An Overview of Reference

Management Tools: RefWorks &

Mendeley

Ivy Segoe
Research Librarian

23 February 2021
Introducing yourself

• Welcome to the session on exploring Reference

Managers!

• I would like for 6 people to introduce themselves

to the group.
• Please raise your hand and I will randomly select
the 6.
• As part of your introduction, also explain to us
your expectation for this session.
• Other participants, please type your
expectations in the chat.

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Housekeeping

• The video function is disabled to reduce the bandwidth, only the

facilitator will be able to display images.
• Please remember to mute your microphone so as to avoid
disturbances.
• Throughout the workshop, you will be able to use the chat tool to
type questions to the facilitator, who will look at it at regular
intervals and answer the questions before proceeding with the
workshop
• The video recording, additional resources and facilitator’s
presentation will be made available within 2 days after the
workshop.
• You will be able to find this in CM0283, the PGS community, by
selecting the appropriate menu item (only visible 2 days after the
workshop).

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 Story time:
Say Yes to the Reference Manager

Pros and cons of various reference management systems.

By Michelle Lavery
June 2, 2015

Can you identify with anything in the story? Please share your
thoughts?

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Welcome

Our aim for today:

• What are reference management tools?

• What do they do and why is it a good idea to use them.
• Tips on how to choose a management tool.
• The two most commonly used reference management tools UJ.

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What are reference management tools?

Also known as reference managers, bibliographic management tools or citation management tools

• Capture your sources as you find them on the library

databases or the Internet
• Help you to organize and save your sources
• Insert citations in your written work
• Create a bibliography

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What are the benefits?

1. Staying organized

• Collect information about everything you have read in

one place

2. Saving time

• Speed up adding citations and creating bibliographies in

documents

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How is information added to reference managers?

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Where are your references saved?

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 Do you need a reference management tool?

• Do you have a large piece of writing to do?

• Will you need to use lots of different sources?
• Do you sometimes forget where you found a reference?
• Do you find writing your bibliography time consuming or difficult?
• Do you sometimes need to switch referencing styles?
• Would you like to refer back to your sources at a later date?
• Are you prepared to spend some time setting up a system for saving your sources so you can save time later
when you are writing?

• If you answered 'yes' to three or more of the above then a reference management tool could help you.

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How many reference management tools are there?

RefWorks and Mendeley in the Top 10!

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Features of Reference Management Software

• Support for a wide range of citation styles

• Automated creation of bibliographies
• In-line citation creation
• Add annotations, notes, to documents
• Document or reference import from outside sources
• Extraction of citation data (e.g. author, publication name, etc.) from imported documents
• Synchronize data across shared or stored documents
• Create a research profile, add publications to a scientific database via the software

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Questions to ask before choosing your tool…

• What do you need?

• How do you work?
• Is the tool licensed by the library?
• Do you need to access the tool from all your devices?
• Do you want an integrated search functionality?
• Do you have to share or collaborate?
• Does the tool allow for offline use?
• Do you need a web app that connects you with other researchers and sends you updates on new
developments in your field?
• Do you want to develop your researcher profile?
• Is the tool interoperable with a word processing programme you use?

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Questions to ask before choosing your tool…

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What you need to know before choosing a reference manager…

• A good understanding of the reference style you need to use is essential before you start using referencing
tools because the citation exported into any reference manager is just as good or bad as the database or
search engine it was exported from. You need to check the bibliography afterwards.

• No one software rules them all!

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ACTIVITY: POLL

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RefWorks and Mendeley defined

• RefWorks is a web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal
database by importing references from text files or online databases and other various sources. You can use
these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.

• Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research,
collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research: Automatically generate bibliographies.
Collaborate easily with other researchers online. Easily import papers from other research software.

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Poll

• Looking at the provided definitions, which reference management tool stands out for you?

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Evaluation form

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RefWorks and Mendeley at a glance:
RefWorks Mendeley
Availability Web-based Web, desktop and mobile
app.
Free via university subscription
www.uj.ac.za/library Freely available
www.mendeley.com
Word processor compatibility MS Word MS Word

Google Docs LibreOffice

Browser compatibility Internet Explorer Chrome

Captures from pdf documents and
webpages?
Sharing/collaboration
Firefox Safari
Safari Firefox
Chrome Microsoft Edge
Internet Explorer
Yes (('Save To RefWorks' browser plugin Yes (‘Web Importer'
available in the 'Tools' section) browser plugin available in
the 'Tools' section)
Share references with groups Share references and
notes with groups

Academic social network

RefWorks and Mendeley at a glance:

RefWorks Mendeley
Duplicate detection Yes Yes

Direct export from the library Yes Yes, via Web Importer
database

Literature search PubMed Science Direct

Import from browsers Yes ('Save To RefWorks' Yes (‘Web Importer' browser
browser plugin available in the plugin available in the 'Tools'
'Tools' section) section)

Referencing styles Yes, including UJ Harvard and Cite them right: Harvard 10th
APA 7th edition edition
Customizable APA 7th edition
Customizable
Storage Unlimited 2 GB of online personal storage
and 500 MB of online group
storage
RefWorks and Mendeley at a glance:

RefWorks Mendeley
In-text citation software Write-n-Cite Mendeley word-plugin

Bibliography Bibliography Tab in MS Word Insert Bibliography" button in

toolbar (Word)
Full-text storage Yes Yes

Transfer files to another Yes Yes

platform
Support by provider Yes, through the Librarians Limited. Librarians assist.
RefWorks online guides and Mendeley guides, videos,
YouTube video tutorials & forum

Access after you graduate No No

Known issues when working offline

• Importing references via methods other than creating a manual entry are not available while offline.

• Copying references with file attachments between your private library and different groups and then amending
the file attachments from either the new references or the original will not sync correctly when going online.
New references will mirror the original reference at the point of going online and any file amendments will be
lost.

• Creating both a collection and a manually added reference while offline, and then moving the new reference to
the new collection without going online will cause the new reference to become corrupted.

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How to access RefWorks and Mendeley

• RefWorks: www.uj.ac.za/library
• Scroll down to quick links.

• Mendeley: www.mendeley.com

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Help Pages

• https://blog.mendeley.com/

• https://refworkscommunity.ning.com/

• Mendeley YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnaozZWUVmrfuUaydpNWmeQ?feature=emb_ch_name_ex

• https://www.youtube.com/user/ProQuestRefWorks

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