What does a citation manager do?
- Allows you to import citations from databases, catalogs, PDFs and other sources.
- Stores and organizes your references in a desktop or online account
- Helps you avoid duplicate citations
- Allows you to add notes or annotations to your citations
- Helps you stay organized when creating your bibliography or in-text citation
- Lets you share your collection of sources and collaborate with colleagues.
Cost: Free (basic); increased storage plans available
Platform: Web and desktop for Windows, Mac, and Linux
Pros: Free, open source, automatically recognizes sources, great customer service, built-in PDF annotation
Cons: Can be a little overwhelming at first, no mobile app, not completely web-based
From the website: "Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research."
Cost: Free
Platform: Web and Desktop for Windows, Mac, or Linux
Pros: Free, Web importer to add articles from any supported website, Browser plugin, Mobile apps for Apple and Android, Citation plugin for Word and LibreOffice, PDF annotator
Cons: No easy way to share with colleagues, organizing is more difficult than in the other options.
From the website: "With the Medeley Reference Manager, you can easily organize and search your personal library, annotate documents and cite as you write."
Cost: Free (MLA only) to $19.95/month for different plans
Platform: Web-based
Pros: Plagiarism checks and grammar error checks - only with paid plans
Cons: The free plan only uses MLA and does not check for plagiarism.
From the Website: "EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools that are easy-to-use and educational."
Cost: Depending on discount and version purchased.
Platform: Web
Pros: Read, review, annotate, and search PDFs, create rules to automatically organize references as you work, share part or all of your library as read only or write, access research from your desktop, online, or your iPad
Cons: No tablet support other than iPad, expensive, learning curve
From the website: "EndNote 20 is the reference management software that not only frees you from the tedious work of manually collecting and curating your research materials and formatting bibliographies, but also gives you greater ease and control in coordinating with your colleagues."
Cost: Basic is free, Premium is $6.99/month
Platform: Web
Pros:
Basic - Free, unlimited references, instantly save and annotate articles online, Find and cite references in Microsoft Word and Google Docs, Access your references and PDFs from any device, easy collaboration
Premium - All the items in the Basic package plus unlimited projects, article suggestions, unlimited storage, smart citation suggestions in Microsoft Office and Google Docs, access to article recommendations in Sciwheel Prime
Cons: Basic only allows three projects at a time, so organizing is difficult. Not web based.
From the Website: "An easy and intuitive way to discover, read, annotate, write and share scientific research."
Dr. Paper for Mac - $24.95
Dr. Paper for Windows - $24.95
ProCite 5.0 5-User Lab Pack - $874.95
Noodle Tools - $15.00/year for an Individual License
Power Notes - $4.99/month or $49.99/year
Paperpile - $2.99/month
APA
MLA
Chicago/Turabian