Using EndNote: Creating a Bibliography

You’ll need to download the Cite While You Write plug-in to use the auto-citation formatting tools that come with EndNote. 

1. In EndNote Web, click/tap the Downloads menu. 
2. Select the plug-in for your operating system. If Windows is your operating system, you must use either Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge. Also make sure you have saved everything and closed all your Microsoft Office applications before installing the plug-in.

* The plug-in may take 10 minutes or so to install. Please be patient. 

If you are having difficulties installing the Cite While You Write plug-in, consult the installation instructions for further assistance:

Once installed, when you open your Microsoft Word application, you should see EndNote in the menu bar.  You are now ready to use Cite While You Write. Clicking/tapping on the EndNote menu will show the citation tools that come with the plug-in; the first time you do this, you’ll be asked to enter your Web of Science or EndNote Web login. You’ll also be asked to log in using Word every time you want to use Cite While You Write. 

Generating your bibliography

You can do your own in-text citation and get EndNote to create a stand-alone bibliography. This bibliography can also act as a way of sharing your resources on a particular topic with your classmates or colleagues. 

Before you start creating a stand-alone bibliography, it is best to have all the references you need organized into a group (Please see the tab Organizing References for more information.)

1. In your EndNote menu bar, choose Format.
2. Select Bibliography.
3. Under References, select the group (file folder) which contains the references you want to format into a bibliography.
4. Select the citation format.
5. You will need to select a file format (choose between HTML, TXT (plain text), or RTF (rich text)), even though you may simply want to cut and paste the bibliography into your paper. 
6. Select how you would like to export the bibliography.
   • Choose SAVE if you want to simply save a copy of the bibliography. A file in your chosen format (HTML, TXT or RTF) will be downloaded.
   • Choose E-Mail if you want the bibliography to be sent to you or a colleague/classmate. 
   • Choose Preview & Print if you want to see what the auto-generated bibliography looks like.  

Note 1: If you want to use this stand-alone bibliography for your research assignment, you may need to adjust the formatting to conform with your existing paper. That’s because the plain-text files EndNote generates often have formatting characteristics (e.g. different fonts and spacing) that will look different once pasted into your paper. 

One way of working around this is to copy and paste the pre-formatted bibliography into WordPad (Windows) or Text Edit (Mac). Copy the bibliography again from WordPad or Text Edit, and then insert it at the end of your paper. You will still need to do your own italicization of book/journal titles, and insert hanging indents when appropriate. You can use the bibliography generated by EndNote as a guide.

Note 2: Always double-check EndNote’s auto-generated bibliography for accuracy. While auto-generated bibliographies save time, they often contain formatting errors. It is also good to double-check and consult the citation guides.