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Using NoodleTools: A Guide to the App

A guide to creating and using your free NoodleTools account for citations.

Create an Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each source.

NoodleTools lets you

  • add annotations to a source, and
  • hide or show the annotations as needed

Adding / Editing Annotations

Each source provides you a field (text box) to add annotations about the source. You do not need to duplicate the source since you can switch between viewing and hiding the annotation.

Click the More (three dots) menu for the source entry and select Edit.

Viewing Annotations

Your annotations only show on the source list or your Works Cited page when you select "Citations and annotations" as a formatting option.

From the Sources screen

  • click the Export / Print icon 
  • select "Formatting Options..."

The choices available on the  "Formatting options" pop-up window differ based on the project's Citation Style.

  • The "Include" section shows the current option selected
    • "Citations and annotations" or
    • "Citations only (no annotations)."
  • Click the link to change the option.

Print Annotations with Sources

From the Sources screen

  • click the Export / Print icon 
  • select "Formatting Options..."
  • The "Include" section shows the current option selected
    • "Citations and annotations" or
    • "Citations only (no annotations)."
  • Click the link to change the option.

Create In-text Citations and Footnotes

When you quote, paraphrase/summarize or refer to a source in a paper you need to refer the reader to the source. In MLA and APA styles you use an in-text citation and a footnote with Chicago style.

NoodleTools provides examples specific to a particular source. Create the In-text citations and footnotes from the "More" (three dots) menu next to a citation on the Sources screen.

Example in-text citations (or footnotes) are not available for sources where you have created the citation via QuickCite.

In-text Citations for MLA and APA

MLA and APA use in-text citations, also known as parenthetical references, to identify the information source when citing the information within your paper. 

Create citation by selecting "In-text citation" the "More" (three dots) menu next to a citation on the Sources screen.  

A pop-up window with the In-text citation appears as shown in the following image of a partial MLA in-text citation window.

example MLA in-text citation

The following image shows a partial APA in-text citation window.

example APA in-text citation

Important! – Example in-text citations are not available for sources where you have created the citation via QuickCite.

Footnotes - Chicago 

Chicago style has two methods for documenting sources: Author-Date and Notes-Bibliography. NoodleTools can assist with the Notes-Bibliography method which uses footnotes for citations instead of in-text citations.

Create the footnote by selecting "Footnote format" the "More" (three dots) menu next to a citation on the Sources screen.  NOTE: Footnote format option is only available with Chicago style projects.

The footnote for your source appears in a pop-up window as shown in the following image of a partial Footnote format window.

example - footnote format for source

Important! – Example footnotes are not available for sources where you have created the citation via QuickCite.

Make and Use Notecards

Notecards let you save:

  • direct quotes
  • images
  • your ideas about the source

Create one notecard for one idea or fact.

Link each notecard to a source citation.