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Mendeley referencing software: Add Styles, Abbreviations, etc.

Software that helps with referencing. In this guide learn about Mendeley and download Mendeley.

Contact for support

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Styles, Abbreviations, etc.

1. Styles help you format your references correctly

2. Abbreviation Files will automatically replace full journal titles with abbreviated titles where a style requires this. (Note: currently only available in Mendeley Desktop, not Mendeley Reference Manager)

What is a style?

Referencing styles are rules for how to write references; what information to include and in which order to write it in. 

There are six styles in use at UWA and the UWA Library has created style guides for these.  

  •  Each style guide provides guiding principles and examples of in-text and end-text formatting of a range of information sources plus links to further information.   

Which style should I use in Mendeley?

Mendeley can be used to help automate the formatting of references within your work.  Mendeley does this for both in-text citations and the reference list or bibliography.

You need to make sure you select the correct style file in Mendeley Cite from the many hundreds Mendeley draws from the GitHub CSL citation styles repository.  See the instructions for selecting a style on the “Selecting styles in Mendeley” section below.  

Here is a list of links to the CSL style files for the styles used at UWA:

  • AGLC – Australian Guide to Legal Citation Style – 4th Edition

 

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/master/australian-guide-to-legal-citation.csl NOTE: Currently Mendeley Cite does not support inserting references into footnotes, and is therefore incompatible with AGLC4. Mendeley Desktop and the Cite-O-Matic plugin should be used instead. Please see comparison of features and this Mendeley Support Centre query.
  • APA - American Psychological Association Style – 7th Edition

The current update is APA7. 

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/master/apa.csl  
  • Chicago – University of Chicago Footnote Style - 17th Edition

Note and bibliography (footnote) referencing style

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/master/chicago-note-bibliography.csl NOTE: Currently Mendeley Cite does not support inserting references into footnotes, and is therefore incompatible with Chicago. Mendeley Desktop and the Cite-O-Matic plugin should be used instead. Please see comparison of features and this Mendeley Support Centre query.
  • IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers style

Note this style uses abbreviated journal titles.

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/master/ieee.csl NOTE: Currently Mendeley Reference Manager does not support automatic abbreviated journal titles. You may like to consider using Mendeley Desktop instead. Please see comparison of features.
  • MLA - Modern Language Association of America

The current update is MLA9.

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/master/modern-language-association.csl  
  • Vancouver (based on citing medicine) –

Note this style uses abbreviated journal titles.

 https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/blob/6152ccea8b7d7a472910d36524d1bf3557a83bfc/vancouver.csl NOTE: Currently Mendeley Reference Manager does not support automatic abbreviated journal titles. You may like to consider using Mendeley Desktop instead. Please see comparison of features.

 

 

Selecting styles in Mendeley

Ten commonly used referencing styles are available in Mendeley Cite immediately on installation. Many more styles can be selected by searching for the style name or pasting in the URL to the style rules from the GitHub citation style repository.

Go to the 'Citation Style' tab in the Mendeley Cite add-in window.

The 'Citation Style' tab displays a list of all the citation styles you currently have installed. Initially the tab will display the top 10 most common citation styles. You can change the style by selecting any of the displayed styles and then clicking 'Update citation style'.

You can upload additional styles directly into Mendeley Cite.

Click the 'Select another style...' link to open the citation style search window.

Select another style link

Search for a style by name, or at the bottom of the window, select the 'Add custom style' link to open the custom citation style panel.

Add custom style link

Copy your citation style URL and paste it into the custom citation style panel URL text box. Then select 'Update citation style'.

URL pasted in, update citation style button

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