ELISE | Informing your studies tutorial: Managing references

Study hacks are a series of workshops for new and returning students throughout term. These sessions will help you develop key skills you need to succeed at UNSW.

  Learn more about:

• citing references in written work
• referencing styles

Refer to the Referencing page, under the Check tab.

There are many software programs that will support you in managing information.

There is a comparison of reference management software in Wikipedia.

UNSW recommends the use of either EndNote or Zotero.

"Good time management is essential to success at university. Planning your time allows you to spread your work over a Semester, avoid a 'traffic jam' of work, and cope with study stress...Work out what needs to be done and when. Work out how to use your available time as efficiently as possible.” (Academic Study Skills website)

From a UNSW Library perspective, focusing on ways of managing information is a fundamental strategy for investing time wisely for future gains and will ensure you adhere to the scholarly principles and practices expected from you as a student at UNSW. Bibliographic or reference management software is an indispensable tool to help you.

Bibliographic or reference management software allows you to store, organise and manage the references you identify for use in your assignments in a database. These references can be linked to your word documents to instantly create in-text citations and bibliographies in the referencing style that you require. Reference management software enables information to be reused easily and in a scholarly way.

Find out more on UNSW Library's Managing references page. 

EndNote software is downloaded to your own computer. Obtain a copy of EndNote from the IT Services website. It is free to students and staff of UNSW.

Learn more about using EndNote:

• EndNote training - Endnote tutorials and webinars from the Endnote website
• YouTube EndNote training - short training videos on EndNote's YouTube channel
• Study Hacks EndNote webinar - an introduction to EndNote and find out how it can be useful

EndNote online (formerly EndNote web) is a web-based version of the EndNote software which lets you use EndNote functions when you don't have your own computer with you.

Zotero is another example of reference management software.

Zotero is a free, web-based tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research

Learn more about Zotero.