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Research Building Blocks: Citation Management

Citation Management Software

What is a Citation Management Software?

Citation or Reference Management software is technology used to retrieve and organize bibliographic data for books, articles, websites, etc. Citation Management Software offer a wide range of academic and research citation styles to choose from, including APA, MLA, Chicago Style, Vancouver Style, et al. Examples of CMS are Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero, et. al.

 

Examples of Popular Citation Software

APA Citation Machine allows the user to create citations, provide grammar suggestions, and detect unintentional plagiarism. The website provides different citation styles (APA, MLA, etc.) and provides overviews of each style and its usage.

APA Citation Machine: http://www.citationmachine.net/apa

Cite This For Me citation guides covers several citation styles, but the most popular are APAChicago Manual of styleMLA, and Harvard referencing. Beyond simply creating references or citations, most citation styles have additional guidelines about paper formatting, in-text citations, and other details. 

Additional Features

Chrome Add-on

Has a Google Chrome add-on. Whenever you are on a page you wish to use as a source, simply click the Cite This For Me extension button to generate a citation for it. 

Export & Import

You can copy and paste your citations from Cite This For Me into your paper, project, or document.

If you’re looking to export it as a Word Doc, our premium features were designed for you.

Premium Cite This For Me Access

If you like to save work as you progress, dislike ads, and prefer to download your bibliography as a Word Doc,  The premium version gives access to the plagiarism check. It helps you identify any information that may still need a citation created for it. 

 

EndNote is a desktop/online reference management software that allows the user to build and maintain a bibliography library that can be organized, updated and shared. 

 Endnote has basic and Advanced versions.

EndNote Basic is a more limited reference management solution that is only available online. EndNote basic users can create an online library with a limited amount of references.

Endnote Advanced (EndNote Desktop or EndNote Online/Web) has an unlimited number of references and attachments, with synchronization between X9/20/21 desktop and online versions.

For a full list of the different features for each and how they compare, please see sidebars.

 UHN Libraries offers Endnote training. Please see UHN Libraries' workshop calendar for the next session.

EndNote training is offered on the EndNote Online Training & Support - Web of Science Group (clarivate.com).

Mendeley is a free online referencing software that allows the user to  import documents, generate references, citations and bibliographies in a whole range of journal styles, including APA, MLA and others.

For more: Mendeley - Reference Management Software

 For more on this software: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/citationmgmt/mendeley

RefWorks is a popular reference management service that supports the needs of students, faculty and librarians. RefWorks e is a web-based.  Reference databases are stored online, allowing them to be accessed and updated from any computer with an internet connection. Institutional licenses allow universities to subscribe to RefWorks on behalf of all their students, faculty and staff. Individual licenses are also available. The software enables linking from a user's RefWorks account to electronic editions of journals to which the institution's library subscribes. 

 RefWorks does require the user the sign in to access its services. For more on RefWorks, please visit: https://refworks.proquest.com/researcher/

Zotero is an open-source software program that is notable for its ease of use, its ability to grab screenshots, and its capabilities for archiving website content for local storage. Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. 

 For more on the software: https://www.zotero.org/

Choosing A Citation Manager