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MEBA Library Research Guide

This is a library guide for MEBA 382: Research Design and Methodology

Using Citation Managers

Citation managers are tools that allow you to collect, organize, cite, and share information sources.  You can use them to keep track of your reading, organize literature reviews, and can help you cite sources in your writing.  There are many options available  - some are free, and others require a paid subscription.

Citation Managers

EndNote online is a Web-based citation management tool.

An EndNote account allows you to:

  • collect and store references saved from database searches
  • upload and attach PDF documents to references 
  • insert references into Microsoft Word documents using the Cite-While-You-Write plug-in
  • share references with other EndNote online users

Creating an EndNote online account

  1. Log onto Web of Science
  2. Select the "EndNote" link on the upper toolbar
  3. Select "Register" in the login window

Once you have created an EndNote online account via Web of Science, you can access your account directly at: https://www.myendnoteweb.com/EndNoteWeb.html

Endnote accounts created through Web of Science have additional features beyond the free Endnote Basic version.  If you leave Harrisburg University, your Endnote Online account will remain available, but will convert to the Basic version.

There is a quick reference guide for EndNote available here.

The University College London has a thorough EndNote guide that includes information on sharing saved resources here.

Mendeley is a free citation manager and academic social network.  It includes:

  • Full-text search across papers
  • Organize and annotate PDFs and other documents
  • Create citations and bibliographies
  • Collaborate and share resources

The free version of Mendeley limits you to:

  • 2 GB of personal web storage
  • 1 Private group of up to 3 people
  • 100 MB of group web storage

How do I get Mendeley?

To start using Mendeley:

  • Create a Mendeley account at: https://www.mendeley.com/
  • Download and install Desktop version of Mendeley
  • Open Mendeley on your computer and log in using your account credentials

Hirsh Health Sciences Library at Tufts University has a very thorough Mendeley guide that includes information on creating groups and sharing references here.

Zotero will allow you to:

  • Organize and annotate PDFs and other documents
  • Create citations from databases
  • Tag your citations for greater searchability
  • Create citations and bibliographies
  • Collaborate and share resources

How do I get Zotero?

Download and install Zotero from the Zotero website. 

Install browser connectors to allow you to collect sources as you work online.

Penn State has a thorough Zotero guide that includes information on sharing references that is available here.

EBSCO is one of the main database providers that we use at Harrisburg University and you can save any resource you find in EBSCO in a personal folder area linked to your EBSCO account. For information on how to create a My EBSCOhost account, click here.

Saving your resources as your search for them is an important part of any research project. The below steps go over how to save your research in your MyEBSCOhost folders.

To save items to your My EBSCOhost folder

  1. Sign in to your My EBSCOhost account.

  2. Search for the information that you want to save in your folder. You can save all types of search results to your folder. (For example, articles, links to searches, images, etc.)

  3. Add the items to your folder in any of the following ways:

    • Add one item – Click the folder icon add to folder icon located to the right of the article title. This adds only the single selected item to your folder. If you have custom folders in your account, select a folder to add the article to.

    • Add all the items on the page – Click the Share link and then click Results (1–10) link at the top of the menu. This adds all items listed on the page to your folder.

      share link on result list

      When the article result is added to the folder, the folder icon will change to a folder item icon folder has items indicator. Clicking this icon will remove the result from your folder.

      remove from folder link

    • From the Detailed Record, you can add one item. Click the Add to Folder link at the top of the tools menu. This adds only this single item to your folder.

      add to folder link

To view the contents of your My EBSCOhost folder

  1. Sign in to Your My EBSCOhost account and then click the Folder link at the top of the page.

    folder link in top toolbar

  2. View the contents of your My EBSCOhost folder. Your folder contains links to your saved items in groups such as Articles, Images, Journal Alerts, Saved Searches, etc.

  3. Click a folder location to see the items in a group.

    folder locations menu

  4. Click an individual item (for example, a magazine article or an image) to display the full detail for the item.

    article full text

To save articles to a specific folder

If you have custom folders created within your My EBSCOhost folder, you can specify which folder you would like your articles saved in, when you click the Folder icon folder icon.

save to a specific folder

The article is added to the folder you specify.

article added to the chosen folder

When you click the Folder item icon folder has items icon, the name of the folder which contains the article displays a folder icon.

  • To move the article to a different folder, click the name of the folder you would like to move the article to.

  • To remove the article from the folder entirely, click the name of the folder that contains the article.

Much of the information in this tutorial came from the EBSCOhost tutorial found here. More information can be found on that page such as how to delete items from folders.

There is a video tutorial that goes over much of this information that can be viewed here.

For information on how to share your folders, please go here.