If you are doing a literature search, especially for a large piece of work such as a dissertation, you need to keep track of the useful items you find so that you can reference them correctly.
Many databases offer ways of downloading details of references to text files, via email or to reference managers.
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. There's also a page listing which styles are used by each department, but make sure you check your assignment brief in case it differs.
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 a reference management tool. You might also find that the references created don't match your departmental guidelines - check them carefully.
These tools allow you store details of the useful items you find and use a plug-in for Word to cite them in your document in the correct style. It is usually possible to download references from databases into EndNote to ensure you have all the information for a complete reference. Find out more via our Managing references guide:
