Citation managers can help you efficiently manage your research and format papers (creating bibliographies, citations and footnotes) in a variety of styles.
Directly import citations from the library catalog, research databases or the web, then organize those citations to create your own personal library database and easily export citations to create bibliographies, citations and footnotes in a variety of styles.
Ideally, a citation manager will carry your through your college career or research. Which is best for you? It depends on what you need.
| If you need to... | Use | Because |
| Quickly cite a few sources in APA, MLA or Chicago/Turabian | Copy Citation option in Worldcat or article databases | You don't have to set up an account or import records to create citations. |
| Easily import citations from websites | Zotero or Refworks | Zotero is great at capturing citations from a variety of websites. Refworks can also handle this pretty well. |
| Share citations with a group | RefWorks or Zotero | Both make it easy to share with a group. |
Consider the following.
| RefWorks | EndNote Web | Zotero | Mendeley | |
| Strengths | Sharing, Organizing, access to alumni | Customization, Number of citation styles | Ease, Handling of web formats | PDF handling |
| Cost | Free to UNC Asheville students, faculty, staff | Free to UNC Asheville students, faculty, staff | Free | Free basic version |
| Saves to |
web | web | computer(s) | computer(s)/web |
| Use on multiple computers | yes | yes | yes (must sync first) | yes (must sync first) |
| Alumni Access |
yes | no (export citations) | free to all | free to all |
| Direct import from databases | yes (except ISI) | some | yes | yes (with plugin) |
| Import from websites | yes, with Ref-Grab-it | yes, with bookmark | yes | yes |
| Link to PDFs | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Citation styles available | over 2000 | over 3000 | 18 to start with; install more created by users | over 2000 |
| Attach files to references |
yes | no | yes | yes |
| Link to full text at UNCA | yes | yes | yes (customize) | no |
| Free storage | 5GB | no | 100MB | 1GB |
| Group sharing | yes | yes | yes | free for 3 people |
| Public folders | yes (RefShare) | no | yes | yes |
| Word processing software compatibility | MS Word plugin; RTF; manual citation insertion | MS Word plugin; RTF; manual citation insertion | Fewer features; more options (MS Word plugin, Open Office, Google Docs). Drag and drop citations. | MS Word plugin, Open Office |
| Offline access |
no | no | yes | yes |
| Highlight and annotate PDFs | no | no | no | yes |