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Mendeley

Maintaining References

Maintaining your references in Mendeley ensures your final document has accurate, high-quality referencing.

Some imported entries may be lacking the key metadata  necessary for referencing that entry. Mendeley can help you to identify such references. To do so, click on the Needs Review folder in the My Library pane on the left. This will show a list of entries that Mendeley has identified as incomplete. Note, however, that this may not find every incorrect reference, so it is good practice to check reference details whenever you add new entries to your library.

To update and correct such references, follow the steps below:

  1. Begin by simply clicking on the document in the main document window. The referencing information for that document will then be displayed in the details pane on the right.

  2. Go to the details pane and enter in all necessary referencing information appropriate for the selected document’s type of entry (Journal article, Report, Book, etc.) When you have finished updating the information, click on the Details are Correct button to save the changes.

As your library grows, you may acquire duplicate references. To identify which documents may possibly be duplicated, follow the steps below:

  1. Click on the All Documents folder in the My Library pane on the left to see all the documents contained within your library. 
  2. Next, click the Tools menu and select the Check for Duplicates option.

  3. A list of all documents that Mendeley identifies as being possible duplicates will then be displayed in the main document window.

  4. You can then merge the duplicate references by clicking on the Confirm Merge button in the Details pane on the right.

  5. Before merging, it is important to check the referencing information for the documents marked as duplicate to ensure that the entries are indeed the same source:
    1. Double-click on a duplicate to reveal the references Mendeley has identified.
    2. Click on these identified documents to view their referencing information in the Details pane on the right. You can then compare the information between the duplicate documents.
    3. If it is determined that these documents are not duplicates, then click on the Not a Duplicate button to mark these entries as being separate sources.

  6. If the documents have been correctly identified as being duplicates, then it is important to check the referencing information for any conflicting fields. As you go through the referencing information, you can tick the checkboxes for all details you know to be correct. Once done, you can then merge the documents by clicking on the Merge Documents button.