There are a number of reference management tools (systems) available that can help you to collect, store, organise, manage, cite and reference your sources electronically.
They can be helpful to store and manage your resources:
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if you are undertaking research where you have used many sources
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if you are collaborating on research and wish to share sources
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if your research is done over the long term.
They can also enable you to
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import results (article references) from different databases, such as Medline, Cinahl, Hunter and Web of Science
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organise and annotate your sources
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electronically cite your sources
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electronically create reference lists/bibliographies in different referencing styles.
Types of reference management system
There are several reference management systems, for example: Refworks, Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley. They all vary, and Oxford University provides a comparison guide to the main ones.
Refworks
At St George’s, we provide support, training and free access to the tool RefWorks. More information can be found in our RefWorks LibGuides.
You are welcome to choose any reference management system to use, and we provide some information about other systems in our RefWorks and reference management guide, however we do not officially support them or subscribe to any system other than RefWorks.
New RefWorks and Legacy RefWorks
There are now two versions of RefWorks available:
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RefWorks: the new RefWorks, launched in 2016
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Legacy RefWorks: until October 2019, this was the only version available at St George’s.
The two versions are working alongside together, however it will not be possible to create new Legacy accounts from October 2019.
St George’s Library now runs training sessions on the new version of RefWorks but will continue to support those using Legacy RefWorks.
Accessing RefWorks or Legacy RefWorks
If you are entirely new to RefWorks, visit: RefWorks
If you would like to continue using Legacy RefWorks, and you already have an account, visit: Legacy RefWorks.
Moving from Legacy to New RefWorks?
If you are using Legacy RefWorks and are interested in moving to the new version of RefWorks, please be aware that it is currently not possible to edit documents in new RefWorks if they have previously been used in Legacy RefWorks. We strongly recommend that those using Legacy RefWorks at St. George’s delay moving to the new version of RefWorks until any documents, such as dissertations or theses, you are working on are complete.
More information about migrating from Legacy RefWorks can be found on our RefWorks LibGuide.