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EndNote: Writing Papers

Using EndNote with Microsoft Word

Starting Tips

  • Start out in whatever style you are most comfortable with.
  • Change to the style required when you are done.

Write your Paper

  • Write your paper normally until you are ready to insert your first citation.
  • Make sure EndNote is open.
  • Make sure that the library you have your citations in is also open.

Method 1. Find a citation and insert it:

If you remember the author or title of your citation, you can search for the citation from within Word. Go to the EndNote ribbon, and click the down arrow by Insert a Citation and click on Find Citation.

image of finding a citation to insert

Type in the information on your citation and click Find. Choose the citation you want to insert and then click Insert.

Image of inserting a found citation

The citation will appear in the text of your document and the full reference will appear in the bibliography or works cited list.

image of an in-text citation

image of a bibliography

Method 2. Inserting a Selected Citation:

You can also insert citations by finding them in EndNote, selecting them and then inserting them in Word. Go to EndNote first, and select the citation(s) you need to insert.

image of a selected citaiton

Go to the EndNote ribbon, and click the down arrow by Insert a Citation and click on Insert Selected Ciation(s).

image of inserting a selected citation

The citation will appear in the text of your document and the full reference will appear in the bibliography or works cited list.

Image of a seleced citation in text

Image of selected citation in bibliography

This method can easily insert multiple works into a citation at the same time by selecting several works in EndNote.

three citation selected in EndNote

Image of three citations in text

Image of bibliography with new citations

 

Author (date) says "..."

  • EndNote can format your So-and-so says citations with the authors listed according to your citation style.
  • With "Insert Citation" method:
    • When you have found the citation you want to insert, click on the down arrow next to the Insert button.
    • Choose the "Insert & Display as: Author (Year)" option.
  • With the "Insert Selected Citation" method:
    • Choose the citation you want in EndNote and insert it in Word.
    • Click on it and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
    • Change the format to "Display as: Author (Year)".

Insert only the date

  • If you choose to enter the authors' names and only want to insert the date, EndNote can do that.
  • With "Insert Citation" method:
    • When you have found the citation you want to insert, click on the down arrow next to the Insert button.
    • Choose the "Insert & Exclude Author" option.
  • With the "Insert Selected Citation" method:
    • Choose the citation you want in EndNote and insert it in Word.
    • Click on it and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
    • Change the format to "Exclude Author".

Insert only the author

  • EndNote can include the author only without the date, you can.
  • With "Insert Citation" method:
    • When you have found the citation you want to insert, click on the down arrow next to the Insert button.
    • Choose the "Insert & Exclude Year" option.
  • With the "Insert Selected Citation" method:
    • Choose the citation you want in EndNote and insert it in Word.
    • Click on it and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
    • Change the format to "Exclude Year".

Insert a citation in the bibliography only

  • Sometimes things should be listed in the bibliography without being cited in the text, EndNote can do that.
  • With "Insert Citation" method:
    • When you have found the citation you want to insert, click on the down arrow next to the Insert button.
    • Choose the "Insert in Bibliography Only" option.
  • With the "Insert Selected Citation" method:
    • Choose the citation you want in EndNote and insert it in Word.
    • Click on it and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
    • Change the format to "Show Only in Bibliography".

Exclude the Author and Year from the citation

  • In case you need to insert a citation that does not include either the author or year, you must insert the citation and then edit it.
  • With the "Insert Selected Citation" method:
    • Choose the citation you want in EndNote and insert it in Word.
    • Click on it and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
    • Change the format to "Exclude Author & Year".

Citation already in the document

  • Click on the citation you want to add pages to and then choose "Edit and Manage Citations" in the EndNote ribbon.
  • Add the page number(s) to the Pages field.
  • The pages will apply only to that one in-text citation and will be formatted by EndNote.
    • Don't put p. or pp. before the actual page number(s).
    • Any future citations to the same article/book will not include the page numbers.
    • If you change to a citation style that does not use page numbers, Word will remember the page number but won't display it.

Sending a document back and forth between users can make the document lose its connection to your EndNote library. It is best to make a copy and convert it to plain text for others to edit. You can then use your original to make the desired edits in. It is a bit more work but better than having to go back and reinsert all your citations.

To save a plain text version of your document:

  • In the EndNote Ribbon, click on Convert Citations and Bibliography.
  • Choose Convert to Plain Text.
  • This will open a new document.
  • Be sure to save it with a name that indicates it is a plain text version of your document.
FYI - Journals usually require a plain text version when you submit an article!

