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Conducting a Literature Review

A collection of strategies and resources for conducting a literature review

Citation Management

There are several programs that you can use to help manage your citations. You can collect, organize, and format references. Some of these programs also manage the PDFs associated with the citations, and may allow you to take notes within the program. WSU does not provide subscriptions to these programs, but there are several free options that are excellent for most research needs. 

Zotero is a citation management program that pairs an app on your computer with a browser extension. You can also sync your library to a free online account, and collaborate with colleagues.

Use EndNote Basic (formerly EndNote Web) to collect, organize, and format references.  EndNote simplifies the process of formatting references in various citation styles.

Please Note:

  • WSU does not have a site license to EndNote21 desktop. Access the free EndNote Online from the Web of Science database by clicking on Products in the upper right corner of the Web of Science platform and selecting EndNote from the dropdown. Set up a third-party account with Clarivate using your WSU email, but not your Network ID.
  • To set up Cite While You Write in Word, if you don't have the paid EndNote21 desktop installed, you will need to download EndNote Online's Cite While You Write (CWYW) plug in from the Format tab in EndNote Online. If you have EndNote21 installed, then you can add the EndNote21 Cite While You Write plug in from the Add Ins tab in Office365 Word.

Citation Formats

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are offered by journals and databases to to provide updates on new articles and tables of contents. Feeds are more flexible than emails but do require a "feed reader" software. Some web browser have a feed reader, like Safari.

Popular feed readers:

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