Citation Management Tools
Citation Management Tools help you to easily cite sources in common formats and track your research and sources.
Citation Managers
Citation Managers are personal citation databases and bibliography creators that allow you to import, store, organize, and share your research citations. They will automatically format your bibliographies into whatever style you need (APA, MLA, Chicago, and many more). Most citation managers will allow you to annotate sources, attach PDFs and other file types, as well as share content with others. These can be invaluable tools in tracking your research and resources. Citation managers save you valuable time and energy by automatically capturing citations, generating bibliographies, and organizing a custom library of sources for you. A citation manager saves you valuable time and energy by automatically capturing citations, generating bibliographies, and organizing a custom library of sources for you.
The Citation Styles & Tools Research Guide is an introduction to citing sources in common formats. In addition to information about citation management software, you'll also find guidance on using quick citation generators, found in databases, and a few citation-generating websites.
Choosing a Citation Manager: Pros and Cons
UW Libraries provides support for three citation managers: EndNote Basic, Mendeley, and Zotero. Most citation managers provide the same basic features including saving citation, organizing citations into folders or libraries, and generating bibliographies and citations as you write.
Choosing a citation manager depends on your own preferences and work style. Typically, it is a good idea to talk to other researchers in your department, discipline, or research team to see if a particular citation management tool is already popular in your field of research.
Many research groups use citation managers collaboratively, and certain fields tend to gravitate towards a specific tool. Check with colleagues in your field to see what others are using, browse a comparison chart Links to an external site. of tools and refer to the Citation Styles & Tools Research Guide to help you decide which tool is best for you.
Zotero
Zotero is a desktop-based citation management tool that provides a "save to" widget, works with Microsoft Word and Google Docs, allows for group collaboration for shared sources, and gives users unlimited free citations and storage up to 300MB. Additional storage is billed annually.
Mendeley
Links to an external site.Mendeley is a desktop-based citation management tool that also provides a "save to" widget, works with Microsoft Word, allows you to annotate PDFs, lets you create 5 groups with up to 25 members each, and give users unlimited free citations and storage up to 2GB. Additional storage is billed monthly.
EndNote Basic
EndNote Basic is a web-based citation management tool that has a "save to" widget, provides a direct export option from the UW catalog and some databases, works with Microsoft Word, lets you share folders, and is free of cost.
Which Citation Tool Should I Choose?
Take a look at the a process flowchart Links to an external site. to help you decide which citation tool is right for you.