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EndNote 20

Guide to using EndNote reference management software

Cite While you Write FAQs

Working with multiple EndNote libraries:

Display of citations or reference lists:

Working with citation styles:

Working with multiple Word documents:

Technical problems:

Can I use references from multiple EndNote libraries in my documents?

You are advised to use only one EndNote library for all your work, to avoid errors and problems.

See Creating a new EndNote library.

How do I add page numbers to an in-text citation?

What is the short title field used for?

Many humanities styles require that you use the Short Title field to enter abbreviated versions of the regular title as used as part of an in-text citation or a footnote citation.  For example MLA typically lists just the author name and the specifically cited pages in the in-text citation (Izzo 141).

If there are multiple works by that author, MLA requires that the title, or a shortened form of it, be added to the citation. Where the full title of the reference is fairly long, such as "Research and reflection: teachers take action for literacy development" an easily recognisable form of the title is used that starts with the first word on which the normal title would be sorted. For example: (Izzo, Research 141)

If an EndNote style is configured to use the Short Title field but that field is empty in a record, the normal Title field is used instead.

Why are there numbers and curly brackets appearing around my in-text citations?

In-text citations that are unformatted, i.e. they have not had a referencing style applied to them, appear in the format {Smith, 2016 #3}. To make them appear according to the style of your choice:

  • Check the Instant formatting option in the EndNote toolbar in Word. Ensure that Instant Formatting is On.

If most references are appearing as you expect and there are just a few references that are unformatted, it may be that those references are not in the EndNote library that is connecting with Word to format the document. This may be because you deleted the reference, perhaps as part of a duplicate deletion, or that you inserted it from a different EndNote Library. In this case, you may need to:

  • Add the reference to your EndNote library.
  • Delete and re-insert the in-text citation.

Why is the author name displaying incorrectly in my bibliography?

Author names will display incorrectly in Word if they are formatted incorrectly in your EndNote library. See the advice on author names in Adding References. If you want to add an institution as an author, put a comma at the end of the name. This forces EndNote to treat everything before the comma as a last name, so it should display correctly. See the EndNote support page on adding corporate authors.

See also Editing a reference and Adding a reference manually.

Why can't I get my citation numbers to appear in the right order?

If you are using a numbered style, you might find that your citations are not numbered in sequence throughout the body of your document. This could be for a number of reasons.

The first thing to test is to see if the document has been instructed to start numbering at 1:

  • In Word, click on the tiny arrow in the bottom right corner of the Bibliography section of the EndNote tab.
  • Click on the Layout tab and check that Start with bibliography number is set to 1.

You can also check that the Style you are using does not use an alphabetical bibliography.

  • In EndNote, go to the Tools menu, select Output Styles, then Open Style Manager.
  • Find the Style you are using and click on Edit. In the left hand pane, under Bibliography click on Sort Order.
  • If the option Order of appearance is not selected, your bibliography and citations will be numbered according to the option which is selected.

style edit window showing bibliography sort order options

See also EndNote: Citation numbers out of order, on the EndNote website.

 

How do I get numbered in-text citations to appear in superscript?

You need to edit the particular style you're using within your EndNote library.

  • In EndNote, from the Tools menu select Output Styles and Open style manager
  • Select your chosen (numbered) style and then click on Edit. A new window will open, allowing you to edit the selected style. 
  • Under the Citations heading select Templates and highlight Bibliography Number.
  • Click on the superscript icon (not in the template itself, but in the menu bar at the top of the screen).

style editing window editing in text citation tempate

  • Finally, close the window and save your changes.

How can I cite a secondary source referenced by my cited author? For example (Bloggs, 2004 as quoted by Smith, 2008)

  • Click on the citation in the body of the text you would like to modify.
  • Select Edit and manage citations from the EndNote tab.
  • In the bottom half of the window under the Edit citation tab, type the required information in the Prefix field, including any spaces or punctuation you want to show up, as this is not placed in automatically.
  • "Smith, 2008" will be fully referenced in the bibliography, Bloggs will remain referenced only in the text.

Can I use footnotes instead of in-text citations?

Please also see advice from Clarivate on entering Citations into Word footnotes/endnotes and our tip box on footnote referencing styles 

To enter references into footnotes, you need to create the footnote using the Referencing tools within Word, and insert the citation in the footnote.

  • Open the Word document and EndNote library that contains the references you will be citing in your paper.
  • Within Word, from the References tab, select Insert Footnote.Insert footnote command on Word References tab This will place a superscript number within your text and move your cursor down to the corresponding number in the footnote section that has just been created.
  • Now click on the EndNote tab, click on Insert Citation and Insert your selected citation(s) from your EndNote library.

Footnote field at bottom of Word document

EndNote will automatically produce both the footnote list at the bottom of the page, as well as the ready formatted bibliography at the end of your document.

Styles can be edited to display footnotes as in-text citations, entries that match the bibliography or a specific footnote format.

How can I remove a duplicate reference from my reference list in a single Word document?

  • Remove the duplicated instance of the reference (citation and references) from your Word document. See Editing citations.
  • Make sure you have de-duplicated your EndNote library, and that you only have one instance of the reference in your EndNote library. See Dealing with duplicates.
  • Re-insert the reference into your Word document.

