Referencing tools

These are apps, desktop software, websites and browser extensions that help you collect, organise and create reference lists and bibliographies in a range of different styles.  

At USW the main recommended referencing style is Harvard with additional styles including APA for Psychology students, MHRA for History students, Numeric for Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Science and Forensic Science students and OSCOLA for Law students.

Using a referencing tool allows you to:

• collect references, from FINDit, USW databases, websites and other sources.
• organise your references. 
• create a reference list or bibliography for your assignment, dissertation or thesis.
• produce citations in the style that you need.

This is particularly useful when undertaking a longer project or dissertation, when you may have a large number of references that you have collected over a period of time. 

EndNote desktop software is supported as the University’s standard bibliographic software package. Academic staff and PhD researchers can access Endnote 20 via UniApps. 

There are also many free referencing tools available and these must be evaluated depending on your needs. The University does not endorse a particular product, but this guide does give an overview of the three most commonly used free tools, EndNote Online, Mendeley and Zotero. 

For more comparison information see:

1. Wikipedia - Comparison of reference management software
2. University of Manchester - Feature comparison chart