INTRODUCTION

What is a citation/ reference?

A citation is a formal reference to some work or source which we consult for putting forward a
hypothesis or stating a research problem. It’s a way in which we tell the readers that certain materials
and methodology are not standardised by the researcher itself but are taken by previous works. It is
used when we use quotes, paraphrases or specific reference to the work of someone else, use of idea
that someone has already expressed, etc.

Why a proper citation is required and how it helps?

The references or citations help the readers to know where one has collected the materials from and
whether the methods and procedures followed are standardised ones or not. It is a means of critically
analysing the work done based on the sources used by someone prior and gives further references to
follow for more information related to the topic.
A proper citation/bibliography also prevents from the copyright and plagiarism issue. It also
strengthens the work by lending support from outside about the individual’s ideas.

What is reference management and hence, reference management software?

Organisation of an effective system for systematically arranging your references is a crucial element
of research, especially if one is likely to be deal with large numbers of references. Research
management refers to systematic arranging of citations, adding and storing them and the software
which is assigned this work is called the reference manager.
Reference manager performs 3 basic steps-
a) Searching
b) Storing
c) Writing
It helps the investigator to find the literature relevant to his investigation, allows them to store papers
and the bibliographic metadata in a personal database for retrieval anytime later, and allows addition
of citations and references in any chosen citation style while writing the research manuscript.
Almost all reference managers allow direct importing of citations from bibliographic databases
through direct access from the reference manager and/or bookmarks that import content from web
browser.Reference database is then searched, indexed and labelled and is also organised into folders
and subfolders.

Types of references that can be added to any reference manager-

We can manually or automatically input the bibliographic content into a reference manager. But it is
more conducive if the citations are automatically extracted from an online search engine databases
like Web of Science, Scopus, Google scholar, PubMed, etc.
Reference can be imported/ exported in BibTex, RIS, XML, DOI, simple text and various other
formats.
BibTex:
BibTeX was created by Oren Patashnik and Leslie Lamport in 1985. It is a reference management
software wherein simple text format is used while adding reference list. The file format is
independent of any style.
RIS:
Reseach Information System has developed this file format for citations. It is made of 2-character
codes and a corresponding value. The RIS file can be opened and edited anytime as they are saved in
ASCII file format.
DOI:
DOI or digital object identifier is used to provide a unique identity to every journal articles. As it is a
fixed identity of the document for lifetime, it tells about the file even if its location or any other
metadata is changed. This makes it easier for the reference manager (or the author) to extract DOI
from the cited PDF and locate, store and protect it.

ENDNOTE- REFERENCE MANAGEMENT

What is EndNote?
Different reference managers like Mendeley, Zotero, Reference Works, Papers, EndNote, JabRef,
CiteULike, etc are available these days. Depending on the ease of its use, its stability, price and
availability of helpline support, a reference manager is selected. A very popular and user effective
reference manager is EndNote that is discussed over here.
EndNote was produced by Thomson Reuters. It allows collection of resources from online and PDF
resources. It has alliance with Microsoft Word and Open Office, and hence can be used there
directly. Its references can be exported into other formats too like BibTex and RIS. EndNote has also
collaborated with other bibliographic tools like Web of Science and Researcher ID.
4 main functions of EndNote are-
a) Finding the research material according to our research problem/hypothesis through many
built-in search tools.
b) Reference storage and organisation
c) Creating bibliographies and citations
d) Also, sharing the research work.

 EndNote can be installed on multiple computers by entering the product key every time you
install it in a new computer. In a ‘typical’ installation, only a limited variety of styles and
features are available. But, in a ‘custom’ installation, one can choose from a wide range of
citation styles and filters.
 Output styles include different fields and subjects of research (Humanities, Commerce, and
Science) from where one can choose his/her area of investigation and hence filter the
searches carried out.
 References can be directly imported from online databases like Web of Science, PubMed etc.,
where you can select the amount of information you want to showcase in your bibliography
like Author(s) name, Journal, Volumes, ISSN/ISBN, cited reference count, keywords,
abbreviations, author identifiers etc. For direct exporting of references, EndNote Online Plug-
in can be used.
 The software can import PDF having the DOI number in the metadata and through this,
searches the paper online and adds its reference. If one wishes to directly add a PDF file, then
 they can change the preferences in the Edit menu to change it to PDF handling and then adds
it.
 Whole of the file can be made in text format, and then imported for reference adding so as to
prevent duplicity and hence can be filtered out during importing.
 “Cite while you write” option allows the adding up of reference while we are preparing the
manuscript in the Word processing document. One can either select preferences from the
previously made libraries or create a new one with more references.
 A library catalogue can be made to make sure all the citations and research paper one has
been searching for are covered in it.
Creating a library on EndNote and adding of references-
Creating a library on EndNote is very easy and is similar to making a doc file. Choose a name of
your library file and then save it in the preferred location where it is saved automatically in .enl
format.

(image reference: https://hsl.lib.unc.edu/tutorials/endnote/build-library)

Every library has two components, and .enl part which is the main document file and the .data part
which stores figures, groups and other files associated with the library. Numerous library files can be
created but it is always advised to have only one library for one general field. This not only reduces
labour but also helps to expand the citations added to one library on a topic.
Citations can be added manually or from online databases. From EndNote tools, click on ‘online
search’ dropdown box. A dialogue box ‘choose a connection’ appears from where online database of
choice can be selected.
 (image reference: https://hsl.lib.unc.edu/tutorials/endnote/build-library)
Customised search can be carried out to find papers related to the field of study and then cited
accordingly.
Citation styles-
Citation styles help the readers to identify and read the citation easily. With a variety of academic
disciplines and publication journals, the citation styles also differ and hence one needs to choose the
style of citation accordingly. Some of the different styles of citations are APA, MLA, Chicago,
Turabian, etc.
a) APA (American Psychological Association) is used in Education, Psychology and Sciences.
b) MLA (Modern Language Association) is used by the Humanities.
c) Chicago/Turabian is used mostly in Business and Historical research works.
d) Vancouver is a numerical citation style used in the fields of medicine and sciences.
e) MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) style is developed primarily for books
and journals where footnote is used mainly, for every quote, ideas, or paraphrases used. First
the information about the work and author is given in the footnote and then the reference is
cited in an abbreviated form.
In EndNote, preferred style of citation can be chosen from the dropdown box or the Select another
style option and then the citations can be edited according to it.
The text spacing, font style and hyperlink of the citation can be managed according to one’s
preference by changing the configuration from the Configure Bibliography option, hence formatting
the citations.

SUMMARY-
Hence, we see the need of having reference management software for making suitable bibliography
which is reader friendly as well as is in a standardised format. Using reference manager reduces the
workload of manual editing after the manuscript is written. It also reduces the faulty inputs that may
creep in during manual editing. EndNote is user-friendly due to its customised citation styles and
sharing of library, which helps in correction by colleague groups where it is shared. Features like
‘cite while you write’ make it easier to keep on adding citations without waiting till the finishing of
the work. Filtering of search results according to the research topic and field helps in improving the
bibliography and hence makes it convenient for its readers too.