Referencing at Birmingham Newman

Reference management tools help you collect, store and organise reference data. These tools are particularly helpful when undergoing a large research project, such as a dissertation or postgraduate research. Some tools can generate and insert in-text and bibliographic references as you write.

We recommend that students at level 6 (3rd year undergraduates) and level 7 (master's level) use some kind of reference management system.

The Library can support you with your use of Zotero and EndNote. We recommend that undergraduate and taught postgraduate students use Zotero, and researchers use EndNote.

We advise caution when using reference management tools.

The quality of the references created by management tools is dependent on the quality of information which is put into them. If the data that goes into the tool is incorrect or missing details, then the references produced by the tool will be inaccurate.

It is your responsibility to check that your references are correct before submitting an assignment: using a reference management tool is not a substitute for learning how to reference!

We recommend that level 6/7 students use Zotero and researchers use EndNote.

Zotero gives the best experience of the free reference management tools available in terms of usability and features. Both the online version and the downloadable desktop app are free to use.

EndNote has more advanced features which may be beneficial when carrying out research and working with large numbers of sources.

You may wish to use an alternative reference management tool; however, the Librarians may not be able to support you with other tools and applications to the same level.