Can I include references in my bibliography which are not cited in my document?

For references to appear in the bibliography they need to be cited in the text. After you cite them you can use the Edit Citation command in Word so that the citation would not be visible in the text but would appear in the bibliography:

  • In Word, go to Edit and Manage Citations in the EndNote toolbar.
  • Select the relevant citation
  • In the Edit Citation section below, change the drop-down option to Show only in Bibliography.

How do I amend the format of my bibliography, such as indents, spacing and font?

If you amend the formatting of your bibliography using the standard Word formatting options, you will find it reverts back to the original formatting every time the bibliography is updated or refreshed. You should therefore amend formatting settings from within EndNote or using the options on the EndNote toolbar in Word.

Using options on the EndNote toolbar in Word

  • Click on Configure Bibliography via the small arrow in the corner of the 'Bibliography' group on the EndNote toolbar.
  • Select the Layout tab and change the font, indent and spacing as required.

Within EndNote

You can amend the formatting of hanging indents in your bibliography for your chosen output style by amending the output style:

  • Select Tools and then Output Styles from the menu bar at the top of the screen and select your style.
  • Choose Bibliography and then Layout from the left-hand pane.
  • Select All paragraphs from the Hanging Indent dropdown at the foot of the screen.
  • Save your changes.

You may find it helpful to preview a reference using the style in the 'Reference' tab of the right hand pane when viewing your library.

 

How can I divide my bibliography into different categories?

You might wish to categorize your references, for example by type of source, such as book, article, or web page etc.

  • Open your Microsoft Word document.
  • On the EndNote tab, select Categorize References and then select Configure Categories.
  • At the top of the box, select [+] Category Headings. This will add a blank text field under Category Headings.
  • Enter names for your categories such as book, article, or web page etc.. Click and drag the categories you enter to determine the order they will appear in your Word document.
  • Under the References heading, select All References in Bibliography to see your references.
  • References can be dragged from the central pane into the category in which you wish them to appear.
  • Search for specific references using the search box at the top right.
  • Any reference not assigned a category will appear in the bibliography under the heading 'Uncategorized References'.
  • Click OK.
  •  You can re-name a category, delete a category, or move references between categories.

How can I produce an independent list of references organised into categories?

You might wish to output a list of references from your EndNote library sorted into different categories. For example, a list of everything by a particular author, or a references divided by publication type, or by year. 

  • Highlight those references in your library you wish to include.
  • From the Tools menu, select Subject Bibliography to display a list of the EndNote fields.
  • Highlight the field(s) whose contents you wish to use as headings. For example if you wanted a list of references divided by author, select author.
  • Click OK to display a list of all the terms which appear in the references you initially selected, for the fields you specified.
  • Select those terms you wish to include as headings. For example, you might only wish to include the top four authors, or particular authors. You can sort the list by number of records by clicking on the column header #records. Click OK.
  • You will see a preview. Click on the Layout button to modify the layout and style. Verify the settings in the References, Terms, Page Layout and Bibliography Layout tabs and click OK.
  • Subject headings print as they appear in your records. No special formatting of author names and no journal title substitution is applied.
  • You can then copy, print or save the list of references.

What should I do if I can't find a referencing style that displays my references exactly as I want them?

It is possible to manually edit citation styles to make small adjustments. Find the citation style which is closest to your requirements; you can then edit the style and save it as a new customised style. See Editing a referencing style.

How can I cite in OSCOLA style?

You need to download the OSCOLA style and follow the instructions given on that website.

How can I merge two Word documents containing references from a single EndNote library?

Can I cite references in multiple documents or should I maintain separate libraries for each of my assignments?

We recommend you maintain only one EndNote library as each has an unlimited storage capacity of many thousands of references.

  • Effective use of keywords allows you to quickly find references relating to a particular assignment.
  • The same reference can be cited in multiple pieces of work.
  • You can use 'Groups' to sub-divide one large library into multiple subsets, making it even easier to manage your references.

Why can't I see the EndNote tab in Word?

Why is my EndNote toolbar greyed out? Or, why do I get a 'Cannot edit range' error?

You may experience problems if you have both the EndNote and Mendeley toolbars installed in Word.

If you get the message Cannot edit range, follow these steps:

Windows:

  • In Word, go to the File menu, then Options, then Add-ins.
  • At the bottom of the screen, where it says Manage, select Word Add-ins is displayed then click Go.
  • Deselect the Mendeley add-in.

Mac:

  • In Word, go to the Tools menu and select Templates and Add-ins...
  • Deselect the Mendeley add-in and select the OK button.

Why isn't 'Find Figure' working?

  • Make sure that the figure you want to include is in the Figures field in your EndNote reference, and not the File Attachments field.
  • Make sure that the figure has a caption, that the Caption field is filled in.

Error messages when formatting my Word document

If you see error messages such as "The requested object could not be found", "Command failed", "Unknown error", "Object has been deleted", "the range cannot be deleted"  when working in Word, this might be because you have Track Changes or Comments visible.

Please see this help page from Clarivate for more information.