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Citation Styles

Your guide to common citation styles.

Citation Managers

Reference or citation managers are tools that help you to collect, organize, and save bibliographic citations as you research. There are many citation tools available. Some require a paid subscription, while others are available for free. Typically, citation managers allow you to:

  • import references from online databases and other web resources
  • manually add references, including PDFs of articles
  • organize references into folders
  • create bibliographies or reference lists using a variety of citation styles
  • share references with others

 

Choosing a Citation Manager

There are many factors you need to consider when choosing a citation manager including the following:

  • Ease of use / learning curve
  • Compatibility with your operating system and word processor
  • Available storage space
  • Costs (including costs for additional storage if needed)
  • Web-based or desktop (Is it online only or can you use it offline?)
  • Sharing options (Can you share your references with others?)
  • Citation styles (What citation styles are supported?)

 

Citation Manager Comparisons:

There are many websites that provide reviews and comparisons of popular citation managers such as those listed below:

IMPORTANT! Saint Mary's transitioned away from RefWorks and our institutional license ended on March 31, 2024. Access to RefWorks accounts has now ended. Please see the information in this guide regarding alternative citation managers.

Contact peter.webster@smu.ca if you have questions regarding RefWorks.

How to Move Your Citations from RefWorks to Zotero

  1. Before You Begin: Zotero will put your imported references into a new collection (i.e., folder). If you export “All References” from RefWorks at once, your references will be in the same collection in Zotero and you will have to manually assign them to new collections to organize them. If you want to maintain your old RefWorks file structure in Zotero, you will need to import your references folder by folder.

 

  1. In RefWorks, choose what you want to export: you can select All References, or My List, or select one of your folders

    1. Then, select Share in the menu at the top of the screen

    2. In the Share dialogue box, select Export References. Select “All references” if you want to export everything in that category; then select Export to a text file; and select RIS format

    3. The RIS format file will download to your computer, wherever you save your downloads

 

  1. In the Zotero desktop app, go to the File menu, select Import, and then select “From a file”

    1. Find the downloaded file on your computer (it will be called export.ris) and select it

    2. Click Open, and then Finish

    3. You will see a new collection (folder), called “Export,” in your collections. You should rename this immediately, especially if you are importing other folders separately. You can rename collections by right-clicking on the name of the collection and selecting “rename collection.”

Please note:

Exported references will not include PDFs or other attachments you have saved in RefWorks. These files will have to be downloaded one at a time to your desktop or saved to another location such as OneDrive and then reattached to the matching record in your Zotero account.

If you have a Dropbox account (or create one), it is possible to batch download multiple PDFs at once by linking your RefWorks account to Dropbox. To do this, log in to RefWorks, click on your name (top right), then click on Settings and scroll down the page until you see Dropbox. Click the Connect button and follow the instructions provided. Your files will be saved in your Dropbox Apps folder in a subfolder called ProQuest RefWorks (Dropbox/Apps/ProQuest RefWorks). From there you can move PDF files to the matching records in your Zotero account.

 

For more information on importing from other reference managers, see the Zotero support: https://www.zotero.org/support/moving_to_zotero

EndNote Basic is a free version available to anyone. To create a free, EndNote Basic account go to: http://myendnoteweb.com.

EndNote Online with Web of Science is a free, enhanced version of EndNote Basic that is available to all Saint Mary’s students, faculty, and staff and accessed via the Web of Science (WoS) database. EndNote Online with WoS offers some additional functionality over EndNote Basic including more choice of citation styles. To create an account for EndNote Online with WoS, go to: the Databases A-Z page > select Web of Science > click Register (upper right corner) to create a free account. Then, to access EndNote Online, sign in to your WoS account and click on Products (upper right corner) and select EndNote.

For more information about the various EndNote products, please visit the EndNote Desktop Comparison Chart.

For EndNote Help and Support please consult the following guides:

How to Move Your Citations from RefWorks to EndNote

  1. Before You Begin: If you export “All References” from RefWorks at once, you will have to manually assign them to new groups in EndNote to organize them. If you want to maintain your RefWorks file structure in EndNote, you will need to import your references folder by folder and create new “Groups” in EndNote as you go.

  1. In RefWorks, choose what you want to export. You can select All References, or My List, or select one of your folders.
  1. Then, select Share in the menu at the top of the screen
  2. In the Share dialogue box, select Export References. Select “All references” if you want to export everything in that category; then select RIS Format and click Export
  3. The RIS format file will download to your computer, wherever you save your downloads

  1. Next, sign into your EndNote account.
  1. Select “Collect” in the menu at the top of the screen and then choose “Import References”
  2. Find the downloaded file on your computer (it will be called export.ris) and select it
  3. Select “Refman RIS” from the “Import Option” drop-down menu
  4. Choose the “Group” you would like the references to be imported into in EndNote. You can select a new group or choose “Unfiled”
  5. “Unfiled” references will be imported into EndNote and will appear in the “All My References” section. You can then select and move these references into Groups in EndNote.

Please note:

Exported references will not include PDFs or other attachments you have saved in RefWorks. These files will have to be downloaded one at a time to your desktop or saved to another location such as OneDrive and then reattached to the matching record in your EndNote account.

If you have a Dropbox account (or create one), it is possible to batch download multiple PDFs at once by linking your RefWorks account to Dropbox. To do this, log in to RefWorks, click on your name (top right), then click on Settings and scroll down the page until you see Dropbox. Click the Connect button and follow the instructions provided. Your files will be saved in your Dropbox Apps folder in a subfolder called ProQuest RefWorks (Dropbox/Apps/ProQuest RefWorks). From there you can move PDF files to the matching records in your EndNote account.

How to Move Your Citations from RefWorks to Mendeley

  1. Before You Begin: If you export “All References” from RefWorks at once, you will have to manually assign them to new collections in Mendeley to organize them. If you want to maintain your RefWorks file structure in Mendeley, you will need to import your references folder by folder and create new “Collections” in Mendeley as you go. Additionally, any notes you had in the “Personal Notes” or “User Fields” of RefWorks will not be exported into Mendeley, and you will need to add these manually.

  1. In RefWorks, choose what you want to export. You can select All References, or My List, or select one of your folders.
  1. Then, select Share in the menu at the top of the screen
  2. In the Share dialogue box, select Export References. Select “All references” if you want to export everything in that category; then select RIS Format and click Export
  3. The RIS format file will download to your computer, wherever you save your downloads

  1. Open your Mendeley account.
  1. Select “+Add new.” Choose Import Library, and then select RIS (*.ris)
  2. Find the downloaded file on your computer (it will be called export.ris) and select it
  3. Click Open, and then Finish
  4. References will be imported into Mendeley and will appear in the Recent References section. You can then drag and drop these references into Collections (i.e., folders) in Mendeley. You can re-name or create a collection by selecting the New Collection option and giving your collection a name.

Please note:

Exported references will not include PDFs or other attachments you have saved in RefWorks. These files will have to be downloaded one at a time to your desktop or saved to another location such as OneDrive and then reattached to the matching record in your Mendeley account.

If you have a Dropbox account (or create one), it is possible to batch download multiple PDFs at once by linking your RefWorks account to Dropbox. To do this, log in to RefWorks, click on your name (top right), then click on Settings and scroll down the page until you see Dropbox. Click the Connect button and follow the instructions provided. Your files will be saved in your Dropbox Apps folder in a subfolder called ProQuest RefWorks (Dropbox/Apps/ProQuest RefWorks). From there you can move PDF files to the matching records in your Mendeley account.