Getting the Most Out of the Mendeley Citation Manager
Information on how to access Mendeley and how to install the extensions:
1) Create an account on the Mendeley website: https://www.mendeley.com
- This will be your main account, which will allow access to everything.
2) Download the desktop app: https://www.mendeley.com/download-mendeley-desktop/
- The desktop app is where you can create your folders, select citation styles for bibliographies, etc.
- Once you have a bibliography in the desktop app and a Word/Office plug-in you will be able to access your saved articles and insert in-text citations as well as a bibliography in your selected citation style. You can also simply copy and paste the bibliography into a document.
3) Mendeley importer: https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/web-importer#id_1 –
- One-click uploading of citations and articles from PubMed and many other sites/databases.
- Mendeley Importer can also be downloaded from the Desktop App – Tools.
4) Mendeley Cite Word plugin: https://www.mendeley.com/guides/mendeley-cite/
- Allows you to create in-text citations and insert a bibliography at the end of a document.
- Mendeley Word Plugin can also be downloaded from the Desktop App – Tools.
5) Mobile apps:
- iOs - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mendeleyreferencemanager/id380669300?mt=8
- Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mendeley&hl=en
For more information – Mendeley Tutorials: https://www.mendeley.com/guides/videos
About Citation Managers
Ascension Wisconsin Library Services recommends two free citation managers: Mendeley and Zotero.
Both are
- easy to use
- feature an extension for automatic upload of citations and pdfs,
- and allow sharing files.
- Built-in synchronization across web and mobile platforms allows users access to full text articles in their account, from anywhere.
- Word extensions make inserting in-text citations and creating a list of references a snap.
Note to students and authors preparing for publication:
Citation managers are not perfect and they are not a substitute for learning how to format a citation.
- Uploaded citations commonly contain errors, such as improper capitalization of words in title or missing authors’ names, pages, place of publication, or doi.
- Please always double check and correct your citations.
- APA templates and information can be found at the Purdue OWL site.