Guide to referencing software and tools , Te aratohu mō te tohutoro pūmanawa, taputapu hoki

Referencing is used to tell the reader where ideas from other sources have come from. Referencing software and tools help you to manage your references to those sources.

Choosing your referencing software

Decide whether basic tools or full software are suitable for your referencing. We give some guidance below.

Whichever tool or software you use, you need to know your style well so you can check your references and edit them if needed. Make sure you know which referencing style is needed for your course or research.

The OWLL website gives advice and examples of many referencing styles.

Go to OWLL

Basic referencing tools

Choose basic referencing tools when:

• you have up to about 12 references
• you don’t intend to re-use your references in other reference lists.

Pick from this list.

• Discover – find your item, then use the Cite button.
• Google Scholar – find your item, then use the quotation marks icon.
• ZoteroBib – creates references and builds reference lists.
• Microsoft Word – the References tab creates a bibliography, citations and references, which can be exported to EndNote, if needed.

Full referencing software

Choose full referencing software when you:

• have around 12 references or more, or you will reuse a few references again
• want to store your references and their PDFs and create in-text citations and reference lists
• have the time to learn new software.

Pick from this list.

• EndNote – has extensive Massey Library support and is free to Massey users, with fuller functionality than Zotero or Mendeley. Visit the EndNote page for comprehensive EndNote support.
• Zotero – has some Massey Library support, is free and simpler to use than EndNote, and is good for web and multimedia sources.

• Mendeley – has limited Massey Library support, is free to use, has a reference manager and academic social network.

See a comparison breakdown of the features of EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley

Referencing software classes

Classes

Massey campus libraries offer regular face-to-face and online classes to help you learn how to use referencing software.

These classes cover:

• EndNote (for Windows, Mac, advanced and long documents)
• Zotero.

Find and book a referencing software class

Troubleshooting

If you're having trouble using your referencing software or tools, try these tips:

• enter accurate information into the referencing tools, as they don't correct mistakes
• try troubleshooting by doing a Google search and look in the results for a university website, or for the software's help forum
• contact the library for help