In EndNote, Click on the Edit menu, mouse over Output Styles and click on Open Style Manager.

Image of opening the Output Styles Manager

Click on "Get More on the Web".

Image of Get More on the Web button

From the EndNote Output Styles website, search for the title of your citation style or journal. When you find the one you want, click on the Download button.

Image of styles with the word Library

You may be asked to choose where to save the file. If so, it needs to go in the Styles folder of the EndNote program (for Windows, that is the EndNote folder in My Documents). If you aren't asked where to save the file, open the File manager and move the file.

Image of moving a file from a downloads folder to the EndNote Styles folder

You can check that the file is in the correct folder by looking at the contents of the C://Program Files/EndNote X6/Styles folder in the File manager.

Image of the Styles folder with the downloaded Style

You can now close the Style Manager in EndNote and then open it again. When you add a style, the Style Manager does not update dynamically, you must close it and open it again to find the new style. Once you have done that, it should appear in your list and you can add a check to the box next to it so it will appear in your drop down list of styles in EndNote and your word processor.

Image of the Styles in EndNote with the one just added

 

EndNote provides templates for certain styles for an entire paper. You can download these templates from EndNote.com (under Downloads and Writing Templates). The templates are simply Word documents with formatted sections in them that you type in where appropriate. Insert your citations from EndNote as usual.

Windows Templates:

In EndNote, go to the Tools menu and click on Manuscript Templates.

Find the template you want and open it.

You may get some warnings that the template is not set up for a 64 bit system. Just click through the warnings - it will not harm your computer.

You should end up with a Word document open that has sections ready for you to type in.

Mac Templates:

Mac EndNote does not come with the templates. You must download them from EndNote.com. You can save them anywhere you want.

You can't open the templates from within EndNote on the Mac so just open them in Word as you would any other document.

  • Open your EndNote Library and keep it open throughout this whole process.
  • In Word, convert each document to unformatted citation.
    • In Word for Windows, go to the EndNote tab, click on Convert Citations and Bibliography then Convert to Unformatted Citations.
    • In Word for Mac, go to the EndNote tab, click on the down arrow by Tools, then click on Convert to Unformatted Citations.

Creating Unformatted Citations in Word with EndNote

  • Save this a s a new file (I just add the word Unconverted to the document name so I know this is the version that has unconverted citations).
  • Repeat steps 2 & 3 until all your chapters are using unformatted citations.
  • Open a new document.
  • Go to the View tab and click on Outline then Show Document then Insert – you will create this document in outline mode but it will not stay that way.

Outline View in Word

Inserting Documents in Outline View

  • Choose to insert the first chapter you created above (with the unformatted citations) and click Open.

Insert an Existing Word Document into Word Outline View

  • Repeat step 7 until all your chapters are inserted into the outline view of the document.

All documents inserted into new Word document

  • Close the outline mode with the button on the right end of the ribbon.

Close Outline View

  • Save the document (you will not be able to edit it until it is saved).
  • Make any adjustments needed.
  • Go to the EndNote tab and convert the references.
    • In Word for Windows, click on Update Citations & Bibliography.
    • In Word for Macs, click the downarrow by Bibliography, then click on Update Citations & Bibliography.

Update Citations on Macs to formatted citations

  • Make any further adjustments and save the document – this should have put all the citations in one list at the end of the file.

Final document with complete bibliography at the end

Modify the Style
  • In EndNote, click on the Edit menu, mouse over Output Styles and click on Open Style Manager.
  • Double click on the style you want to use to open the style (e.g. APA, MLA, or Journal of Dairy Science).
  • Click on Sections on the left side.

EndNote Output Styles Sections

  • Choose the option that best suits your needs - one bibliography at the end of each section or a bibliography for each section and a complete bibliography at the end of the document.

EndNote Output Styles Section Types

  • Save the style with a name that describes your style by closing it (e.g. Amer Sociological Association Sections).
Modify Your Document
  • In Word, insert section breaks before each chapter.
    • Windows Computers 
      • At the end of a chapter, click on the Page Layout tab, click on Break and then on Next Page under Section Breaks.
      • Do this for each chapter.
    • Mac Computers
      • Click on the Insert Tab then the down arrow by pages and click on Page Break.
Choose the Style
  • In Word, go to the EndNote tab and choose your sections style.
  • Click on the arrow by Bibliography and then click on Configure Bibliography

Using EndNote with LaTeX and BibTeX

EndNote can be used with LaTeX and BibTex. Use the guide linked below from MIT to help export your EndNote citations into BibTeX.

MIT guide for using EndNote with LaTeX and BibTex.

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