Category Archives: Reference management

Now is the time!

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Student visiting the Study Queries desk to find out about contacting an Academic Liaison Librarian

Ask our experts for support at the Study Advice and Maths support desk, Library, Ground Floor weekdays 10:00 – 16:00 or get in touch online.

Get to know your Academic Liaison Librarian, there’s one for every subject offered at Reading. They can support you in making effective use of the huge range of resources the Library has to offer for your studies.

Make the most of their advice by:

  • Attending training sessions offered through your department – this will save you time and ensure you reference publications appropriately in your assignments.
  • Exploring the key resources in your subject and online support through your subject guide. If you haven’t bookmarked it, now’s the time! It’ll be a useful way to keep track of resources and help you stay organised. 
  • Seeking individual support on finding suitable academic sources to use in your assignments. Have you considered boosting your referencing skills by starting to use a reference management tool, such as EndNote or Mendeley? It will save you time in the long run. You can email your librarian or make a one-to-one appointment (in person or online).

Stay ahead of the curve and find your Academic Liaison Librarian on the Library website now.

 

Jackie Skinner FHEA

Academic Liaison Librarian 

EndNote and Mendeley workshops this term

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Take the pain out of referencing by learning to use a reference management system. We are offering workshops on using EndNote and Mendeley at the following times.Seated person with a large stack of books on the desk directly in front

Click on the links below to book your place.

 

Desktop EndNote

Desktop EndNote is a comprehensive reference management system. You can download accurate references from many databases, such as Web of Science. Use the ‘Find Full-text’ feature to automatically download and attach PDFs for those references. Use the Word plugin to insert in-text citations and watch the bibliography grow automatically. Select from thousands of referencing styles or create your own – great if you’re writing for publication. Download it free on your own computer via the IT Self-Service Portal.

See our EndNote guide to find out more.

Mendeley Reference Manager

Mendeley Reference Manager is designed to make storing references and PDFs as simple as possible. You can drag and drop PDFs directly into your library or use its Web Importer to capture details of websites and other sources. If you work a lot with article PDFs, Mendeley is a good option for you.

See our Mendeley guide to find out more.

Book your place

Sign up to the workshops here. If you can’t make any of the specified sessions but would like to know more, take a look at our reference management guide or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Karen Drury
Academic Liaison Librarian

Library website migration

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The Library webpages have moved over to the University’s new content management system (CMS) – you may already be familiar with the new interface as many areas of the University website have already been migrated.

Partial image of the new Library website.

The migration means that the look and feel of our webpages have changed, but access to all our guidance, resources and other information should remain available. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, please email us at library@reading.ac.uk so that we can help you stay on track with all your information needs.

Your Library team

New in-depth Library drop-ins

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Student visiting the Study Queries desk for guidance on using resources

New! Quick queries hour – ask a librarian that urgent searching or referencing question!

We’re excited to announce that from Monday 25 October, we’re offering an additional hour of enhanced library support every weekday lunchtime. Whenever you have a tricky question needing an urgent answer, but your own Academic Liaison Librarian isn’t available, drop in 13:00 – 14:00 to the Study Advice desk on the ground floor of the Library (to the right of the stairs). The duty liaison librarian will set you right!

This service complements our Study Advice drop-ins for urgent study queries (i.e. those which cannot wait for a longer appointment with a Study Adviser), available from the same desk at the same time, 13:00–14:00 weekdays.

The Study Advice desk is currently open 10:00–14:00 for you to ask quick searching tips, general library advice or to set up an appointment with a Study Adviser or your Academic Liaison Librarian.

What can your Academic Liaison Librarian do for you?

What can you ask an Academic Liaison Librarian?

  • What is the best database to use for my assignment?
  • How can I get started searching for books or journal articles?
  • Where can I find particular types of resources e.g., newspapers, archive material?
  • How do I search Enterprise or Summon effectively?
  • How do I find a reference listed in a reference list?
  • Which referencing style should I use? How do I format a reference to a source? – and other quick referencing queries.

What do students say about asking their librarian?

