Referencing: EndNote - Designing citations and bibliographies (Self-study)

Challenge

Each topic is in two parts. The Challenge is a hands-on activity for you to try. If you have trouble completing the Challenge, use the Resources (videos to watch, documents to read etc) to learn more.

We recommend you try out the Challenges using the work files provided here, rather than risk damaging your own documents and reference library.

You will need sample documents to work on. Use the red button to download the ZIP folder from the IT Learning Portfolio.

Once the ZIP folder is saved on your local computer, you must create an uncompressed copy of the folder, for example by right-clicking on the ZIP folder and choosing Extract All.

Resources

Download the ZIP folder with work files, from the IT Learning Portfolio

Workfiles 

Challenge

Open the library labwork.enl and look around the EndNote window and controls.

Open the Word document Sample Tech Paper2.docx. Examine the citations in this document and the bibliography.

Insert some more citations for practice. Apply the Author-Date output style, updating if necessary, then apply another well-known style such as Harvard, and notice the further differences.

Resources

For a recap of creating an EndNote library and filling it with references, then inserting citations into a document and applying an output style to format the citations and bibliography, watch one of these videos:

“How to use EndNote in seven minutes”

Watch video - Mac  

Watch video - Windows

"What's new with EndNote 20"

Watch video - What's New

Challenge

Start by ensuring that the document has the Harvard style applied.

You will work on some individual citations, changing their appearance so they differ from the standard template:

Change the Bordier, 2003 citation so that it excludes the year

Add the prefix also discussed in to a suitable citation

Insert a citation at the start of a sentence, with a suitable format

Edit another citation, and try some other options from the dialog

Note that not all output styles can display cited pages (Pages added using this Edit Citations dialog); page numbering is discussed in section 8 below.

Resources

“CWYW: Editing Citations” videos with helpful explanation; using EndNote version X8 but broadly similar to the current version

Watch video - Windows

Watch video - Mac

“In action: EndNote Edit & Manage Citation(s)” a silent video demonstrating with EndNote 20; note that there is no voice-over in this video

Watch video

Downloadable PDF quick reference guides:

Download guide - Windows

Download guide - Mac

Challenge

Open the Author-Date style for editing, saving it with a new name such as 01Author-Date Copy

Edit the Citations Template to provide this effect:   

Confirm that the style works in the document as required.

Resources

“Building an EndNote Output Style”

Watch video

Challenge

Continue editing the style 01Author-Date Copy. Examine the different templates that have been set up for each reference type, in the bibliography category.

Make some changes to formatting, punctuation and fields for the Journal Article reference type, then confirm the effect in your document.

Look at the other categories available, to control the behaviour of the bibliography. Experiment with some, such as the Title Capitalisation and Author Name, and see the effect in your document.

Resources

“Building an EndNote Output Style”

Watch video

Challenge

Apply the output style Chicago Footnote to your document. This style is used for citations in footnotes (so may not be relevant for non-footnote documents).

Any citations not in footnotes are hidden for the time being; they will re-appear when you apply a non-footnote style in a later exercise.

Create another copy of the style, and edit the Footnote template so that all citations in footnotes are similar to this:

Test the template; for example, look at the footnote citation (Ginsberg, 1988) at the bottom of page 1.

Notice that the second citation of the Ginsberg paper, later in the document, appears using a shorter form. Edit the Ginsberg reference in the EndNote library, adding a Short Title such as Stressful venepuncture. Confirm that
this appears in the second, short citation of the paper.

Explore the behaviour if you cite the same reference a) in two separate footnotes, and b) in two adjacent footnotes. To control a), edit the Short Form templates, and for b) change the settings for Repeated Citations.

Resources

“Building an EndNote Output Style”

Watch video

Challenge

Apply the style APA to the document. Examine the way this style handles ambiguous citations (near the bottom of page 1 and the top of page 2, notice that we cite two different papers written by Cassar in 1980).

Create a further copy of the style, and change the way this output style handles these ambiguous citations.

Two books by Trevor, with different dates, are cited in the 3rd body-text paragraph on page 1. Experiment with changing the repeated author option in Citations|Author Name, and see the effect on this pair of citations. Try out some other options for author names.

Explore the effects of some other settings such as Anonymous Works (you may need to create a suitable reference in your library), Author name format, or Author lists.

Resources

“Building an EndNote Output Style”

Watch video

Challenge

Apply, if necessary, the 01Author-Date Copy output style to your document. In the Word document, try inserting a page number into one citation - initially, the cited page numbers do not appear with the citation.

