Educational Innovation Erasmus University Rotterdam
Educational Innovation Erasmus University Rotterdam

EndNote

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EndNote is a reference management tool that helps you and your students collect, organise, and use literature efficiently throughout a research project. You can build a personal library of references and PDFs, insert citations directly into documents, and generate bibliographies in the required citation style, so students spend less time on formatting and more time on their argument. EndNote also supports shared libraries, allowing groups to work from the same set of sources when collaborating on assignments or research.  

Functions
Group collaboration | Research & writing
Via Canvas
Standalone
Difficulty of use
Moderate

Examples of use in your education

Use EndNote to help students set up and organise a literature library as part of your course or thesis supervision, rather than leaving reference management until the very end of their project. 

You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways: 

  • Live modelling - In an early session, model the basic workflow by sharing your screen and building a small EndNote library together with the group. Talk through your thinking as you search in one database, export a few references, and attach PDFs, so students see how searching, selecting, and storing belong together. 

  • In-class practice - Give students a short in-class exercise where they import a set number of references (for example 5–10) from a recommended database and attach available PDFs. Walk around the room or check screens online to see where they get stuck and address those issues on the spot. 

  • Messy example - Provide a deliberately “messy” example library (with duplicates, missing fields, inconsistent capitalisation) and ask students to clean it up in pairs using EndNote’s tools. Afterwards, discuss what they changed and why accurate reference data matters for later writing. 

  • Library structure - When you supervise projects, ask students to use groups, keywords, or custom fields in their EndNote library to organise references by chapter, theme, or research question. During a meeting, invite them to show you their structure and use it as a starting point to discuss their reading strategy. 

Tip 1 

Plan a short live demonstration early in the course or thesis trajectory where you build a small EndNote library together with students. This makes it clear that reference management is part of the research process, not an add-on at the end. 

Tip 2 

Provide a simple checklist for a “good” reference in EndNote (for example author, year, title, edition, page range). Ask students to use this when they edit imported references so they learn what to look for when checking citation data. 

Use EndNote’s citation tools to support students’ academic writing, so they can focus on argument and structure while still producing accurate references and bibliographies. 

You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways: 

  • Citation demo - In a writing-focused session, demonstrate how to use the “Cite While You Write” plug-in in Word by inserting a few citations from a sample EndNote library and generating a reference list. Show students how the bibliography updates automatically when you add, move, or delete citations. 

  • Draft-based practice - Ask students to bring a short draft section of their paper and let them practise inserting citations with EndNote during class. Encourage them to focus on improving their argument and paragraph structure while EndNote takes care of the formatting. 

  • Citation demo - Compare two or three citation styles that are relevant for your programme and show how quickly a document can be reformatted in EndNote. Use this to discuss why consistent referencing matters for readability and academic integrity. 

  • Source balance - During individual supervision, open a student’s EndNote library alongside their draft and use it as a neutral entry point to talk about which sources they rely on heavily, which perspectives may be missing, and how balanced their reading is. 

Tip 1 

Remind students that automatically generated citations are only a starting point. Ask them to choose one page of references and check every detail against the original sources, so they experience what “quality control” of references looks like in practice. 

Tip 2 

For your programme, recommend one or two preferred citation styles and ask students to set these as favourites in EndNote. This reduces confusion and last-minute style switching when they move between different courses or journals. 

Use EndNote’s shared library features to support group assignments where teams need to build and maintain a joint reference list. This usage makes explicit use of EndNote’s group collaboration function. 

You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways: 

  • Shared library - For group projects, ask each team to create and share one EndNote library so all members work from the same set of references, attachments, and notes. Explain that this helps avoid duplication and inconsistent citing across different sections of the report. 

  • Folder template - Provide a simple template for folder or group structure in the shared library (for example “theory”, “methods”, “case 1”, “case 2”) and ask groups to adapt it to their own project. Use this as a way to discuss how they distribute reading and writing tasks. 

  • Team supervision - In supervision meetings, open the shared library and look together at which team members have added which references or annotations. Use this to talk about contribution, division of labour, and whether the group’s reading covers the key areas of the assignment. 

  • Methodological notes - In more advanced research-oriented courses or thesis projects, encourage students to record brief methodological notes in EndNote fields (for example “systematic review”, “case study”, “theoretical paper”), so you can discuss the mix of source types and the methodological choices behind their reading. 

Tip 1 

When students work in groups, let them agree on a simple naming convention and folder structure for their shared library at the start of the project. You can support this by providing a visual example or by asking them to include their structure in a short team contract. 

Tip 2 

Ask each group to appoint a rotating “reference steward” who checks for duplicate references and runs a quick citation check before submission. This keeps the shared library manageable and helps students experience shared responsibility for academic quality. 

How-to videos

How to get started with EndNote

Witte titel ‘How To Use EndNote: A Complete Beginner’s Guide’ op groene achtergrond met EndNote-logo

How to use EndNote 2025 on Windows

Banner met tekst How to use EndNote 2025 Windows en kabel op groen printplaatbord

Getting started

  • You can find all the relevant information on the official site of EndNote.

Support 

Funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU logo

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