Citation Managers

Why We Use Them

• Save time creating bibliographies and citations
• Organize articles and references
• Keep track of the research you find

What They Do

• Save citations for articles, books, websites, and more
• Generate in-text citations and bibliographies in documents
• Organize resources with collections, tags, and notes
• Use browser extensions to capture citations from a web page

Zotero and Mendeley are two popular citation managers that have desktop applications, Microsoft Word plugins, and browser extensions that are free to download. 

• Zotero

  • 300 MB Free Storage
  • Browser extension available to import citations directly from a web page
  • Microsoft Word and Google Docs plugins available to generate in-text citations and bibliographies in your document
  • Attach PDF files to your citations in the desktop application
  • More privacy for your citations and saved documents

• Mendeley

  • 2 GB Free Storage
  • Browser extension available to import citations directly from a web page
  • Microsoft Word plugin available to generate in-text citations and bibliographies in your document
  • Read and annotate PDF files within the application

Questions?

For more information on using citation managers or picking the right manager for you, please contact the librarian or see the links below for videos and tutorials.

• Citation Managers Overview & Comparisons - Portland State University
• Citation Management Introduction - Benedictine University
• Zotero Guides
• Get Started - Mendeley - UC Berkeley Library
• Mendeley Guides