One of the most tedious aspects of writing a research paper is managing the references. Not only do you have to carefully record all of the bibliographic information for the sources you have consulted, but there are different styles you may have to use to format the citations, depending on the publication to which you are submitting your paper.
Fortunately, there is help through using something called reference management software. You enter the basic information into fields and then tell the software the format you want to use (e.g., AMA or Council of Science Editors). As you write your paper, it will enable you to insert properly formatted in-text citations and generate the list of works cited at the end of the document.
Caution Regarding the “Vancouver” Style
If your instructor tells you to use the “Vancouver” style, be aware that this does not refer to a universally consistent way of formatting citations. In 1978 a small group of medical journal editors (they would eventually become the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) met in Vancouver, British Columbia, to agree on a system for presenting papers for publication. The US National Library of Medicine produced guidelines for them for formatting citations, and these rules were nicknamed “the Vancouver style.” However, these general rules have been adapted by individual institutions and publishers to meet their needs, so there really is no one current Vancouver style for references. Various software packages (such as EndNote) may have a style that they call Vancouver, but there are slight differences among them. What you get may not be what your instructor expects. It would be best to show him/her an example and see if you may need to tweak the formatting.
There are a number of different tools to manage your references, but a few that you might want to consider are:
EndNote Web is a component of Web of Knowledge and is free of charge to Wilkes students, staff, and faculty on any computer with an Internet connection. With EndNote Web you can easily save and organize up to 10,000 records from various databases (e.g., EbscoHost, Web of Science, etc.). Using its Cite While You Write plug-in, you can insert and format references directly into your paper in Microsoft Word. Go to EndNote Web Training and Support to sign up for a live webinar, view a recorded session, or to obtain materials such as a quick reference card. If you learn better from a live instructor, request an appointment with a librarian in the Farley Library.
Another free program is Mendeley, available for desktop and Web. Mendeley allows you to manage PDF downloads and format your citations and reference lists according to your needs. A plug-in lets you easily insert citations and bibliographies into Microsoft Word documents. Mendeley has a social media aspect which allows you to connect with other researchers in your field. See Mendeley Video Tutorials to learn more about this software program.
Zotero, also free, was designed to work best as a plug-in for the Firefox browser although it now works with Chrome and Safari. When used with Firefox, you can download citation information from Web pages, library catalogs, Amazon, and article databases (such as PubMed and Ebscohost) with a click of your mouse. Like the others, there is a word processor plug-in which enables you to insert properly-formatted citations into your paper as you are writing it. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections and create bibliographies. Documentation for getting started is available.
Further help can be obtained via a number of different methods: