For information and general guidance about referencing, see our guide to Citing references (below). If you are submitting a paper to a journal, remember to check their information pages about suitable referencing styles. For more information about styles, and links to further information, see the section in our guide about Different styles and systems of referencing.
Reference management software, also known as bibliographic management software, allows you to store details of the useful references you find. You can then use it to insert citations in your documents and it will automatically add a bibliography at the end in a style of your choosing.
Here are a few free resources you can try. See also our guide to Managing references for more information.
Note that there are two web-based versions of EndNote - EndNote Basic is the free version which allows you to create a library with a maximum of 50,000 references and up to 2GB of attachments. If you have used EndNote Online as a student (created through Web of Science), it will convert to a Basic account after 12 months.
If you have been using Desktop EndNote, the options available to you for transferring your EndNote library are listed in the FAQ section of our EndNote guide.
Mendeley is a free reference manager with web-based, desktop and mobile versions where you can store, organise, highlight and annotate all your PDFs and references. It is also an academic social network where you can create a profile and share the literature you are reading with your research group or co-authors.
Zotero is a free reference manager, available as an extension to the web browser Firefox or as a desktop application called Zotero Standalone. You can store, organize all your PDFs and references. Zotero's groups gives you the ability to share & collaborate among participating group members.
Word has its own, basic referencing system available via the 'References' tab on the ribbon. This lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. References are stored in a master list, which can be used to add references to further documents.
Note: this system is not as powerful as EndNote, Mendeley or Zotero.