Skip to Main Content Albertsons Library Reservations

PHYS 499

Resources & Tips for Physics Research for Seniors & Juniors

What is Endnote and Why Should I Use It?

What is EndNote and Why Should I Use It?

EndNote Online is citation management software that allows you to:

  • Maintain a "personal library" of references and citations
  • Import citation information from the Library's Catalog, online indexes and databases, and Google Scholar
  • If you use Microsoft Word, you can insert citations from your personal EndNote library directly into your documents (Cite While You Write) and easily create bibliographies

Once you have registered, set up EndNote Online, and become familiar with how it works, it can save you a lot of time and headache citing resources when you're writing, and creating a bibliography of sources or references in you papers.

There are several different free online citation managers. EndNote Online gives you the greatest variety of citation styles to choose from.

Registering, "Cite While You Write", Getting Help

Getting Help - Tutorials and Resources

EndNote is a powerful citation tool, but it can be tricky to use.  Contact Your Librarian (I'm on the "Start Here" page of this guide! left navigation) or these resources might help:

Registering for EndNote Online

If you will be citing sources using a unique journal or professional association citation style, register for EndNote Online via the Web of Science (WOS) database.  That way you will have access to all of the available citation styles

 

Step 1 : Register for Web of Science (WOS) (Already registered? Skip to Step 2)

EndNote Online is produced by the same vendor that creates and maintains WOS. Registering for EndNote Online from within WOS gives you access to more citation styles than registering for an EndNote Web account directly from the EndNote webpage.

If you haven't already registered (created an account) for WOS, you'll need to do so. Registering allows you to save searches and create alerts in WOS, and sign up for EndNote Online.

1. Go to the Library's Main Page (http://boisestate.edu/library/) click the Articles & Databases panel

2. Scroll down to Articles and Databases A to Z, and search for Web of Science

3. Click the link for the Web of Science database

NOTE:  If off-campus, you will need to authenticate using your my.boisestate.edu username and password before you can get into WOS

4. Have an WOS account? Sign in.  If not Register to use WOS - upper right corner

Web of Science Register Icon circled

 

STEP 2 - Create an EndNote Online Account

1. Click the Products icon in the upper right corner of WOS

Web of Science Products menu circled

2. Select EndNote from the menu

Web of Science Products menu with EndNote circled

 

3. Click the Register Button

4. Follow the instructions to create your free EndNote account

Use any email address you like, it needn't be your Boise State email address

Using "Cite While You Write"

Cite While You Write, instantly inserts citations, and formats references and bibliographies automatically while you write your papers.

Cite While You Write is:

  • An add-in for Microsoft Word
  • Available for Windows and MAC/IOS operating systems
  • Downloadable in EndNote under the Download tab

You will first need to register for an Endnote account and login to access the Download tab. Once you install the Cite While You Write plug-in, it will appear when you open Microsoft Word.  

To Access Cite While You Write in Endnote Web:

  1. Log on to EndNote
  2. In your Word document, put your cursor where you want the the citation to be
  3. Click the Endnote tab on the toolbar. If the toolbar is not there, make sure you have first installed the  “Cite While You Write” add-on from EndNote.
  4. Type a word to search your EndNote Web references.
  5. Choose the desired citation(s) and click on the Insert button.

 

CiteWhileYouWrite

Importing Citations into EndNote

Importing Citations from Google Scholar

You can save references directly from your browser into EndNote through the Capture Reference bookmarklet. The Downloads tab in the EndNote page gives full details.

Capture Reference

The Capture Reference bookmarklet scans the bibliographic information presented on a Web page and create a reference that you can save to a new or existing group. If no group is specified, the reference is saved to Unfiled.

For the Capture buttons to work best, you must be in a Capture compatible resource and at the individual item level (not in a list of citations). List of Capture Compatible Sources

For use in Google Scholar:

  • Go to Settings in Google Scholar
  • In the Search Results tab, scroll down to Bibliography Manager and select "Show links to import citations into."
  • Select Endnote from the drop-down menu.

Importing Citations from SciFinder

Start from your SciFinder search results page

Step 1 - Select the records you want by clicking the check boxes next to each record or click the box at the top of your results list to select all of the records

Step 2 - Click the Download button in the top navigation bar toward the right side

Right side of SciFinder top navigation bar with download button circled

 

Step 3 - In the Download Reference Results box, use the drop down arrow to Change File Type to “Citation (.ris)"

Download Reference Results menu with Citation (.ris) style circled

In the upper right of this same menu, select whether you want to download "All Results" in your search just the "Selected Results" - i.e. the individual record boxes you checked - or a Range of records you designate

At the bottom of the menu decide what parts of each record you want to download with the citation, including: The search aka "task history", abstract, concepts, substances, analytical methods, formulations, and citations from the articles' references

Once all of your decisions are made, click the "Download" button.

Step 4 - Login to EndNote

Step 5 - Click the "Collect" tab in the top navigation bar, then the "Import References" option

EndNote navigation bar with Collect and Import References options circled

Step 6 - In the Import References menu, choose the file you want to upload, then scroll through the Import Options and Select “RefMan RIS”

Import Options shown with Refman RIS circled

Step 7 - If you want the references grouped together under a particular topic, use the dropdown arrow next to "To:" to Select the Group or folder where you want the references to go. You can create a new group as well.

Import References with location drop down menu showing

Step 7 - When your ready, Click the Import button

When the importing of your records is complete, you will see a note in red that your "references were imported" into the group or file you designated.

Example of References were imported message

Step 8 - Go to the “My References” tab in the top navigation bar to find the references you imported. If you designed the reference to go into a particular group, you will need to look under MyGroups to find the folder or group you designated

EndNote Troubleshooting

The Citation Style I Need Isn't Available

If the citation style you need isn't showing up in EndNote, it may be because you signed up for an EndNote Web account directly from the EndNote website. An account like this will only allow you to use  "Top 21 most commonly used styles".

You will need to register for an EndNote Online account from within the Web of Science (WOS) database:

  1. Log into Web of Science (WOS)
  2. Have an WOS account? Sign in.  If not Register to use WOS - upper right corner of the screen
  3. Click the Products icon in the upper right corner of WOS
  4. Select EndNote
  5. Click the Register Button
  6. Follow the instructions to create your free EndNote account

NOTE: you may need to use a different email address from your original EndNote Web account so the 2 aren't confused

"Class Not Registered Error (Windows 10)

Windows 10 users may encounter the "class not registered" error when working with the Cite While You Write (CWYW) MS Word plugin. This is most likely to happen when the plugin is newly installed in MS Word.  The fix is as follows:

  1. Open MS Word

  2. Click on "EndNote" to open the CWYW toolbar. At this point the error message will occur - go ahead and close it.

  3. Choose "Preferences" from the CWYW toolbar, then "Application".

  4. Change the application to "EndNote Online" (this may be a radio button choice or a drop-down menu)

  5. Type in your BSU email address & your EndNote online password

  6. Click OK

Your copy of Word should now be correctly mapped to your EndNote account.  You may need to close Word and reopen it for the change to be active.