  • “I found it really helpful and supportive”
  • “[The librarian] made it simpler and easier for me to learn/understand how to use [Endnote]”
  • “Absolutely brilliant! Problem solved. 10/10”
  • “I came in confused but left relieved and with much understanding of how to reference and cite papers”
  • ” I haven’t used the library before, so it was very helpful”

What will you ask?

Kim Coles,
Academic Liaison Team Manager

Get set for dissertations with live and video training!

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Young asian girls crouch at running race start lineSet to start your dissertation this summer? No? Get on track by joining this week’s live webinars introducing reference management tools EndNote and Mendeley, or catch up with our new videos summarising topics discussed at last week’s Master’s Dissertation Fayre!

Join reference management workshops

Book through the Actions tab on RISIS to join Extra EndNote and Mendeley reference management workshops:

  • EndNote Online – Tue 15 June 11am
  • Desktop EndNote – Wed 16 June 11am
  • Mendeley – Thu 17 June 11am

View Master’s Dissertation Fayre videos

Showdy figures study in purle background of caption "Masters Dissertation Fayre 2021 Monday 7th to Firday 11th June.Last week all students attending live webinars and giving feedback said they would recommend the sessions to others. One said, “Everything has been helpful; despite writing two dissertations I have not had sessions like these before. Learning to focus my research (‘systematic searching’ and ‘finalising research questions’ were great) and [learning to] plan my study more carefully are the sorts of things I’ve been needing to improve.”

So help yourself to these newly recorded video versions provided by the Library’s Liaison and Study Advice Teams. Aspects covered include:

Ready? Get set. Go!

Rachel Redrup, Academic Liaison Librarian

 

Happy summer vacation!

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Today marks the end of the UG academic year and the start of the summer vacation opening hours for the Library. We will no longer be open at weekends, except for three Saturdays on 17 July, 14 August and 18 September.

From Monday 14 June, we will be open 08:30 – 17:00 Monday to Friday for study space, and 11:00 – 14:00 for Click and Collect (loans for continuing students are due Tuesday 28 September). Please remember to make your booking for study space before 16:00 each day and continue to follow the guidance in the Current Library Services LibGuide.

We’re still offering online events for continuing students – see our guide to Reference Management Workshops for further information and if you’re finishing your studies with the University, remember to visit the Library website to find out how you can continue to make the most of the resources as a Reading graduate.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer – we look forward to welcoming you back again soon!

Library User Services

Extra EndNote and Mendeley reference management workshops

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We are offering additional online workshops on using EndNote and Mendeley to follow on from the EndNote / Mendeley comparison webinar which is taking place as part of the Masters’ Dissertation Fayre.

The workshops will take place at the following times:

  • EndNote Online – Tue 15 June 11am
  • Desktop EndNote – Wed 16 June 11am
  • Mendeley – Thu 17 June 11am

Book your place

Sign up to any of these workshops through the Actions tab on RISIS. They will take place on MS Teams and will consist of a live demo with the opportunity to ask questions.

If you can’t make any of the specified sessions but would like to know more, take a look at our reference management guide or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Jackie Skinner
Academic Liaison Librarian

 

OneDrive and EndNote – moving EndNote files from your N: drive

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Laptop and book seen from above, person's left hand on book and right on keyboard. onDo you use Desktop EndNote? Do you currently store your EndNote files on your N: drive? Don’t move them to OneDrive!

Why not store my EndNote files on OneDrive?

When you use Desktop EndNote, especially when inserting references in Word documents, it constantly reads and writes information back to your EndNote library. If you use your files on a cloud-based location, such as OneDrive or iCloud, this means your library can become corrupted over time. Instead you should store your EndNote files on your computer’s local hard drive, such as in Documents or on the Desktop.

However, you will need to check that your chosen location is not automatically syncing to a cloud service. On a Windows computer open the File Explorer and right-click on the relevant location and select Properties. If you are unsure just create a new folder on the C: drive where you will store your EndNote files. For Mac iCloud users we suggest creating a separate folder in your Home folder and saving your EndNote libraries there.

