Introduction to Bibliographic Managers: Why, When, and How to Manage Your Research

Why, when, and how to manage your research

INTRODUCTION TO BIBLIOGRAPHIC MANAGERS

OVERVIEW OF THIS SESSION

Identify common problems with managing references

Identify solutions to managing references:

MS Word Bibliography features

EndNote

Zotero and Mendeley

In-depth look at Zotero

Workshopping with Zotero

Conclusions & last words

WHY? (PROBLEMS WITH CITATIONS)

Why do we cite/attribute information in research papers?

What happens when we don’t cite, or when the citations are incorrect?

So, why don’t we always cite, and always cite correctly?

HOW? (GETTING HELP THROUGH TECHNOLOGY)

Bibliographic managers (sometimes known as reference managers) are here to help!

Organize your research all in one place

Easily create in-text citations

Easily format bibliographies

Avoid plagiarism and other unpleasant consequences of incorrect (or no) citations

MS WORD BIBLIOGRAPHY

Built into Word 2007, 2010

Easy to use

Slightly limited in its functionalities

A great option for short papers/when you don’t want to learn a whole new program!

A LOOK AT MS WORD

Use the References tab to access the MS Word Bibliography functions

ADDING REFERNECES

Click Manage Sources then New to add a reference to your collection of research

INSERTING CITATIONS

Click Insert Citation, and select your Style to start creating in-text citations

LAST WORD ON MS WORD

Beware: downloading EndNote (coming up next) or the Zotero Word plugin will overwrite the MS Word bibliography function.

For more help and information, visit the MS Word help site. The link below will take you directly to the part about bibliographic management:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/create-a-bibliography-HA010067492.aspx

ENDNOTE

Often called the Cadillac of bibliographic managers

Expensive, but free to you as a VT student (through network software distribution)

Link and support available: http://www.lib.vt.edu/endnote/index.html

Available cross-platform (Mac or PC)

Software has a steep learning curve

Software has the most functionality of all managers (i.e., the best for large papers like a thesis or dissertation)

AN ENDNOTE LIBRARY

• 3 ways to import references• Over 4500 reference styles to choose from • Can remotely search databases to pull in references• Can create unlimited number of libraries• Can use the “group” function to organize references

CITE WHILE YOU WRITE

Use Cite While You Write to automatically create in-text citationsand bibliographies

When you install EndNote, theprogram will install an MS Wordplug-in

FREE & EASY OPTIONS

Zotero: http://www.zotero.org/

Open source and open access (free)

Only compatible with Mozilla Firefox

Offers a web-based component

Collaborative

Mendeley: http://www.mendeley.com/

Open access (free)

Also offers a “social network” for researchers

Offers a web-based component

Collaborative

MENDELEY

This is a screenshot of the “server” side—the online account that syncs with a desktop account. Science/research/academic oriented. Includes social networking functions.

ZOTERO

This is the “online account” side of Zotero—we’ll look at the “downloaded” side in a moment.

STARTING WITH ZOTERO

When you download Zotero, it will live inside your browser (Firefox)

You will also have space on a Zotero server, so that you can access your research no matter what computer you may be working at

The program you’ve downloaded on your computer will ensure that you have a local copy of all of your information

IN-CLASS DEMONSTRATION

Downloading Zotero

Importing references into Zotero (several different ways)

Editing references

Sharing Zotero libraries/collections

Using the Zotero “cite while you write” feature with MS Word (will NOT overwrite the MS Word bibliography features)

Generating bibliographies

Questions?

IN THE BROWSER

When downloaded, Zotero will live at the bottom of your browser (Mozilla Firefox) Three main elements show up

here…

The grouping(s) of documents

The documents themselves

The citation information

ADDING REFERENCES

Use these icons to manually add or import citations with the click of a button. Alternatively, you can use the images that show up in the browser bar…

USING THE ZOTERO ICONS

Look for these icons in the browser bar when you are searching online, in databases, or in the library catalog. Click them to add them to your library.

MS WORD PLUGIN

To use the “cite while you write” feature in Zotero, you must download the MS Word plugin:

http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_integration

When you do, you should see “Add-Ins” appear at the top of your Word document

IN-TEXT CITATIONS & FORMATTING BIBLIOGRAPHIES

The first icon is to insert a citation, which you’ll choose from Zotero.

The second to last icon is to format a bibliography from the citations you’ve added

EXAMPLE CITATION & BIBLIOGRAPHY

First, insert the in-text citation.Then, insert the bibliography.Done!

ZOTERO TUTORIALS/HELP

The Zotero website offers lots of helpful tutorials and guides for getting started with and using Zotero:

Quick start guide: http://www.zotero.org/support/

Zotero support: http://www.zotero.org/support/

Screencasts: http://www.zotero.org/support/

Zotero mobile apps: http://www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-apps-go-mobile/

IN CONCLUSION…

There are a lot of tools available for managing your research

It’s up to you to figure out the tool and workflow that works best for you

Librarians are always available to help you with all aspects of research, including bibliographic management!

ONE LAST WORD…

Remember, these citation management tools are just pieces of software

It’s possible that they could be wrong

You will still need to be familiar with the style you are using, to make sure that your citations ar correct

Use our citations & style manuals page for more help: http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/citation/index.html

QUESTIONS?

Contact me!

Rebecca Miller

College Librarian for

Science, Life Sciences, and Engineering

millerrk@vt.edu

Newman 5004