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Mechanical Engineering: Writing

Guide to resources in Mechanical Engineering.

Kresge Engineering Library closed until 2025

The Kresge Engineering Library is temporarily closed due to the Bechtel Engineering Center renovation. We plan to re-open in 2025 when the new Engineering Student Center opens its doors.

Read about the closure here.

Questions? Send us a message and one of our engineering librarians will reach out. 

Citation Management Tools

Citation management software helps you to collect and organize papers, cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles.

Popular citation management tools in the sciences and engineering include:

  • Zotero is a free and easy-to-use tool for collecting, managing, and citing the sources you find during your research. It can be integrated with Google Docs, Overleaf, and Word for easily formatting citations while writing.
  • Mendeley is a freely available reference manager and academic social network that can be used to organize your research, create bibliographies, collaborate with others, and discover current developments. It can be integrated with Overleaf and Word for easily formatting citations while writing.
  • BibTeX is a tool and format for simply organizing citations in a .bib text file. It can be used in LaTeX to format citations and bibliographies in a variety of styles. Overleaf offers extensive guidance on how to use .bib files with bibtex and biblatex, a newer package that is actively being developed.
    • JabRef is a free tool for more effectively organizing and viewing your .bib libraries and formatting references and bibliographies.
  • EndNote is bibliographic management software that you install on your computer. It offers sophisticated, flexible tools for organizing references and creating bibliographies. EndNote works with Word to format citations and create bibliographies in a comprehensive variety of styles. Get the student price by purchasing online with proof of student status.
  • Papers is low-cost software that allows you to search, retrieve, organize, and annotate article PDFs. It can be integrated with Google Docs and Word for easily formatting citations.
  • Paperpile is a low-cost web tool for collecting and organizing papers and easily formatting citations and bibliographies in Google Docs.

Style Guides

Publishers' style guides provide instructions for writing an article for one of its publications.  They typically specify the layout and length of the paper, rules for units, graphs and tables, copyright terms, and how to submit the paper. 

Writing Help

The campus offers writing support for students through the College Writing Programs office.

The Student Learning Center also offers both appointments and drop-in help.