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Mendeley Reference & Citation Management

Use Mendeley to collect, manage and cite your research resources, create collections for research projects, share your data with your collaborators, and generate bibliographies.

Adding an In-text Citation

To add in-text citations go to the References toolbar in Word.

1. Click in the document where you want the citation to go, then select Insert Citation.

PC:

Image showing "Insert Citation" in the Word toolbar. It will be under References.

 

Mac:

Image showing "Insert Citation" in the Word toolbar for a Mac. It will be under the paper icon.

Note: Make sure the style you want to use is selected. Here I have APA listed. You can always select another option.

 

2. Use the pop up search window to find the resource you want. Start typing information (title, author, etc.) from the citation you wish to use, or select Go To Mendeley to browse your references.

Image showing the Mendeley search pop up for Word. It is a search bar that indicates you are searching your library and then you can click ok once you have found the item you need.

 

3. Once you have the citation you want click OK to add it to your paper.

Image displaying how to click ok after finding the paper you need, search the Mendeley library and then select your paper and click Ok.

Creating a Works Cited List (Bibliography)

Once you have added all your in-text citations through the Word plugin, click on Insert Bibliography in the toolbar to create your works cited list.

Using Mendeley Word Plugin

To add in-text citations and bibliographies to your work download the Word toolbar when setting up your Mendeley account.

For a PC the plugin will look like this:

An image showing the Mendeley Word Plugin in the Word document. It is in the toolbar under References.

It will either be in References or Add Ins.

 

For a Mac the plugin will look like this:

An image showing the Mendeley Word Plugin in the Word document on a Mac. Click on the paper icon next to the Help option to see Mendeley.

Once you install the toolbar might be located at the top of Word, instead of you having to select it as a drop down.

Creating a Standalone Bibliography

If you want to create a bibliography, without having a document that has in-text citations, you can do so directly from Mendeley Desktop.

  1. Select all the records you wish to add to your list, from your Mendeley Library.
  2. Go to Edit or right click & select Copy As Formatted Citation.
  3. Open a text document in a program like Word, and click Paste.

Image showing that to create a formatted bibliography you select all required files from Mendeley and either click Edit and "Copy As" and "Formatted Citation" or just right click to go to Edit.

Image showing that to paste the citations you right click and select paste in a Word document.

Check mark iconQuick Tip: This can be a good option for anyone writing papers in products besides Word. There is currently no plugin for Google with Mendeley.

Set a Default Citation Style

Is there a citation style you know you use the most? You can set it as the default in Mendley. To set your default citation style in Mendeley just go to View Citation Style, and click on the style you need. You can always change this if you need to or select a different style when adding citations to individual documents in Word (see below).

An image showing that to change the citation style in Mendeley you click on View at the top of the library and then "Citation Style' and select the one you need.

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