Study skills
Reference management tools
These tools help you store references, create bibliographies, and manage large sets of references for projects like systematic reviews. They're ideal for longer-term projects like dissertations or projects that use a lot of references.
Every tool here contains all York St John University referencing styles, so which reference management tool you choose will depend on your particular needs. Use the information below to help you decide, or speak to your Academic Liaison Librarian about your needs.
Zotero
Zotero is a free, open-source reference management tool developed by George Mason University and managed as a not-for-profit product. It allows you to manage references using either a web-based site or a desktop programme, and has options for integration with Chrome, Firefox and Safari, as well as citation plugins for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. Zotero has powerful features including Unpaywall integration which helps you to find open access versions of research.
Zotero is independent from York St John University so you can continue to use Zotero after you have left the University (just make sure your account is registered to a personal email address when you leave).
- Visit Zotero's website (to register, login, and download the programme and plugins to your own computer)
- Zotero Quick Start Guide
Mendeley
Mendeley Reference Manager is a free reference management tool, and academic social network, owned and managed by Elsevier.
Mendeley is independent from York St John University so you can continue to use Mendeley after you have left the university (just make sure your account is registered to a personal email address when you leave).
- Visit Mendeley's website (to create account, sign in, and download the programme and plugins to your own computer)
RefWorks
RefWorks is a web-based reference management system accessible to any member of York St John University. It has integration for web browsers and has citation plugins for Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
RefWorks access is managed by York St John University and you will need to create an account using your York St John email address in order to use it.
If you are leaving York St John then you can retain access to your RefWorks account as an Alumni. Before you leave you will need to go into your account settings, change your role to 'Alumni' and change your York St John email address to a personal email address.
- Visit RefWorks' website (to create account, sign in, and use the web-based service)
- More RefWorks training videos
EndNote (for staff and researchers only)
EndNote 20 (for staff and researchers only)
EndNote is reference management software available to staff and postgraduate researchers. There are 2 versions of EndNote:
- The desktop version which is highly sophisticated software that can be made available on university PCs/personal devices for staff and postgraduate researchers.
- EndNote Online, which is a simplified version and can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.
EndNote also has a citation plugin for Microsoft Word.
If you leave the University then you will still be able to access up to 50,000 references and 2GB of storage through EndNote Online. You can also export your references into alternative reference management software or into a Word document.
- EndNote 20 Desktop (staff/researcher PC) - please log an IT job to get EndNote installed on your PC.
- EndNote 20 Desktop (staff/researcher home or personal device) - download the EndNote 20 installer. Please log an IT job to obtain the licence key.
- EndNote Online registration and login.
