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The development of information and communication technology in the digital era has increased access to and productivity of scholarly publications, while also creating challenges in managing academic literature and references. Final-year students, particularly those from non–Information Technology programs, often experience difficulties in organizing references systematically, maintaining citation consistency, and avoiding unintentional plagiarism. This article aims to describe the implementation and outcomes of a community service program that provided training on the use of Mendeley as a personal digital library for managing scholarly literature. The program was conducted over two days using a participatory and hands-on approach involving students from Universitas Tamansiswa in Padang. The training methods included conceptual lectures, live demonstrations, and practical sessions covering Mendeley installation, reference management, automatic citation, and bibliography generation. The results indicate improvements in participants’ understanding and skills in reference management, as well as increased awareness of academic integrity. Overall, the training proved effective in enhancing efficiency and writing quality in the preparation of theses or final projects.

In the academic world, proper and efficient reference management is essential to ensure the quality and credibility of scientific writing. However, many lecturers and education practitioners, particularly early childhood education teachers, still encounter difficulties in managing references according to established academic standards such as APA and MLA citation styles. This challenge often hinders the process of academic writing and decreases the quality of scholarly outputs. To address this issue, a structured training program was conducted focusing on the use of Mendeley, a digital reference management tool designed to simplify citation and bibliography management automatically. The objective of this training was to enhance participants’ technical competence, digital literacy, and their ability to integrate Mendeley into the process of preparing scientific papers. The training activities were carried out using a series of steps, including needs assessment of participants, collaborative planning, hybrid training implementation (both online and offline), and continuous assistance through follow-up forums. Throughout the program, participants were guided step-by-step on how to install, use, and integrate Mendeley into word processing applications for academic writing. The results of the evaluation showed a significant increase in participants' knowledge and practical skills, with an N-Gain score of 0.70, which falls into the high effectiveness category. The training not only improved the quality of reference management in scientific papers but also promoted greater professionalism and academic accountability. Moreover, it supported the broader goal of integrating technology into educational development. Overall, this initiative is expected to encourage more systematic, efficient, and digitally literate practices in academic writing among educators, ultimately contributing to improved educational quality in higher education settings.

The use of technology in academics is one of the important factors in supporting learning and research activities, especially among students. This community service aims to improve the knowledge and skills of students of the PSDKU Mathematics Education Study Program, Pattimura University, Southwest Maluku Regency in using Mendeley as a reference management tool. The method used in this study is an experimental approach with a direct practice-based training model. Participants consisted of students of the PSDKU Mathematics Education Study Program, Pattimura University, Southwest Maluku Regency. The results of the study showed a significant increase in students' knowledge and skills in managing academic references using Mendeley, including in the aspects of compiling bibliographies, automatic citations, and organizing documents. These findings indicate that training in the use of scientific reference software such as Mendeley can have a positive impact on the quality of students' academic results.