EndNote: Citing with MS Word

Use 'Cite While You Write' - the EndNote tab in MS Word - to:

1. Select a referencing style.
2. Add your in-text citations.
3. Edit your in-text citations.
4. See your reference list be generated automatically.

Select a style

When submitting coursework, or articles for publication in an academic journal, you will be expected to use a specific referencing system, e.g. Cite Them Right.

The 'Style' feature lets you pre-select a specific referencing system and formats your in-text citations and reference list accordingly.

Add your citations

From the EndNote tab in MS Word:

Select the 'Insert Citations' icon to add citations for documents, graphs and more.

Edit your citations

From the EndNote tab in MS Word,

Use the 'Edit & Manage Citations' feature, and resulting pop-up window, to make any changes to your citations, e.g. to:

• Add page numbers.
• Add any required section or chapter numbers.
• Make the author part of your sentence.
• Amend the reference entry in your EndNote library.

Making lots of changes to your EndNote references as you cite?

Use the 'Update Citations and Bibliography' feature to keep your reference list updated.

Using EndNote 20?

The 'Cite While You Write' plugin is installed automatically when you download EndNote20. 

Using Endnote Online only?

You will need to download the plugin:

1. Go to Downloads from the EndNote Online menu bar,
2. Follow the download instructions for Cite While You Write, relevant to your device.

EndNote functionality may differ for MacOS users.  Please see the publisher's support guides/videos for details.

A quick tip for those writing short pieces of work who are happy to manually type in-text citations.

You can make a quick reference list in Word if you don’t want to deal with inserting individual citations, editing the individual fields etc.

1. In EndNote, select Tools > Output Styles > Choose your preferred style
2. Highlight the item(s) you wish to create a full reference for
3. Select ‘Copy as Formatted Reference’
4. Paste the reference into Microsoft Word – it will automatically appear in the style you picked in EndNote

To insert a citation in your document:

With both your EndNote library and document open,

• Place your cursor at the place in the text where the first citation is to be added.
• Select the 'EndNote' tab.
• Click the 'Insert Citation' icon (top half).
• A 'Find and insert my references' box will display.
• Enter an author's surname or a word or phrase from the references in your EndNote library.
• Matching results will display.
• Select the relevant reference then select 'Insert'. 

The citation will be added to your text and the reference added at the end of your document.  

To edit your citations,

In your text, click on a citation to select it.

1. Go to the 'EndNote' tab then select 'Edit & Manage Citations'.
2. Make the required amendments using the resulting popup window:

To make the author part of your sentence:

• Go to the 'Edit Citation: Formatting' section then select the dropdown .
• Select 'Display as Author (Year)'.
• 'OK' to confirm.

To add page numbers to your citation:

• Go to the Edit Citation section.
• 'Page numbers': enter the numbers only, e.g. 23-25 - the 'p' or 'pp.' will be added automatically if using Cite Them Right.
• 'OK' to confirm.

On the occasions when a page number does not apply, you can add locator details into the 'Prefix' or Suffix' boxes.  For example, (suffix) 'section 3, paragraph 2'.

To edit the reference in your EndNote library:

• Select the 'Edit Reference' dropdown
• Select 'Edit Library reference'
• The reference will open in your EndNote library.
• Amend as necessary, e.g. remove multiple places of publication.
• 'Save'
• Close the window to return to your document. 

To delete a citation from your text:

• Select 'Edit Reference' as above.
• Open the dropdown then select 'Remove citation'.
• Confirm.

Note: just clicking on the citation in your document then using the delete key will corrupt your document!

References will be formed into a list automatically as you add your citations.  However, additional formatting of the list is possible:

• From the EndNote tab, select the Configure bibliography arrow below the Instant Formatting options (not the easiest to spot!).

• Select the Layout tab from the resulting pop-up window:

• Add a title for your reference page, and format this as relevant, e.g. Title=References, alignment=centred.

• Amend the font, size and line spacing to suit the requirements of your referencing style.

  • For example, APA requires double spacing within and between references.

  • Single spacing after references can make a CiteThem Right list more legible.

• Select OK to confirm the changes.

To attach a graph, figure or other attachment from a reference in your EndNote library,

• Ensure both your EndNote library and document are open.
• Place your cursor where the graph is to be added to your text.
• Go to the 'Insert Citations/' icon and select 'Insert Figure' from the dropdown options. 
• A 'Find figure' box will display.
• Search for and select as for inserting citations above.

• Always use the EndNote tab to make changes to your citations and reference list! Manual amendments usually result in your file being corrupted.
• If you don't see your references appearing as you insert citations, ensure the 'Instant Formatting' toolbar option is set to 'On'.
• For visual step-by-step guides, see the publisher's 'In Action' series of videos.

Submitting your document to Turnitin?

Library staff recommend that you remove the embedded EndNote links in your document to prevent possible corruption of your references by automated Turnitin processes.

Once your document is ready for submission,

1. Create a backup copy (and save this separately).
2. From the EndNote20 tab in the original document, go to the 'Convert citations and bibliography' dropdown.
3. Select 'Convert to plain text'. This removes the embedded links connecting your document to your EndNote Library but maintains the text and formatting of your citations and references.
4. Submit this document to Turnitin.