There are probably 1,001 other articles on the internet that describe the process of importing a reference into EndNote, but none that is straight-forward or simple enough to follow.

What I wanted to do was simple, and I knew it could be done. I have EndNote X5 installed on my computer. I have a box file full of references, and I would like to have these references in my EndNote library as well. So after searching online almost every step of the way, I have written down what worked for me, and I hope it would work for you too.

The entire process can be summarized as follows:

  1. Turn on the Bibliography Manager setting on Google Scholar by going to Google Scholar > Settings > Scroll to the bottom of the page to Bibliography Manager > Show links to import citations to: BibTex/EndNote/RefMan/RefWorks > Save
  2. Perform the search on Google Scholar
  3. Click on the “Import into EndNote” link located on the last line of each search result
  4. The .enw file will be saved/downloaded
  5. Open EndNote and the library
  6. To import the citation into EndNote, go to File > Import > Select .enw file and click “Import”

In just two days, I had managed to populate my EndNote library with my collection of references, without having to manually type them in.

Inevitably, I found that some imported citations were incomplete, so I cross-checked them with the printed references. I think cross-checking the references is a good exercise as it allows me to catch any errors or incomplete citations, hence maintaining the accuracy of the references.