Properly citing research sources demonstrates engagement in a conversation with other scholars and their ideas. It enhances the credibility of an argument by offering supporting evidence and provides readers with additional sources for further reading. Writers must give credit where credit is due and avoid plagiarism, a serious academic violation.
Visit the Citation: How to Cite Your Sources guide for more information on how to cite in various citation styles.
Citation and bibliography management tools help users collect, organize, and retrieve citations found during research. Many can even work with word-processing software to help format final documents via footnotes, endnotes, in-text citations, and bibliography creation.
Visit the Citation and Research Management Tools guide for more information.
EndNote 20 is reference management software with features to—
- Keep all your references and reference-related materials in a searchable personal library.
- Synchronize your references between up to three of your personal computers, an online library, and your iPad or iPhone through EndNote Sync. (You must be the owner and user of all three computers.)
- Set up a library sharing team and effortlessly collaborate with up to 100 co-authors and colleagues.
- Insert in-text citations while creating a bibliography in Microsoft® Word.
- Build your bibliography in any included style, or customize your own style. 7,000+ reference styles are available.
Visit the EndNote guide for more information.
Mendeley is a desktop and web-based citation management tool. With it, users can organize research materials, annotate PDFs, and create citations. Users can also network with others researching in similar disciplines in Mendeley.
Visit the Mendeley guide for more information.
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research. Zotero allows you to attach digital objects like PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies, even from within your preferred word processor.
Visit our Zotero guide for more information.
ZoteroBib helps you build a bibliography in any style instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. Your bibliography is stored in your browser’s local storage by default. You can close the page and return to it later, and your bibliography will still be there — no need to worry about saving your data or logging in.