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Mendeley Support

Introduction

Once you have citations in Mendeley, the next step is to add them to your document.  

  • If you're using Mendeley with LaTeX/BibTeX, refer to this guide from MIT Libraries for instructions. You can also refer to this general biblatex citation guide.
  • If you're using Mendeley with Word, you have two options. You can either use the Citation Plug-In for Microsoft Word (first screenshot) or the Mendeley Cite tool (second screenshot)
    • You can download the plug-in in Mendeley by going to Tools -> Install MS Word PlugIn.  After you've downloaded the plug-in, the References tab in Word will have a section of the toolbar dedicated to Mendeley
    • The Mendeley Cite tool downloads automatically with newer versions of Word.

 

screenshot of Mendeley Cite-O-Matic feature in References tab in Word

screenshot of References toolbar in Mendeley with Mendeley Cite highlighted

Using the Plug-In

Inserting a Single Citation

1. To insert a citation using the Mendeley plug-in, first select a style from the dropdown menu by clicking on the arrow.  We'll choose American Psychological Association.  

screenshot of References tab in Word with American Psychological Association selected under Style

2. Place your cursor in the Word document at the point where you'd like to insert the citation, and add a space so your references don't get smushed.

screenshot of Word document with cursor where citation will be placed

3. Then, click on Insert Citation.  

screenshot of References tab in Word with Insert Citation highlighted

4. In the box that pops up, you can search for papers in your Mendeley library using the title, author, or year.  

screenshot of pop-up search box where you can search for papers

5. After you've conducted the search, highlight the resource you'd like to cite (here, I've cited the Esslin paper) and click OK.  

screenshot of search box with search terms and a reference selected

6. A citation to the Esslin paper is now in your paper, where your cursor is located.

screenshot of in-text citation inserted into Word document

Inserting Multiple Citations

7. To insert more than one citation in a single spot, follow Steps #2-4 above.  After you search for the first paper you'd like to cite, text will appear prompting you to search for additional reference.  You can then search for the second paper (the Marrow paper for me), then click OK.

screenshot of pop-up search box with "Search for additional reference" text

8. Citations to the Esslin and Marrow papers will appear together in the text.

screenshot of Word document with two new citations in the text

Adding Bibliographies

9. Position your cursor at the end of your paper, where you would like to insert a bibliography.

screenshot of Word document with cursor at the end of the paper

10. Click on Insert Bibliography.

screenshot of Insert Bibliography in References tab in Word highlighted

11. A bibliography, formatted according to the citation style you've selected, will be inserted at your cursor.

screenshot of Word document with bibliography in APA style

12. You can format the bibliography like you would any other text.  You can change the alignment, font, font size, and/or give your bibliography a title.  Here is my finished paper and bibliography.

screenshot of Word document with formatted bibliography

Using Mendeley Cite

Inserting a Single Citation

1. To insert a citation using Mendeley Cite, first select a style using the Citation Style menu. We'll choose American Psychological Association.  

screenshot of Citation Style part of Mendeley Cite

2. Place your cursor in the Word document at the point where you'd like to insert the citation, and add a space so your references don't get smushed.

screenshot of Word document with cursor where citation will be placed

3. Back on the References menu, search for the reference you'd like to cite using a keyword from the title, the publication year, or an author's name.

screenshot of Mendeley Cite plug-in with References search box

4. After you've conducted the search, click the checkbox of the resources you'd like to cite (here, I've cited the Esslin paper), and click Insert 1 Citation

screenshot of Esslin paper being cited in Mendeley Cite plug-in

5. A citation to the Esslin paper is now in your paper, where your cursor is located.

screenshot of in-text citation inserted into Word document

Inserting Multiple Citations

6. To insert more than one citation in a single spot, search and click the checkboxes for all of the citations you'd like to add. Once you're all done, click on Insert 2 Citations (the number will change depending on how many citations you're citing at once)

screenshot of Esslin and Marrow citations in Mendeley Cite

7. Citations to the Esslin and Marrow papers will appear together in the text.

screenshot of Word document with two new citations in the text

Adding Bibliographies

8. Position your cursor at the end of your paper, where you would like to insert a bibliography.

screenshot of Word document with cursor at the end of the paper

9. Click on Insert Bibliography, under More, then click Continue.

10.  A bibliography, formatted according to the citation style you've selected, will be inserted at your cursor.

screenshot of Word document with bibliography in APA style

11. You can format the bibliography like you would any other text.  You can change the alignment, font, font size, and/or give your bibliography a title.  Here is my finished paper and bibliography.

screenshot of Word document with formatted bibliography