References and metadata
What is a reference?
A reference is any source of information that you cite in a research paper to support your ideas or provide evidence. There are different types of references, such as articles, books, websites, and more unconventional types like tweets, podcasts, or videos.
Essentially, anything used to inform your work or provide a basis for claims can be referenced. Paperpile can be considered a database where you can store and manage these references, making it easier to organize and cite them properly.
What is the metadata of a reference?
Each reference has metadata fields with all the information required to correctly cite and find them, such as Title, Authors, Journal, Date published, and more.
Different reference types have different sets of metadata. For example, an article has a journal field, while a book can have an edition field.
Paperpile saves all the metadata for your references in your library. The web app displays all this information in a compact form. To see all the metadata fields for a reference, click the three-dot button in the reference list.
You typically don’t need to think about metadata since Paperpile automatically sets all the data as metadata fields with values. To change fields or add data manually:
- Click the three-dot button on the right side of your reference
- Select Edit
In the end, Paperpile uses your reference metadata to format your citations. For more information, see Citations and citation styles
