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Introduction to Citation Management: Introduction

Why Use a Citation Management Tool?

You put a lot of effort into gathering the materials for your paper - make it easy to find and cite them when it's time to write. Citation management software helps you

make sure you get all the citation information you need on a particular source,
locate the information you've collected,
easily output your citations in the style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) required,
inject citations into your paper, and
generate your bibliography.

Comparison of Citation Management Software
characteristic	EndNote	Mendeley	Zotero
Get Started	EndNote Guide	https://www.mendeley.com/	Zotero Guide
About	EndNote allows you to store and share your research materials, and provides tools for importing database searches and citing materials.	Mendeley allows you to store and organize your research materials, share them with others, and annotate documents.	Zotero is an easy to use application for organizing your research materials, sharing them with collaborators, and citing them in a wide range of citation styles.
Cost	Free for UofL students, faculty and staff (institutionally sponsored)	Free	Free
Storage	Unlimited with UofL account	Basic free account includes 2GB cloud storage	Basic free account includes 300MB cloud storage
Accessibility	https://endnote.com/ada-compliance/	https://www.mendeley.com/accessibility	https://forums.zotero.org/search/?Search=accessibility
Versions	Web-based & desktop	Web-based & desktop	Web-based & desktop
Compatibility	Windows Mac EndNote online	Windows Mac Linux	Windows Mac Linux
Word processors supported	Microsoft Word Apache OpenOffice LibreOffice Google Docs	Microsoft Word LibreOffice OpenOffice	Microsoft Word Google Docs LibreOffice

This table was adapted from one created by Marina Ito at https://libguides.macalester.edu/citation/citationmanagement.

For more options, see this comparison of reference management software.