Manage References

6 hours

This session introduces students to the basics of reference management software (RMS) to enable them to:

create a library of references
automatically build a bibliography/reference list in MS Word
collect and store both citations and full-text articles from literature searches across various databases

Prepare

Preparation for you, the facilitator

Engage a suitable resource person/people in plenty of time. Ensure that they are familiar with the software, the steps and the participatory approach to learning and teaching.
Review PowerPoints and videos to use with your students, such as:
Webinar: How to use Mendeley Reference Manager
Webinar: Discover Mendeley Reference Manager
PowerPoint 1: Organising references using Mendeley
PowerPoint 2: Organising references using Mendeley
Students need laptops and wi-fi. They download free Mendeley software before the session.

Outcomes

By the end of the session, students can:

see the value of using RMS to keep track of reading materials and to enable effective and consistent referencing
store and organise references in a searchable database
easily convert referencing styles to suit publication requirements
produce accurate, consistent in-text citations
generate reference lists or bibliographies within academic writing by linking an RMS to MS Word using the ‘cite while you write’ feature
share collections of references (libraries) with others for collaborative purposes

Steps

Time	Step	Who
20 minutes	1. Introduce reference management	Facilitator
20 minutes	2. Create a library	Students
30 minutes	3. Populate a library	Students
20 minutes	4. Download a web importer and MS Word plug-in	Students
30 minutes	5. Create citations and generate a bibliography	Students
4 hours	6. Search and export referencess	Students/s

Step 1. Introduce reference management
20 minutes
Explain reference management software (RMS) and compare Mendeley and other packages.
Step 2. Create a library
20 minutes
Guide students to create a library and explore the library interface.
Step 3. Populate a library
30 minutes
Each student populates the library they have created, manually and from databases.
Step 4. Download a web importer and MS Word plug-in
20 minutes
Students become familiar with using these tools.
Step 5. Create citations and generate a bibliography
30 minutes
Students use the Cite While You Write (CWYW) feature to create citations and generate a bibliography automatically.
Step 6. Search and export references
4 hours
With supervision, students apply newly learned techniques to search for relevant papers. They use RMS software to export references to the Mendeley library they have created.

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P.O. Box 10787 – 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
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