Literature searching: managing your references
Why do I need references?
If you keep a complete and organised record of what you have read, and what you intend to read, it will:
- demonstrate the breadth of your reading and research
- help you to work efficiently and avoid duplication of effort and/or references
- enable you to include your own notes, comments and quotations where appropriate
- help you to prepare for your bibliography
What will I use them for?
In your essay, project, dissertation or thesis you must cite any published or unpublished work that you use and they must be included in your bibliography.
Good referencing
- Will be complete and consistent
- Helps to avoid any suspicion of plagiarism
- Allows your supervisor to find and check the material you have used
- Enhances the quality of your work
Your reference lists/bibliographies should be presented in the style recommended by your School or Department. Advice on this is usually included in a programme or project handbook. For general help see our guide to Citing references which includes examples of citing specific types of references such as journal articles and webpages.
See also the Study Advice and Maths Support guidance for more advice on plagiarism, reading, note-taking and writing.
Managing your references
There are several ways to manage your references.
Manually on record cards
This system may still work well for short essays. You can easily sort the cards into the order you need, but you will need to be able to transcribe the details accurately into your bibliography.
Using the References feature in Microsoft Word
A facility in Microsoft Word lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. Full instructions on using this facility are in the Microsoft Word 2013 References and bibliography guide available on via the Microsoft Word 2013 Advanced Guides (Level 3) page on the Whiteknights IT website.
Using the EndNote bibliographic management software
This allows you to:
- download references from databases and store them in EndNote
- enter references manually into your EndNote library
- store references together with your own notes and comments
- insert citations in the text of your Word document and automatically construct your bibliography at the end of your work
This is an example of an EndNote library:
We recommend this software as suitable for PhD students, MSc’s and finalists intending to go on to further study or those who have extensive lists of references.