How should I copy my EndNote library to my computer?

To ensure you copy both the library and associated data folder follow these steps:

  1. Open your EndNote library.
  2. Go to File > Save a copy.
  3. Select the location on your computer’s local hard drive and save it with the same name as your original library. This will copy the library and data folder to the new location.
  4. Open your library from the new location when you are ready to use it again.
  5. Delete the old library and data folder on your N: drive.

How do I backup my files?

Files stored on your computer are vulnerable if you suffer any computer failures so it is important to take regular backups of your EndNote files. There are two ways of doing this:

  1. Sync your library with EndNote Online
    Set up the sync option on Desktop EndNote. This will involve creating an EndNote Online account. Once linked with Desktop you can set it to automatically sync. See our guide for step-by-step instructions. Note that you can only sync one library to one EndNote Online account, so if you have multiple libraries (not recommended) you will need to create multiple Online accounts using different email addresses.
  1. Take regular backup copies
    Use the ‘File > Save a copy’ or ‘File > Compress library’ option in Desktop EndNote to create a backup copy of your library and data folder. The backup copies can be saved to OneDrive – just don’t open them from there.

Need help?

If you have any questions about using EndNote please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Contact DTS with any questions about the N: drive migration or OneDrive.

Jackie Skinner, Academic Liaison Librarian

Take the pain out of referencing with EndNote or Mendeley

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Have you been marked down for inconsistencies in referencing? Are you fed up with writing all of your references by hand? Gearing up to doing your dissertation? There are tools that can take the pain out of referencing by storing your references and helping you create bibliographies in Microsoft Word.

We’re running workshops this term covering two of the options available – whether you’re working on essays, your dissertation, or starting your PhD, come along and find out how much time you can save! You can book onto either of these beginners sessions on RISIS under the Actions tab.

Desktop EndNote

Desktop EndNote is a comprehensive reference management system and is designed for postgraduate researchers and staff. You can download accurate references from many databases, such as Web of Science. Use the ‘Find Full-text’ feature to automatically download and attach PDFs for those references. In addition, you can select from thousands of referencing styles or create your own – great if you’re writing for publication. It’s available on all campus PCs through Apps Anywhere, and can be downloaded free on your own computer via the IT Self-Service Portal. We’re running online workshops at the following times this term:

  • Wed 28 April 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 19 May 14:00-15:00

There’s also an online version of EndNote which we recommend to undergraduates and masters students.

See our EndNote guide to find out more.

Mendeley

Mendeley is designed to make storing references and PDFs as simple as possible. We mainly recommend it for undergraduate and masters students. You can drag and drop PDFs directly into your library or use its Web Importer for details of websites and other sources. If you work a lot with article PDFs, Mendeley is a good option for you.

Workshops are taking place at the following times this term:

  • Wed 5 May 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 26 May 14:00-15:00

See our Mendeley guide to find out more.

Book your place

Sign up to any of these workshops through the Actions tab on RISIS. The sessions will take place online via MS Teams.

If you can’t make any of the specified sessions but would like to know more, take a look at our reference management guide or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Jackie Skinner
Academic Liaison Librarian

Take the pain out of referencing with EndNote or Mendeley

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Student studying in the LibraryHave you been marked down for inconsistencies in referencing? Are you fed up with writing all of your references by hand? There are programs that can take the pain out of referencing by storing your references and helping you create bibliographies in Microsoft Word.

We’re running workshops throughout the year covering two of the options available – whether you’re working on essays, your dissertation, or starting your PhD, come along and find out how much time you can save! You can book onto either of these beginners sessions on RISIS under the Actions tab.

Desktop EndNote

Desktop EndNote is a comprehensive reference management system and is designed for postgraduate researchers and staff. You can download accurate references from many databases, such as Web of Science. Use the ‘Find Full-text’ feature to automatically download and attach PDFs for those references. In addition, you can select from thousands of referencing styles or create your own – great if you’re writing for publication. It’s available on all campus PCs through Apps Anywhere, and can be downloaded free on your own computer via the IT Self-Service Portal. We’re running online workshops at the following times this term:

  • Wed 14 October 2020 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 4 November 2020 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 25 November 2020 14:00-15:00

There’s also an online version of EndNote which we recommend to undergraduates and masters students.

