EndNote: Other Tools (Zotero, Mendeley)

ECU subscribes to EndNote, so our training and support focus on EndNote. However, you may find that another reference manager works better for your circumstances, for example if:

• You work with a research group, and the group uses another tool.
• You are familiar with another tool from a previous institution or project.
• You expect to continue working with your reference library after you leave ECU, and prefer to use free software to minimise disruption.

This page contains links to guides or resources that can help you with these tools.

Note that in some cases, installing more than one reference manager on your computer can cause problems: for instance, you might find that the EndNote add-in for Word stops functioning if Mendeley is installed. You will have an easier time if you choose only one reference manager for your work.

Zotero is a free, open source reference manager.

If you cite web sources frequently, Zotero provides a superior experience. It is better than EndNote or Mendeley at creating accurate references from sources like Amazon, Flickr, and ECU Library search.

Zotero acts as a database of related files, and allows you to map relationships between your documents. Because Zotero is open source with an active community, there are numerous community-created plugins that will allow you to manipulate the data in your library (e.g. data visualisations, text mining, and more).

Zotero has a good user guide and support page. It also covers installation of Zotero and its add-in for Word, Google Docs, and other word processors:

Links and guides from other universities

Like EndNote, Mendeley has both a desktop and an online version.

Mendeley is an academic networking site as well as a reference manager. You can see the articles other users have added, search for articles using Mendeley, and share your own library.

If you have an Elsevier account, you can use that to sign in. Otherwise, sign up to create an account.

Quit all Microsoft Office products when you install Mendeley desktop. During the installation, it will install Mendeley's equivalent to EndNote's Cite While You Write (CWYW), so that you can use Mendeley within your Word documents. Note that this may disable the CWYW add-in if you already have EndNote installed.

If you are using Mendeley online, install Mendeley Cite to add your references in Word:

Find and edit reference styles for Mendeley:

Links and guides from other universities