If you keep a complete and organised record of what you have read, and what you intend to read, it will:
In your essay, project, dissertation or thesis you must cite any published or unpublished work that you use and they must be included in your bibliography.
Good referencing:
Your reference lists/bibliographies should be presented in the style recommended by your School or Department. Advice on this is usually included in a programme or project handbook. For general help see our guide to Citing References which includes examples of citing specific types of references such as journal articles and webpages.
See also the Study Advice Team's Study Guides for more advice on plagiarism, reading, note-taking and writing.
There are several ways to manage your references.
This system may still work well for short essays. You can easily sort the cards into the order you need, but you will need to be able to transcribe the details accurately into your bibliography.
A facility in Microsoft Word lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. This may be sufficient for smaller pieces of work, but for more significant assignments such as dissertations consider using EndNote or another blbiographic management package. Full instructions on using this facility are in the Microsoft Word 2013 References and bibliography guide available via the link below.
This allows you to:
There are two versions of EndNote. The Desktop version is suitable for PhD students. The simpler online version is most suitable for masters students and finalists working on their dissertations.
Other packages are available - find out more via the link below.