Hi folks

I've committed the cardinal sin of not referencing as I've been going along - except for my lit review which I did years ago, and used Endnote for this. And now I have a mass of chapters which I need to reference. Am wondering if there's any value in using Endnote? Am tempted just to make a bibliography in word - would this be so bad?

Other reasons why people use Endnote - such as being able to export references to share with colleagues, or for changing the style for journal articles - don't convince me. I'd have to reteach myself Endnote, do not want to learn any other system, and from what I've heard people have problems combining Endnote libraries etc.

Advice? Go the easy old-fashioned route, or use Endnote? Many thanks.

Sue, I use Endnote. I have version 11 and it integrates well with Microsoft Word (better than it used to). All of my references, barring books, are stored in Endnote and so when I finally get to the writing up stage it'll be much easier to insert references into my text and compile the bibliography at the end - it'll save a lot of labour! You could go the old-fashioned route but if you have nearly a thousand refs like me, won't it take you ages? Then there's the getting them in perfect order. If you did decide to re-train to use Endnote, it would be simple enough to just track the refs down online and automatically insert them - just a bit of mouse button clicking. I'm a technophile, however, so it's what you'd feel most comfy with. If you do decide to use Endnote, PM me and I can sort you out with the latest version at no charge. :-)

Sue - depends on how much time you have to spare but I would deffo go Endnote!!!
There maybe problems with libraries but nothing ya cant get done! It is way better than leaving it to manual sorting it out.

Have you a day or two that you can spend doing this?I don't mean two full days solid, but get the 20 most important refs and work from there. Even downloading them from google scholar.

Sorry for the rameshing - its Friday night and pi$$ed! I'm an Endnote convert (started my masters using it, turned against it, but now using it full scale for the Phd). It is good also for sorting out refs before you start writing. I will follow up on this tomorrow ... oh god another hangover!! I need Ice Cream!!! I swear I will follow up before the wkend is out!

I too used endnote for my literature review in the first year but have since strayed from that path. I had problems using it and especially adding historical sources to it. I should have really have learnt how to use it properly then. Anyway, I have been writing them manually in Word and will have a "handmade" bibliography involving manual imput. It has worked okay for my chapters so far with only minor supervisory comments about errors etc. So I figure I will be okay. I guess sorting out my refences by hand will mean that I will be intimately acquainted with my cited material for the viva!

If I get future employment in academia, or undertake similar projects again. I might learn how to use endnote properly!

I would use Endnote. It may take a while to put all your sources onto it, but it will take a while anyway to create a Word bibliography/references. I'm not convinced that the old-fashioned route is that much easier.

This isn't quite related to the topic at hand......but I love Endnote. Whereas before I used to write incomplete references down on scraps of paper I can now just pop it into the library and leave it alone (particularly with books that I want, just file it into a group called "Unread".) I also use it to track my progress, but then I am in the lit review stage at the moment.

I've used EndNote from the start of my part-time (6 year - aarrgghh!) PhD, but only for storing details of items read. I don't export from EndNote into my Word file, partly because it doesn't work so well with my version of Word, partly because as a history student with lots of unusual references plus a non-standard departmental style I've had trouble getting it to work.

So basically yes I have a wonderful EndNote database of things I've read, but all my footnotes are hand-crafted, and my bibliography (almost finished - yay!) is hand-crafted too. It didn't take that long.

Given that you are nearly at the end Sue I'd be doubtful about whether it would be worth you going for EndNote now. It didn't take me that long to build up my bibliography by hand. Then again I was using EndNote a little bit, because it could remember everything I'd read ...

Erm! Conflicting-ish advice here. But put me down as another hand-crafter, albeit flirting with EndNote on the side ;-)

i also use endnote just as a storage system as it doesn't fit the way I need to write my refs - I know I can alter it, but can't be bothered :$. I have ref list in word, which I add things to as I go along and which I have stored in about 3 different places, plus a hard copy of the refs. The endnote place is good if you need to write a list for publication where they require a slightly different format, for example I store full names in endnote in case that is needed instead if just the surname and initial. One thing I would say though is get those refs written now, it takes longer than you think!

Hi everyone

Thanks very much for your replies. I will give Endnote a go, and as suggested, spend a couple of days relearning and playing around - if I can't crack it then, I'll go the old fashioned route. If it works, it will at least make formatting and ordering easier.

Bonzo - hope your hangover wasn't too bad!
Joyce - yes, I expect this will take longer than I expect (doesn't everything in this PhD???). So am starting now, 6 mths out from submitting. Am planning to do this over Xmas, when things slow down a little, and I can have a glass of Christmas cheer while doing something menial...
Walminski - thank you for your kind offer - will pm you.

Thanks everyone else too, good information as usual!