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Managing references: Mendeley Reference Manager

A guide to some of the systems you can use to help with referencing

Mendeley is a free reference manager where you can store, organise, highlight and annotate all your PDFs and references. There is a Word add-in to insert citations and references in documents. 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. Reference Manager will work on Windows, Mac and Linux, but is not currently available to download on tablets.

Mendeley Reference Manager is being developed to replace Mendeley Desktop. If you are already using Desktop you can automatically download your existing references into Reference Manager by logging in with your existing account details.

First steps

  1. Download and install Mendeley Reference Manager.
  2. Register for an account when prompted if you don't already have a Mendeley account.
  3. Drag PDFs you have already downloaded onto your Mendeley library, this should create the reference details but it is a good idea to check them!
  4. Add the Mendeley Web Importer button to your browser (Chrome or Firefox only) so you can quickly add references to your library.
    Note that pop-up blockers might stop the Web Importer working. Check the security settings in your browser and set your pop-ups to allow 'mendeley.com'.
  5. Install the Mendeley Cite add-in for Word by selecting 'Tools'.

Further guidance

Further help using Mendeley Reference Manager

In addition to Library support offered for Mendeley there is lots of guidance and support available from the official support site:

Getting started with Mendeley Reference Manager - Video

Styles in Mendeley

The Cite tool for Word gives access to a range of referencing styles. If you are using the Harvard style we recommend 'Cite Them Right 12th ed. – Harvard' style. This matches the examples given in our Citing references guide. There are two versions of the style - one will include all the authors in your full reference, the other will abbreviate the list with 'et al.' - check with your School which one they want you to use.