop – the premium software package - cost details here: https://endnote.com/buy/ (Links to an external site.)
• EndNote Basic – free version available to anyone – with a very limited number of styles, filters and connection files
• EndNote Online with WoS – enhanced free version with thousands of styles, hundreds of filters and connection files along with 2GB of free storage. Because UCC Library subscribes to the Web of Science database this version is available to UCC Library users, and this is the version referred to in this quick guide

UCC Library does not have an institutional subscription subscribe to EndNote, but students can access the free upgraded EndNote Online account through Web of Science

How to get started with Endnote:

• Register for an account: This must be done though the Library website so that you are recognised as a UCC user and entitled to the enhanced free version.
• Navigate to Web of Science through UCC Library website - Databases
• Click on Register and follow instructions
• Take note of your login details and only create one online account

Your enhanced online account will remain active for 12 months after you last accessed it via Web of Science. After this period it will revert to the free basic version. Your references will still be available, but you will not have access to the full range of connections and styles. Log in again via the Web of Science to reactivate.

Clarivate Endnote provides a wide range of training resources and short videos, including:

• Getting Started with Endnote

Quick Links

Mendeley is a free reference management software owned by Elsevier. It helps you organize research papers, collaborate with others, and automatically generate citations and bibliographies. It combines a desktop application with a web-based platform and offers cloud storage for your research library.

Getting started with Mendeley:

• Create an account at mendeley.com using your institutional email address
• Download the desktop application from the Mendeley website
• Install the Web Importer browser extension for easy article capture

Mendeley provides a range of help guides and tutorials on installation, generating references, citations and bibliographies, FAQs and troubleshooting:

• Mendeley Help Guides: https://www.mendeley.com/guides
• Mendeleley Support Centre: https://service.elsevier.com/app/home/supporthub/mendeley/ 

Reference managers like Zotero and EndNote are powerful tools that streamline citation management, but they have limitations. While they excel at collecting, organizing, and formatting references, they cannot guarantee complete accuracy or catch every error.

You remain responsible for ensuring your references are accurate, complete, and properly formatted.

Essential Checks Before Submission:

• Verify completeness: Ensure all required elements are present, including page numbers, volume and issue numbers, DOI, publication dates, and publisher information.
• Review formatting accuracy: Check for capitalization errors, particularly in article titles where reference managers may not apply your chosen style correctly. Pay special attention to proper nouns and scientific terms.
• Confirm style consistency: This is especially important if you've used multiple reference managers or imported references from different sources, as formatting inconsistencies can occur.
• Cross-check citations: Verify that every in-text citation corresponds to an entry in your bibliography and that all bibliographic entries are cited in your text.
• Update your reference manager: When you find errors or add missing details, make corrections directly in your reference manager rather than just in your document. This ensures the record remains accurate for future projects.

Final step: Once you are satisfied and ready to submit, unlink your document from the reference manager before final submission to prevent any accidental changes to your formatting.