Bibliographies
Putting together accurate, searchable bibliographies is rarely a simple job. Kseniya Fedoruk reveals how to do it with less effort, using ONLYOFFICE.
Putting together accurate, searchable bibliographies is rarely a simple job. Kseniya Fedoruk reveals how to do it with less effort, using Onlyoffice.
Creating bibliographies, or searching and managing publication references is probably not an everyday task for those who are working with documents online. Nevertheless, if you’re writing a research paper, a book or something to be studied in academic circles, then as a rule you’re required to include a bibliography or a list of references that have helped you to put together your article. This job can be done manually, but it’ll take up a lot of your time. The easiest way to create a bibliography easily and quickly is to use dedicated applications that can perform this task automatically and within seconds.
ONLYOFFICE is an open-source web-based office suite that provides you with advanced online editors for text documents, spreadsheets and presentations that are compatible with OOXML formats (.docx, .xlsx, . pptx). The suite includes a range of editing, formatting and styling tools along with multiple collaborative features. With the pre-installed add-ons, also known as plugins, as well as with the capability to create and add you own plugin, you’re able to implement extra functionality. In this case we’re talking about three easy-to-use reference management plugins: Mendeley, Zotero and Easybib.
Bibliography management
ONLYOFFICE’S online editors enable you to create bibliographies and manage references through special plugins. The biggest advantage of such tools is that you can add a bibliography or a list of references while editing your document – there’s no need to switch between several applications. The aforementioned plugins – Mendeley, Zotero and Easybib can also handle bibliography management.
Configuration of the plugins
Before using the Mendeley, Zotero and Easybib plugins in
ONLYOFFICE, you need to create an account in the service of your choice and connect it to the editors.
To configure the Mendeley plugin, run it from the Plugins tab in the editors. You need to go to http://dev. mendeley.com/myapps.html, where you’ll see a form to fill in, using the link provided in the plugin interface as a redirect URL. When you’re ready with the form, press
Generate Secret and then the Submit button. Copy the generated ID and paste it into the corresponding field in the plugin interface.
To register the Zotero application you’ll also need to run it from the Plugins tab in the editors. Then follow the
Zotero API settings link from the plugin’s window. Log in to your Zotero account and press Create New Private Key. You need to fill in the Key Description, check the Allow Library Access box and then press the Save Key button. Once done, copy the newly created key, paste it in the API Key field in the plugin’s interface and save it.
To configure the Easybib plugin, go to the Easybib sign-up page (http://api.citation-api.com/signup). Fill in the form provided there: enter your name, email, application name and description, paste https:// service.onlyoffice.com/oauth2.aspx into the URL field, accept the terms of service and click Submit. You’ll receive the confirmation message to the specified email address. Follow the confirmation link from the received message. After that you’ll receive another email message with your application data. Copy or write down the apikey. Launch the ONLYOFFICE portal and go to Settings>integration>third-party Services>easybib. Finally, enter the apikey and then click Enable.
What plugin to choose?
It’s difficult to decide which plugin is better and more convenient to use. The plugins themselves are designed for the same purpose: adding and managing bibliographies. That’s why they have a lot in common: similar features and frontends.
As for the services behind the plugins, you can use them at no charge, but there are some extra features that you have to pay for. These paid-for features include a storage space update in Zotero, access to all citation styles in Easybib and greater amount of personal library space in Mendeley.
However, there is one difference that we can point out. The Mendeley and Easybib plugins are capable of searching for sources in public libraries, whereas
Zotero works only with the user’s personal library that’s connected to the account. The intended sources must be added to your Zotero library before you can use them when creating your bibliography.
As you can see, ONLYOFFICE offers a range of bibliography management tools. It’s up to you to decide which plugin to use to create a bibliography for your own body of written work. Whichever one you choose, you can be sure that bibliography management in
ONLYOFFICE’S online editors is simple to master, and you don’t need any specific skills to create first-class, accurate bibliographies.