EndNote Guide - Help

EndNote Guide Index

Save & Save Again! | Web Sites | Listserv | Advanced Features | Getting Help

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This section of the EndNote Guide was created to give you some helpful tips and web sites you can consult as you learn the software.

Save & Save Again!

You've spent time and effort learning about EndNote and seeing how it can organize and manage your information. It would be a shame to lose all that work...

You may have noticed a lack of a Save or Save As option; this is because EndNote automatically saves any changes you make to your library. This feature does not stop you from losing references due to a sudden power outage, or due to modifications that cannot be undone or your own mistakes. Keep a copy of your library in another folder on your computer in case something happens -- 1. Click on File, 2. Click on Save a copy, and 3. Choose where you want to save the copy and give it a different but recognizable filename (e.g. nova-copy). As you add to your library it will become more valuable to you. Losing a library to corruption or a dying computer could plunge your research into chaos. This is why, in addition to saving a copy of your library or libraries, you must also back-up each library and its contents. Save the whole file to a CD, portable drive, or other disk. In fact, make several back-ups and do not store them all in one place.

Web Sites

Here are some helpful official web sites created and maintained by the publisher of EndNote, Thomson ResearchSoft:

EndNote: Support & Services     Frequently Asked Questions

Also, be sure to take a look at the Help information available from within EndNote. It is accessed by clicking on the question mark button at the top of the screen while you are in EndNote.

Listserv

Thomson ResearchSoft maintains a moderated listserv called The EndNote-Interest Mailing List. You may subscribe to the list or to the digest (summary of daily postings), and there are directions for how to post your own questions or comments. This listserv is a community of fellow EndNote users of various skill levels who share struggles, ideas, and help.

http://www.endnote.com/support/en-interest.asp

Advanced Features

This guide was designed to touch on the basics of using EndNote. There are a lot of features, add-ons, and formatting that you have to learn to see the full capacity of EndNote as a content manager. Additionally due to the number of ways citations must be formatted according to standardized styles, such as APA Style, you end up having to really work with the software to make it efficient for formatting long lists of references. (For some of you this may be just as painful as programming your VCR.)

So what is considered Advanced? This really depends on your computer skill level and how quickly you learn how to use the software. Let's explore one of the more useful Advanced features...

Filters help you export citations from databases to EndNote; the better the filter, the better the citation information is brought into the software. This is directly related to how easy it will then be to format or apply styles to the citations.

The Filter Templates define how information is imported (brought into) EndNote. A properly created filter template will make sure that the different parts of the citation (author, title, year, etc.) fit into EndNote's fields. As mentioned in the Start section of this guide, you can set preferences for which fields you want to use, and in what order.

This is made more complicated by the fact that you typically have different reference types in your library -- journal articles, book chapters, web sites, etc. You need templates for each reference type, and you may need sets of templates because different databases render citation information differently.

For example, there is a filter template for the reference type, journal article. If a student is doing a project that involves searching both an education database and a medical database, he/she may need to have a journal article filter template for the education database and a separate journal article filter for the medical database.

The help pages that EndNote offers on using filters are rather technical. The filters do not always work in the way they were intended because of how you connect to the databases. This is one of those advanced features that may or may not work for you, and is dependent on how skilled you become in populating your library with references. Remember, there are several ways to add references to your EndNote library and if trying to learn how to use the filters is hindering your progress try using them later.

EndNote offers some pre-made filters. To access the Filter Manager, click on Edit, select Import Filters, and then click on Open Filter Manager...

Getting Help

Help with EndNote will be available from the Alvin Sherman Library, the Help Desk, and OIT. As soon as it is clarified what types of help each of these departments will provide, it will be posted here.