See our EndNote guide to find out more.

Mendeley

Mendeley is designed to make storing references and PDFs as simple as possible. We mainly recommend it for undergraduate and masters students. Its main feature is the ‘watched folder’ – any time you add a PDF to a selected folder, Mendeley will automatically retrieve the details. You can also drag and drop PDFs directly into your library or use its Web Importer for details of websites and other sources. If you work a lot with article PDFs, Mendeley is a good option for you. It has both online and desktop versions – both are free to use, but only the desktop version works with Microsoft Word. Workshops are taking place at the following times this term:

  • Wed 21 October 2020 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 11 November 2020 14:00-15:00
  • Wed 2 December 2020 14:00-15:00

See our Mendeley guide to find out more.

Book your place

Sign up to any of these workshops through the Actions tab on RISIS. The sessions will take place online.

If you can’t make any of the specified sessions but would like to know more, take a look at our reference management guide or contact your Liaison Librarian.

Jackie Skinner
Academic Liaison Librarian

EndNote and Mendeley workshops

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Open laptopFollowing on from our successful Masters Dissertation Fair we are offering extra EndNote and Mendeley workshops to support students wanting to learn how to use these reference management tools. These will take place online via Blackboard Collaborate at the following times:

  • EndNote Online workshop – Mon 15 June 11:00-12:00
  • Mendeley workshop – Tue 16 June 11:00-12:00
  • Desktop EndNote workshop – Wed 17 June 11:00-12:00

Book your place through the Actions tab on RISIS.

Which one should I use?

For a standard literature review, or literature-based dissertation, consider either EndNote Online or Mendeley. Both are suitable for storing references and working with Word to insert citations and build a bibliography. If you like working with PDFs then Mendeley is probably the tool for you, as it can automatically populate reference details directly from PDFs. EndNote Online works well with databases such as Web of Science for downloading accurate references. It also has automatic access to key referencing styles, including a customised Harvard style which matches the requirements for many departments.

If you are doing a systematic review, or considering going on to further research, then Desktop EndNote is the most appropriate tool for you. It allows you to easily download references from most databases and automatically attach PDFs with its Find Full-text feature. You can also access hundreds of referencing styles and even create your own!

Read on for more info about each one…

EndNote Online

EndNote Online is free to use and can be accessed from anywhere. Register for an enhanced version via the Web of Science to access our specially-created ‘Harvard for Reading’ style, which matches the reference format requirements for many departments. Collect accurate reference details from many databases as you search. It works particularly well with Web of Science as both products are owned by the same company. Once a reference is downloaded use the ‘Search for item at Reading’ button to find PDFs and then attach them to your references, keeping everything stored in one place.

See our EndNote guide for more information.

Mendeley

Mendeley is designed to make storing references and PDFs as simple as possible. It has a nifty ‘watched folder’ feature – any time you add a PDF to a selected folder, Mendeley will automatically retrieve the details. You can also drag and drop PDFs directly into your library or use its Web Importer to capture details of websites and other sources. If you work a lot with article PDFs, Mendeley is a good option for you. It has both online and desktop versions – both are free to use, but only the desktop version works with Microsoft Word.

See our Mendeley guide to find out more.

Desktop EndNote

Desktop EndNote is a comprehensive reference management system. You can download accurate references from many databases, such as Web of Science. Use the ‘Find Full-text’ feature to automatically download and attach PDFs for those references. Use the Word plugin to insert in-text citations and watch the bibliography grow automatically. Select from thousands of referencing styles or create your own – great if you’re writing for publication. Download it free on your own computer via the IT Self-Service Portal.

See our EndNote guide for more information.

Book your place

Sign up to any of these workshops through the Actions tab on RISIS. Before the session you will be sent a link to the Collaborate session. If you can’t make any of the specified sessions take a look at the links above for guides and videos, or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Jackie Skinner
Academic Liaison Librarian