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Libraries and Learning Skills

Introduction to systematic reviews

Reference management tools available at the University of Lincoln

The University of Lincoln provides access to EndNote and RefWorks. These reference management tools can help with several aspects of the systematic review process, from exporting and saving the references from the Library databases; assisting with the screening process (you can, for example, set up different folders for your included and excluded references), to generating your reference list in your chosen output style (Harvard, APA 7th, etc.). 

It is recommended that software management tools are used within systematic reviews to manage the large amounts of references which are retrieved from each database. Reference management tools can also be used for the deduplication process in systematic reviews. Searching across different databases will inevitably result in a large amount of duplication of results - these can easily be deduplicated using the tool within the reference management software you are using.

EndNote

EndNote X9 is available to download from:

  • ICT's software for home use. Use this to install EndNote X9 to your laptop for use on- and off-campus.

  • the Software Centre on any networked campus University of Lincoln PC or Mac. If you install EndNote to your account this way you will need to access it from off campus using the University Cloud Desktop

See the Library's EndNote support page for more information on using EndNote.

Below is a recording of the Library's Introduction to EndNote webinar which will provide a useful introduction to EndNote to get you started.

RefWorks

Unlike EndNote, RefWorks is web based and does not use a platform so doesn't need to be downloaded.

Below is a recording of the Library's Introduction to RefWorks webinar which is a useful introduction to using RefWorks to help get you started.

Deduplicating results

As databases will index overlapping content, there will be duplication of results across the different databases searched. As this duplication can amount to a significant number of results, reference management software can be used to automate this process.

For more information about finding duplicates in RefWorks see: https://www.refworks.com/refworks2/Finding_Duplicate_References_In_Your_Account.htm

For more information about finding duplicates in EndNote see: 
https://support.clarivate.com/Endnote/s/article/EndNote-X3-and-later-Steps-to-remove-duplicates-from-your-EndNote-library?language=en_US