EndNote Competency

There is no Sage of EndNote.

Overview

To learn the wonders of EndNote and demonstrate your learning, create a competency library. This EndNote library can contain anything you want as long as you adequately demonstrate your skill with the various tools we teach. Please keep track of which tools you used on each item.

Installation

Make sure that EndNote X7  is installed on the computer. If it is not, go to TLC-data > software > Endnote to find the install .exe file.

Level 1 – Basic Level (research and library creation)

Learn the essentials for using EndNote and answering basic questions.

This portion of the competency is done in EndNote.

  1. Create a new library.
  2. Edit the preferences to facilitate downloading full texts.  You must use the OpenURL option with BYU’s authentication to complete this requirement.
  3. In the preferences make sure that the display font is set to Arial Unicode MS
  4. Insert the following citations by hand (only the important fields)
    • A Journal Article of your choice
    • One of your favorite books
    • Figure: Find some other figure (an picture or painting most likely) and create a citation for it. Try to find as much information about the figure as you can then make up the rest of the citation
    • Chart/Table: Create or find a chart and table and create a citation for it. Don’t forget to attach it as a figure.
  5. Use EndNote’s Online Search mode to search a topic and import 20 citations into your library. Be prepared to explain why online search is not very useful.
  6. Using EndNote’s Online Search, import references for a few books directly from the BYU Library (this can only be done in X7).
  7. Use Pubmed (www.pubmed.com) and some other online database provided by the BYU Library (try to make it a medical database) to import another 40 citations into your library
  8. Use EndNote to find the full texts

Show your library to the Sage of EndNote, who will check to make sure you have learned these skills well and award your medallion.

Level 2 – Teaching Level

Learn the rest of the skills we teach in the EndNote class, and be able to answer most questions about the program.

This portion of the competency is done in Microsoft Word using the EndNote plugin.  If you want to connect Word to the EndNote program, you must make that selection in the preferences.

  1. Set your style to APA 6th.
  2. Times New Roman, 12pt font, double spaced, one inch margins, no extra space between paragraphs. Seriously, we’re in college.
  3. Write a fake research paper on an interesting subject of your choice. Really, any subject that you find interesting.
  4. As you write your paper (or insert filler text), insert references from EndNote. Learn a few different ways to get citations from your library into your paper.
  5. Figure out how to cite five different papers in the same citation. Then figure out a different way.
  6. On at least one of your citations, include a page number.
  7. On at least one citation, use a prefix (like “see” and a suffix (like “figure 1”).
  8. Using EndNote, make the title of your references page say “References.”
  9. Repeat steps 1-7, but in Chicago style. This is a footnote style, so be sure and look up some example papers on the internet.
    • Make sure to see what happens when you cite the same paper twice in a row. Pretty cool, huh?
    • Convert one of your papers into a document with no field codes (plain text), and be prepared to explain (or ask) why you’d want to do this.

Show your paper and bibliography to the Sage of EndNote, who will check to make sure you have learned these skills well and award your medallion.

Level 3 – Advanced Level

Learn more advanced skills and be able to answer and troubleshoot the more complicated problems that people have with EndNote.

Be prepared to demonstrate/explain:

  • What the traveling library is and how to import traveling library citations
  • When to use and when not to use EndNote’s online search
  • How to customize a citation style
  • How to create a custom reference type  (NOT the same thing as a citation style)
  • What’s different about EndNote for Mac
  • The differences between EndNote, RefWorks, and at least one other citation manager (ex: Zotero, Mendeley) and what the advantages and disadvantages are for using each one
  • How to set up EndNote to automatically import PDFs from a folder on your computer
  • Why the PDF import doesn’t always work (hint: DOI, CrossRef.org) and what to do if the PDF import doesn’t work (hint: Find reference updates)
  • How to use smart groups
  • When combining multiple Word documents into a single document:
    • How to create a single bibliography at the end of the document
    • How to create a bibliography for each section or chapter
  • Using journal term lists to switch between abbreviated and full journal names

Demonstrate these skills to the Sage of EndNote, who will check to make sure you have learned these skills well and award your medallion.