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Evidence based practice requires that practitioners are able to identify relevant and applicable research speedily and efficiently, which is why there has been an increased interest in reference management in recent years. A reference management system is any systematic means of organising your references. Such a system may be either manual or electronic or a combination of both. Each approach has three basic steps input, retrieval and output.

The aim of this resource pack is to introduce the need for, and practicalities of, managing bibliographic references as part of the research process. It discusses the pros and cons of manual versus electronic reference management systems, takes the reader through the major stages involved in reference management and reviews the major software packages available for the task. In addition it alerts authors to journals' "Instructions to Authors" regarding references and standard requirements for submitting manuscripts. In the appendices there is a detailed comparison between the Harvard and Vancouver referencing styles.

This resource packs suggests further reading and resources as well as supplying a glossary of terms.


Download a pdf version of Managing References (revision 2007)

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