EndNote: Editing a Reference Style

Editing the In-Text Citation

If you are writing for publication, you may be required to vary the way the in-text citation is created in your preferred style. This applies most commonly to Author-Date styles, though you can vary the presentation of numbered citations also. If you do this, it's a good idea to save the edited style under a different name, in case you need to go back to using the original version of that referencing style again.

To edit in-text citations in EndNote 21 and 20, first go Tools > Output Styles > and then select the style you'd like to edit
(For EndNote X9 and earlier, choose Edit > Output Styles instead)

A pop up window will open. Choose Citations from the menu on the left of the pop up window to edit the in-text citation.

Citations > Templates allow you to see the in-text citation template, and change the separator for multiple citations if you wish. If editing this text seems a bit intimidating, try copying over information from a referencing style that better matches your needs or contact the library so that we can help you edit the template (contact form below)

Citations > Ambiguous citations will let you change settings to do with the way similar citations are told apart, including the use of notations like 2021a and 2021b.

Citations > Author Lists will let you change rules to do with how many authors are required to invoke et al, as well as the punctuation between author names in an in-text citation.

Citations > Author Names will let you change the way author names are presented in-text, including the use of initials and rules to do with consecutive citations by the same author.

Citations > Numbering to affect the way citations look in a numbered style.

Citations > Sort Order lets you change the rules about how the style will order multiple citations within the same set of parentheses: by year, by author name, etc

Editing the Reference List

If you are writing for publication, you may be required to edit the way your preferred style displays references in the reference list. Changes might include placing quote marks around an article title, or to have parentheses around the date of publication. EndNote allows you to do this by editing the style.

If you do this, it's a good idea to save the edited style under a different name, in case you need to go back to using the original version of that referencing style again.

To edit reference list citations in EndNote 21 and 20, first go Tools > Output Styles and then select the style you'd like to edit
(For EndNote X9 and earlier, choose Edit > Output Styles instead)

A pop up window will open. Choose Bibliography from the menu on the left of the pop up window to edit the reference list.

Bibliography > Templates will show you all of the supported reference types for that style and the rules on how to build them, using various fields from the EndNote references.

If editing this text seems a little intimidating, try copying over information from a referencing style that better matches your needs or contact the Library so that we can help you edit the template (contact form below).

Bibliography > Field Substitutions will let you invoke rules governing what happens when a part of a reference is missing, eg: using a URL if the DOI is missing.

Bibliography > Sort Order lets you change the rules about how the reference list will be ordered, eg: by author surname and year.

Bibliography > Author Lists will let you change rules to do with how many authors are required to invoke et al, as well as the punctuation between author names in the reference list.

(For space reasons we haven't discussed some of the lesser used options in the Bibliography area)

Bibliography > Author Names will let you change the way author names are presented, such as the order the first and second names are presented and the use of initials.

Bibliography > Editor Lists and Editor Names invoke the same options as seen above for Authors, only applied to Editors.

Bibliography > Title capitalization allows you to preserve the capitalization of the references as entered in EndNote, or make all upper or lower case.

Modifying the APA style to create an annotated bibliography

• With APA 7th style selected in EndNote, use Tools > Output styles > Edit "APA 7th" to edit the style
• Go to the Bibliography > Layout area of the menu on the left

  

• Type "Research Notes" into the End each reference with box.. At the bottom of the page, change Hanging Indent to None

  

• Click on File > Save As, and save the changed style with a new name, eg: APA 7th Annotated
• This displays the contents of the Research Notes field below each reference when you create a bibliography; so you need to add the annotations you wish to display into the Research Notes field for each reference.
• You can download an annotated APA 7th style for EndNote using the link below