EndNote Notes - Interfaculty Research Writing Retreat

INTER-FACULTY RESEARCH WRITING RETREAT
USING ENDNOTE X2 SOFTWARE
EndNote X2 is a bibliographic management software and is used to:
1. create bibliographic records of the materials that you have read or selected for your assignments or
projects;
2. import bibliographic records of the materials that you have located in online databases;
3. format citations, references and bibliographies according to a specific citation style.
The objectives of this EndNote X2 tutorial are as follows:
1. create an EndNote library;
2. add references to the EndNote library either by manually entering references in the EndNote libraries
or by importing references from online databases into EndNote libraries;
1. CREATING AN ENDNOTE LIBRARY
A. i. If you are accessing EndNote for the first time, the following screen will appear. Click on ‘Create a
new library’ icon/tab.
ii. In the pop up dialog box enter file name e.g. ‘Online Marketing Strategy’, choose a location for saving
the library eg. ‘Removable Disk (E:)’ and click on save tab.
1

B. i. If you have accessed EndNote previously, the following screen will appear. Choose New from the
EndNote File menu.
ii. In the pop up dialog box enter file name e.g. ‘Online Marketing Strategy’, choose a location for saving
the library e.g. ‘Removable Disk (E:)’ and click on save tab.
Note:
EndNote library filenames are automatically given the extension .enl (for EndNote Library). Each
library has an .enl file and a .Data folder associated with it. It is important to always move, copy,
rename, and delete both the main .enl file and the corresponding .Data folder for each EndNote
library.
2

The filename you enter appears in the top left hand corner of the window.
At the bottom left corner of the window, the words "Showing 0 of 0 references" indicate that your new
EndNote library is empty.
2. ADDING REFERENCES TO A LIBRARY
There are two ways to add references to an EndNote library:
A. adding references manually, e.g. records from the library catalogue;
B. importing references from online databases into EndNote libraries.
A. Adding References Manually
i. From the EndNote References Menu, choose New Reference.
3

ii. In the New Reference dialog box, choose the type of reference you are creating from the Reference
Type drop down menu.
Note:
It is important to choose the appropriate reference type for proper formatting of your references
and bibliography.
iii. Click to select a field (author, year, title, etc.) into which you want to enter information. Type in the
information, and then go on to the next field. If you don't need information for a field, you can leave the
field blank.
Note:
Entering the information in the fields is not a simple data entry process.
1. You would need to be aware of the elements that are needed to write a reference.
E.g. The elements of a reference for a book are author or editor, title and subtitle, publisher, place
of publication, year of publication.
E.g. The elements of a reference for a journal article are author, article title and subtitle, journal
title and subtitle, year of publication, volume and issue number, page numbers.
2. To avoid errors, you would need to be aware of the rules of the bibliographic citation style that
is recommended by your faculty.
Tips
• The Tab key is used to move between fields. The Enter key acts as a separating character within a
field - e.g. where you want to enter 2 or more authors.
• Authors and editors should be added in the format Lastname [comma] Firstname [and/or] Initial...
e.g. Gollum, Gary G. Each author’s or editor’s name must be entered on a separate line.
4

• When entering corporate authors (e.g. International Labour Organization) place a comma at the end
of the full name to signal that the full corporate name constitutes the "surname" for searching and
sorting purposes. If you do not enter a comma, EndNote will assume your author's surname is
Organization, with first names International Labour.
• Do not include any punctuation after the title of a book, book chapter or journal article.
• In the volume and issue fields, enter only the relevant numbers. Do not enter v. or vol.
• New authors, journal titles and keywords display in red as you enter them.
E.g. Enter the following record which is from USP Library catalogue
iv. Close the New Reference window. The reference will now appear in your EndNote library.
B. Importing References from Online Databases into EndNote Libraries
'Importing' is the term used to describe the method of directly transferring references from online
databases into an EndNote library, without having to manually type in each record.
5

Note:
1. Although this method can save you time, it is important to understand that importing is not
possible from all databases. E.g. ProQuest, EBSCOhost, ISI Web of Knowledge and Jstor are
some USP Library online databases which facilitate direct exporting of references to Endnote.
2. Also importing is seldom entirely accurate. It is therefore essential that you always check the
quality of any references you have imported, and edit where necessary.
Importing is usually straightforward, and generally involves the following steps:
i. selecting the EndNote library you wish to export the records to;
ii. searching a database;
iii. marking the records you want to save;
iv. selecting the database's direct export option.
E.g. 1. To import references from Proquest
i. Open the selected Endnote library where you wish to save the references.
ii. Search the database by entering search terms e.g. ‘online marketing strategy’ and selecting necessary
preferences such as ‘Full text documents’ and ‘Scholarly journals’. Select references (you can select
more than one reference) that you want to import into EndNote by clicking in the boxes. Do not open the
record as you would not be able to find the export tab. Click on ‘Export’ tab.
iii. Click on ‘Export directly to ProCite, EndNote or Reference Manager.’ - this will launch the
EndNote program.
6

iv. The new references will be directly exported from the online databases and will be incorporated into
the selected EndNote library.
E.g. 2. To import references from Business Source Premier (EBSCOhost)
i. Open the selected Endnote library where you wish to save the references.
ii. Search the database by entering search terms e.g. ‘online marketing strategy’. Select one reference at
a time that you want to import into EndNote by clicking onto the record. Click on the ‘Export’ icon.
7

iii. Click on ‘Direct Export in RIS format’ and click save tab.
iv. The new reference will be directly exported from the online databases and will be incorporated into the
selected EndNote library
E.g. 3. To import references from Jstor
i. Open the selected Endnote library where you wish to save the references.
ii. Search the database by entering search terms e.g. ‘online marketing strategy’. Select references (you
can select more than one reference) that you want to import into EndNote by clicking in the boxes.
iii. Choose ‘Export Citation’ tab and then select ‘RIS file’ format. Choose the ‘Open’ option in the pop up
dialog box.
8

iv. The new references will be directly exported from the online databases and will be incorporated into
the selected EndNote library.
E.g. 4. To import references from Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com)
i. Open the selected Endnote library where you wish to save the references.
ii. Access Google Scholar, and to the right of the Google Scholar search box, click on ‘Scholar
Preferences’.
iii. Scroll down to the ‘Bibliography Manager’ option, click on ‘Show links to import citations into’ and
select ‘EndNote’ from the drop down menu, then click on ‘Save Preferences’.
9

iv. Enter search terms, then select results that you want to export by clicking on ‘Import into EndNote’.
v. When the file download window appears, click ‘Open’.
10

vi. The new references will be directly exported from Google Scholar and will be incorporated into the
selected EndNote library
© USP Library, Nov 2011
11