Reference management software (RMS) allows you to collect, store and organise your references, and insert them into your documents quickly and easily. Once you have stored a reference, you can use it over and over again in your bibliographies. This can save you a lot of time, as you don't have to manually type a reference each time you cite a particular source.
Using reference management software to include references in your paper requires advanced information and digital literacy skills. To get the most out of these tools, you will need confidence in using Library resources and software, such as Microsoft Word, as well as strong organisational and search skills. You will also need to know what your departmental referencing style is and have a basic understanding of how to reference.
These tools are only as good as the information that you enter into them so if you're brand new to referencing or digital skills, we suggest you complete the "Intro to the Library", "Managing Information" and "Referencing" sections first.
This page covers:
Using reference management software to include references in your paper requires advanced information and digital literacy skills. To get the most out of these tools, you will need confidence in using Library resources and software, such as Microsoft Word, as well as strong organisational and search skills. You will also need to know what your departmental referencing style is and have a basic understanding of how to reference.
Using AI to reference
While referencing with AI may sound very tempting and easy, it is actually a very tricky thing to get right. There are many fantastic referencing tools out there, so we would advise you stick to Cite Them Right and reference management software when it comes to creating or generating references. Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are best used as a proofreading or checking function - most references suggested by ChatGPT don't actually exist.
Because many tools like ChatGPT don't have access to the live internet, it makes dynamic tasks like creating references very tricky to achieve. If you give ChatGPT a link to a resource you'd like to reference, it will most likely be unable to do so. Even tools with access to the internet will struggle to create references, though, because there are so many different versions of each referencing style and you may have to reference many different types of resources that you'll still have to manually check each reference.
Reference your AI use
It is good practice to be transparent about your use of AI. You can use your methodology section to discuss what tools you used and how, and you can also include references to the tools and prompts used.
Most of the referencing styles in use here at University of Essex have updated their guidance about citing generative AI and other AI tools - we suggest you check your style guide and follow their advice. If your style guide doesn't mention how to cite AI tools, don't worry, you can also follow our general advice below about referencing AI.
At a minimum, your full reference should record:
Your in-text citation will depend on your style, but we recommend you follow the formatting of a citation type that is as close to the type of tool you used as possible. For example, to cite ChatGPT we suggest you check how your departmental style formats citations for websites, digital materials, or software and choose the most appropriate one to follow.
The first thing you need to do when you're starting out using referencing management software (RMS) is to decide which RMS works best for you, so the key thing is to figure what features are important to you.
You may find it helpful to test different reference management software packages to see which one you prefer working with. A few things you might want to consider when choosing your reference manager are:
EndNote is installed on all computers in the IT labs on campus. EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero can be downloaded to your own computer.
If you aren't already familiar with the common available software, take a quick detour to our "Managing Information" section that introduces EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley, or watch the below video from Oxford's Bodleian Libraries:
Except where otherwise noted, this work by University of Essex Library and Cultural Services is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
