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Citation Management
Citation management software collects citations from various sources, organizes them, and compiles them into a bibliography or list of works cited.
The software helps the user create citations in numerous different styles such as APA, MLA, Turabian, and Chicago. Citations, bibliographies, or cited references pages generated by these programs are not always 100% accurate. Double-checking the citations with the use of a style guide is recommended.
The real magic of citation management software is its ability to help writers organize their documents. Citation management software allows you to keep all of your documents in one place. Because it imports the bibliographic information, you don't have to remember what naming convention you used to locate a document. You can search for the article by name or by author. You can create subfolders for projects as well as having all of your documents in one spot.
For a full rundown and tutorials on citation management software, check out the library's subject guide:
Comparison Chart
| EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | |
| Storage Space | Unlimited | 2GB | 300MB |
| Cost | Free for LSU Students, Faculty and Staff trough Tigerware | Free - more storage is available for a fee | Free - more storage is available for a fee |
| Web or Desktop Client? | Both | Both. Works with IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari | Desktop software and browser add-on for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari |
| Technical Support | Professional technical support | Good user community; limited direct technical support from Mendeley | Good user community |
| Interface Language | English | English | English |
| Strengths | Very robust; good search and storage capability; direct export option with most databases; works well with PubMed | Large social component - can find other researchers in same field | Good at pulling metadata metadata from web pages; PDFs import automatically |
| Can others view records I've saved? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Does it work with word processing programs/apps? | Cite While Your Write works with MS Word and OpenOffice; Format Paper works with Pages, Nissus, WordPad, and other programs/apps | Works with Open Office, La Tex (The plugin for MS Word is no longer allowed by LSU ITS) | Plug-ins work with MS Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and Google Docs |
| Does it have a mobile site or app? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Other Considerations | Steep learning curve; best option for larger collections (1000+); the desktop client can make your computer run slower | Recommend using another tool with Mendeley; does not work well with EBSCO databases | Optimized for Firefox but works with Safari and Chrome browsers with installation of a client; open source |