EndNoteOld: EndNote Basics

EndNote is a web-based citation management tool which provides users with online storage for their references.  It also offers the ability to insert citations and format bibliographies instantly in a word processor.

EndNote accounts are available free to Meredith faculty, students, and staff.

To use EndNote, you must first create an account from on campus.  After your account has been established, you may access your account from any computer.  Visit the EndNote website and click on "Create an Account."

Once you have established an account, you will use http://www.myendnoteweb.com to access and build your library of citations.

ISI Web of Knowledge and EBSCOhost databases support a direct import to EndNote Web. Other databases require saving to a file before importing.

See the Exporting Citations from Databases to EndNote tab for detailed instructions on commonly used research resources.

You may choose to organize your citations into one or more groups.  Groups can keep your citations organized according to topic, material type, pro/con, empirical/theoretical, assignment, or some other dimension.

1. Click the Organize tab and choose Manage My Groups.
2. Use the New Group button to create groups.
3. In the My References tab, checkmark the references you want to add to a particular group.
4. Use the pull-down menu above the references to "Add to group ___" those selected references.

You may also want to share a group of citations with a professor or research partner.  Make sure the other person has an EndNote account.

1. Click the Organize tab and click Manage My Groups. 
2. For the group you want to share, click the Manage Sharing button and then click Start Sharing This Group.
3. In the window that pops up, enter the email address(es) of the people with whom you intend to share the group, and press Apply. 

You can use EndNote to automatically generate bibliographies of selected sources in the citation style of your choosing.

1. Go to the Format tab and choose Bibliography
2. Choose the Group of citations that will comprise your bibliography
3. Pick a citation style from the pull-down menu
4. Pick RTF as a file format, which will create a document that you can open in a word processor

To cite sources from your EndNote library while writing your paper, you must first download the "Cite While You Write" plug-in from EndNote.  Go to the Format tab and click Cite While You Write Plug-In, then choose the Windows or Mac version.  After the installation, you will see a new EndNote menu tab appear in Microsoft Word.

For styles that involve in-text citations (such as MLA and APA), do the following:

• As you type your paper in Word, when you wish to insert a citation to an EndNote reference, click on the EndNote tab and select "Insert Citation / Find Citation"
• In the Find box, enter a search term (such as the author's last name or a word from the title) that will locate the reference you wish to cite, and press the Search button
• Select the desired reference and press the Insert button
• Make sure that the correct citation style is selected in the Style drop-down box in the EndNote tab
• If you need to cite a specific page number, put your cursor on the in-text citation and press "Edit & Manage Citation(s)" in the EndNote tab in Word.  Enter the page number in the Pages box and press OK

For styles that involve footnotes (such as Chicago and Turabian), do the following:

• As you type your paper in Word, when you wish to insert a footnote to an EndNote reference, click the References tab and press "Insert Footnote" (as you normally do in Word)
• With your cursor in the footnote at the bottom of the page, click on the EndNote tab and select "Insert Citation / Find Citation"
• In the Find box, enter a search term (such as the author's last name or a word from the title) that will locate the reference you wish to cite, and press the Search button
• Select the desired reference and press the Insert button
• Make sure that the correct citation style is selected in the Style drop-down box in the EndNote tab
• If you need to cite a specific page number, put your cursor on the footnote and press "Edit & Manage Citation(s)" in the EndNote tab in Word.  Enter the page number in the Pages box and press OK.
• Note that if the reference has previously been cited in your document, the footnote will use the "short form" of the citation. If the reference was also the previous item cited, the footnote will use "Ibid" as appropriate.

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