There are two programs that you can use to manage your references lists and to automatically insert references into Word: EndNote and Reference Manager.
EndNote is licensed and distributed at the Institute level, meaning that it will remain active and updated until further notice. Reference Manager was bought years ago for SSRU only, it is not the latest version and can’t be updated automatically. Since the two programs are roughly equivalent, the general recommendation is to use EndNote whenever possible. If in the future we will need to buy an up-to-date version of Reference Manager, SSRU will have to pay for it, while EndNote is available as part of the standard IoE software package.
Additionally, Microsoft Word 2007 does include its own reference management system; if you wish to try it out, some good starting points are the official office page and this short document; you may prefer a more visual guide or get some technical insights.
All new reference databases should be created with EndNote: whenever you will be starting a new project associated with brand new references list you should avoid ReferenceManager and use EndNote instead.
To start using EndNote, you will need to enable its integration with Word (just once):
- Click “Start\All Programs\EndNote\Configure EndNote”
- Select “Configure EndNote components for me” and click next
- Select both “Unified Cite While you Write...” and “Set EndNote as default...” options
- Click Next and Finish
Having completed this quick steps, you will be able to use EndNote both from the start menu (Start\All Programs\EndNote\EndNote Program) and from Word (a new “EndNote” tab will appear on the Ribbon the next time you will start Word). For instructions on how to use the program itself, please refer to the built-in help system.
The version we are entitled to use is “Reference Manager 11 Professional Network Edition” (dates back to 2005). It was not written to work on Vista computers, making it somewhat complicated to manage it centrally. Currently, it is installed on all machines, but the license is not recognised correctly and Word integration has to be set manually (the program that sets it up automatically can’t work with Windows Vista), both this issues can be fixed on a per-request basis by the IT officer.
If you already have a references database built with Reference Manager, feel free to keep using it: you will need it to work with any document that already includes references coming from Reference Manager. Migrating to EndNote would be possible but complicated; it doesn’t seem worth the effort. Whenever you are starting a new project (i.e. when starting with a new reference list) you should use EndNote instead.
If you need to use Reference Manager you should notify the IT Officer. Reference Manager 11 does not natively work with Windows Vista, for this reason, in order to make the program work correctly some (quick) manual tweaks are needed both on a per-machine and per-user basis.
(Last Updated: December 2009)