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Library 101 Citation Management Tools

Background Information

Mendeley Logo

Mendeley is a citation management tool provided by Elsevier.  There are free and for fee versions of Mendeley.  

First, get started with a free web account that offers limited features. If you do get a desktop, the web and desktop will synchronize.

The download options are described online. Be sure to select the Mendeley version that is right for your operating system:

Mendeley download options

Guides

Here are just a few guides from Mendeley and other academic libraries. They can help you get started:

Web Importer

Install Web Importer in your browser to capture citation information from PubMed, Scopus and other resources into your Mendeley web account. 

  1. In Mendeley Desktop, cick on Tools then Install Web Importer.
  2. Select your browers - Firefox, IE, Safari, etc. and then follow the online instructions.

Mendeley & Word

Use your Mendeley references in a Word document:

  1. Install Mendeley desktop
  2. Click on Tools in the top Mendeley tool bar and download the MS Word Plugin.  
  3. Position your cursor where you would like the citation and click Insert Citation.
  4. To add a bibliography, position your cursor where you would like the bibliography and click Insert Bibliography.

For additional details see video Generating Citations with the MS Word and Open Office Plugin (below).

Citing References in Word

Importing a New Citation Style

You need to have the Citation Plugin installed into Word and your Mendeley Desktop downloaded (and synched with your web account) to create bibliographies using Mendeley.

Here is a guide to the bibliography-generation process, and below are screenshots showing how to import citation styles into the Mendeley citation editor. First, go to the Desktop Menu and click on View, then find the Citation Style drop-down menu:

mendeley citation menu via View

In the Citation Style menu, you can look for styles that are pre-installed, and for new styles to download. Below you can see how to search for a new style to add, that of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Just click on Get More Styles and start typing the style name into the search bar:

adding a style to Mendeley

Once you have found the style you want to download, click the Install button:

installing a new style in Mendeley

With the new style in the Installed list, you can select it to use in formatting your references:

selecting a new style in Mendeley

Remember to always have your Mendeley desktop open while you have your Word open as well. Inserting references and bibliographies is easiest when you use the Mendeley Word Citation Plugin. You will find that it installs itself in Word under the References tab. It looks like this in Word for Mac:

Mendeley reference toolbar in Word