UTEP Library Research Guides: Managing Your Research References: Citation Managers Are the Answer

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Subjects: Undergraduate Studies

Why You Should Organize Your References

Create bibliographic records for your citations, manually or electronically, from databases, catalogs or the Web.
Manage data through annotations, self-assigned tags, author-specified keywords, and attachments.
Create your own critical abstracts.
Search and organize your own database of references according to your personal preferences (Folder, subject, item type, etc.).
Link to word processing documents and insert footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations.
Create a standalone reference list using sources within database of references.

Choose Your Manager

	RefWorks	Zotero	Mendeley	EndNote
Best Use	Long-Term Storage and Management of Many Sources	Web-Based Research	Storage and Management of PDFs and annotations	Sophisticated Management of Sources
Best Features	Ease of Sharing and Collaboration Review and Management of Large Numbers of Sources	User-Friendly Design Screenshot capture of Web material Ease of Adding Sources Recognized by Zotero Ability to Search Full-Text of Attached Files iPhone App (coming soon)	User-Friendly Design Review and Management of PDFs Ease of Adding Sources Recognized by Mendeley Web Compatible	Customization Review and Management of Large Numbers of Sources
Disadvantages	Separate Log-In and RefWorks Window Not as intuitive as Zotero More complicated to import references Works best with traditional resources Searching citations is robust - but cannot search the full-text of attached files	Somewhat difficult to manage large numbers of sources	No Direct Export from databases that are not owned by Elsevier Not ADA compliant	Tied to your desktop Steep learning curve Complicated to import references Works best with traditional resources
Adding Citations to Word Documents	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Access	UTEP Library	Browser plug-in	Online or downloaded software	Desktop
Format	Web-based	Web-based	Web and Desktop based	Software/Web-based Version (reduced features)
Mobile	Yes, iPad app	Yes, a mobile site through zotero.org. There's also an app called ZotPad for iPhone/iPad.	Yes, an app for iPhone/iPad.	Yes, an iPad app.
Space Limits	Unlimited	300 MB	2 GB	Unlimited*

Cost	Free for UTEP affiliates	Free for anyone	Free for anyone	Must purchase (~$300)