How to get started • What is reference management software? • EndNote or RefWorks—which should I use?
KU has purchased two reference management software products for the KU community to use at work, in the public computing labs, and at home: RefWorks (available to all students, faculty, and staff) and EndNote (available to graduate students, faculty, and staff).
Instructional Services offers workshops on both RefWorks and EndNote; for details, see technology.ku.edu/workshops.
To begin using RefWorks, visit www.lib.ku.edu/technology/citing/refworks/ and follow the instructions there for creating a new account. Important: In order to use RefWorks from off campus, you must first create your account using a computer that is accessing the internet through the university network.
To download and install EndNote, visit technology.ku.edu/software/endnote and follow the instructions for Windows or Macintosh under Download EndNote.
EndNote Web works similarly to EndNote but your library is stored on a remote server. To begin using EndNote Web, visit www.endnoteweb.com, and follow the instructions there for creating a new account. In order to use Important: In order to use EndNote Web from off campus, you must create your account using a computer that is accessing the internet through the university network.
Reference management software helps researchers at all levels store, track, and cite reference information about their research materials, including books, journal articles, archives, interviews, maps, works of art, and many other types of materials.
| Research Stage | How Reference Management Software Helps |
|---|---|
| Gathering information | Researchers import references to materials they have found from bibliographic databases (such as ArticleFirst or Expanded Academic ASAP) or other research tools into their own personal collection of references. As they review and study those materials, they can add research notes to the references stored in their collection. Information in those references is fully searchable, helping researchers find needed references later. |
| Writing | As researchers write the results of their research (in papers, journal articles, grant proposals, reports, dissertations, and so on), they use reference management software to insert properly formatted in-text citations and build the list of works cited at the end of their document. |
| Submitting for Publication or Academic Credit | When submitting the results of their research, researchers can use reference management software to reformat papers, if necessary (to change from the bibliographic style required for Nature, for instance, to that required by Science, or to change from MLA to APA style). |
| Sharing Information | References can be exported in formatted bibliographies, or the collections of references themselves can be shared electronically with fellow researchers, students, and colleagues. |
Both RefWorks and EndNote help researchers manage and cite references, but there are differences between the two products. Some of the key differences are highlighted below. You can also contact Instructional Services (864-0410 or training@ku.edu) to discuss which tool would better suit your specific research needs.
| Factor | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Are you an undergraduate student at KU? | The RefWorks license agreement covers everyone at KU; our EndNote license covers only graduate students, staff, faculty, and public access (lab) computers. Undergraduates who wish to use reference management software on their own computers are encouraged to use RefWorks. |
| Do you need access to your collection of references from many computers, including public access (lab) computers? | Since RefWorks is a web-based tool, your references are stored on a web server and are accessible from any computer with a web browser and an internet connection. Users who work on their references at many computers often find RefWorks more convenient. With EndNote, your references are stored on a file on your computer's hard drive. This file can be copied to disk or other portable storage device and accessed on other computers which have EndNote installed. |
| Do you need access to your collection of references from a computer even when it doesn't have a "live" internet connection? | With EndNote, your references are stored on a file on your computer's hard drive, and are available whether or not that computer is connected to the internet. Since RefWorks is a web-based tool, your references are stored on a web server and are not accessible without an active internet connection. |
| Do you prefer a web-based or a desktop tool? | RefWorks is a web-based application; EndNote is a desktop application. A useful analogy is WebMail (or Hotmail) and Outlook; if you prefer using WebMail (or Hotmail) to Outlook, you might also prefer RefWorks to EndNote. If you prefer using Outlook, you might also prefer EndNote. |
| Does your research require that you store images with your references | EndNote supports images. RefWorks does not. |
| Do your references contain unicode characters? | Both EndNote and RefWorks support unicode characters. |
| Do you use a Palm OS handheld device? | EndNote includes an additional application for Palm OS, allowing you to download to and access your collection of references on your handheld computer. RefWorks does not offer this feature. |
| Would you like Word document templates for papers written in specific bibliographic or journal styles (such as MLA, APA, Nature, and so on)? | EndNote includes document templates for many bibliographic and journal styles, which create the basic structure of your document for you, and allow you to fill in the content. RefWorks does not offer this feature. |
| Does your research require customization of your reference management software (for instance, the way it imports references, or formats citations and bibliographies)? | Both RefWorks and EndNote allow you to customize the way citations and bibliographies are formatted, and use custom fields for references. (RefWorks allows up to 5 custom fields per reference, EndNote up to 7 custom fields.) With EndNote, you can customize reference types, import filters (the instructions for importing references from a data source, such as a library catalog or bibliographic database), connection files, and the way references are displayed in the list view. It is not possible to customize RefWorks in these ways. |
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