References can be added manually for documents that do not have an electronic record that can be directly exported to EndNote, e.g. government documents, web pages, print only sources.

Records are added using one of 45+ Reference Types, e.g. journal article, book, book section [chapter], conference paper, government document. Three additional Unused reference types are available so you can define your own.

Important points about references:

1. References are automatically saved when they are closed; however, you may save a reference while editing the reference using the Save command from the File menu.
2. Each reference added to a library is automatically assigned a unique record number that never changes for that reference in that particular library. EndNote uses these numbers to format papers. You cannot change these record numbers.
3. The text of the references should remain as plain text unless a special font, size, or style of text is required for a specific term or character, e.g. Latin name used for a species.

Data must be entered in the correct format to ensure that the resulting references accurately reflect the required style.

You can insert only one graphic or file in the Figure field, and the figure can be cited in Microsoft™ Word. However, multiple files can be added into the File Attachments field, e.g. draft MS Word documents, PDF files. All other fields can contain up to 64KB or approximately 16 pages of plain text.

If you begin to enter a name, journal or keyword that you have used before in that library, EndNote will complete the term for you to speed up data entry. To accept a term that EndNote has suggested, press Return/Enter, Tab or click in the next field.

Author and Editor names, Journals, and Keywords that have not already been used in your library appear in red text.

EndNote uses term lists for the Author and Editor names, Journals, and Keywords. These lists are updated automatically as you enter new terms into these fields.

Remember, consistent entry of author names is important!

You could consider using the Research Notes field to store your own notes about a particular reference. Including details such as a direct quote (and associated page number) that might be relevant to the article or essay you are writing.