Modify the output style to display the cited page numbers.

Experiment with changing the Page Numbers formatting options, which are listed in the Style Editor window near the top of the category panel.

Hint

If you simply want to include a page number with a given citation, it is simplest to type the page number information in the Suffix box in Edit & Manage Citations (see section 3 above).

If you want to type page numbers in the Pages box, this only works if the citation template includes a Cited Pages field. If your citation template does not already include this field, you can edit the citation template and add the field. See Section 4 above for editing a citation template. "Cited Pages" is one of the fields offered in the Insert Field drop-down.

Challenge

In citing an article, you may be required to give the name of the journal in full, or using a standard abbreviation. EndNote can handle this automatically, using a Term List with journal names and their standard abbreviations.

For 01Author-Date Copy output style, explore the Journal Names setting, and notice the options available. Change this setting if appropriate to your work.

Open the Term List for Journals in EndNote. Edit the name or the abbreviation for a journal that you plan to use in your document.

If the list of journal names has collected errors over time, or if the list does not include many journal names in your field of work, you can replace the whole list by downloading a fresh ready-made list.

If relevant, either update the Journals list in EndNote or delete some or all of the Journal Terms then import a new list.

Resources

“Journal Names: How to Set Up a Journals Term List” a helpful explanation with demonstration using earlier version of EndNote

Watch video

“EndNote 20 term lists” a silent video demonstrating with EndNote 20; note that there is no voice-over in this video

Watch video

Challenge

Create a copy of the output style Harvard (this style is used for in-text citations, so any effect on citations in footnotes is incidental).

Experiment with the effect of settings such as Bibliography| Title Capitalization and Sort Order.

In the Word document, using the Format Bibliography dialog, change the font and font size, and adjust the spacing around bibliography items.

Explore the use of hyperlinks - will you want to use these in your own work? For example, you might use hyperlinks while drafting a document, then remove them just before printing.

Resources

“Cite while you write: Formatting the Bibliography (Windows)” a video using an earlier version of EndNote, but the explanation is helpful and the procedure is the same for the current version

Watch video

“Cite while you write: Formatting the Bibliography (Mac)” a video using an earlier version of EndNote, but the explanation is helpful and the procedure is similar for the current version

Watch video

“In action: EndNote Configure Bibliography” a silent video demonstrating with EndNote 20; note that there is no voice-over in this video

Watch video

Challenge

A document comprising several chapters may require separate bibliographies, one at the end of each chapter.

Make a further copy of your document, just for this activity. Divide your document into about 3 chapters, inserting a New Page Section Break at the end of each chapter. (The chapters may be quite short, but ensure that there are a few citations in each
chapter.)

Edit the output style, in the Sections category, to Create a bibliography for each section.

Update the bibliography as necessary. Confirm that each chapter now has its own mini-bibliography.

Resources

“Building an EndNote Output Style”

Watch video

Challenge

EndNote can create a bibliography that is divided into categories. Some writers separate primary sources from secondary sources, for example.

Make a further copy of your document, just for this activity. In the Categorize References menu, choose Configure Categories and ensure that the categories you require are in place (eg. Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Other).

Assign each citation to one of these categories.

Update the bibliography, with Group References by Custom Categories. Examine the bibliography to see the separate categories.

Resources

Watch video1

Watch Video2

Watch Video3

Challenge

As a precaution, save a copy of the document with its formatted citations and call this Sample with citations.

Unformat citations in the whole document. Examine the effect on in text citations and the bibliography. This is a good way to expose any citations that are misbehaving. When ready, you can apply another style.

Turn off Instant Formatting and see what now happens when you insert a citation. After inserting a few citations in this unformatted form, update the citations. Will you want to work with Instant Formatting turned on or off?

Create a separate version of the document with no field codes (“finalised” for publishing). Save it as Sample Finalised.

Resources

“EndNote: Formatting and unformatting for safe editing”

Watch video

“Advanced features in EndNote”, discusses instant formatting and why you would turn it on/off, starting around timepoint 1h 18m.

Watch video Windows   Watch video Mac 

“EndNote: Converting to plain text”

Watch video

The IT Learning Centre offers workshops on further aspects of using EndNote for your references and academic documents. These are teacher-led workshops, run in person or online. Read more about these courses and find out how to book your place:

EndNote Quick Start workshop

EndNote Managing your Research Reading workshop

The EndNote company offers a range of videos and other learning resources, on aspects of working with EndNote (various versions)