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What are citation managers?
Citation managers such as EndNote Basic (aka EndNote Online), EndNote 20, Zotero, and Mendeley are tools for managing your citations. Among other things, citation managers can help you to:
- Collect and organize your citations
- Format bibliographies and in-text citations for your papers
- Share your citations with others
This guide includes pages with information on how to install and use EndNote Basic, EndNote 21, EndNote 20, Zotero, and Mendeley.
How do I choose a citation manager?
The "best" citation manager will depend on the functions you're looking for in a citation manager.
Each citation manager shares some of the same, basic functions, including, among other things, the ability to:
- Import references
- Create bibliographies
- Attach PDFs to citations
- Share citations
- Install and use Word plugins
However, there are functions that only some citation managers have. The UW Libraries' Comparison Chart provides a comprehensive comparison of the available functions in EndNote Basic, EndNote 20, Zotero, and Mendeley.
Important Note: If you are co-writing a paper as a team (i.e., more than one person will be adding citations to a single document), it is preferable that all team members use the same citation manager for the project.
Additional Resources
- What is a Citation Manager?A video created by UW-Madison's General Library System explaining what citation managers are, and how they can help you with your research.
- UW-Madison Libraries' Citation Manager Comparison ChartThis chart provides a comprehensive comparison of the available functions in EndNote Basic, EndNote 20, Zotero, and Mendeley.
- UW-Madison Libraries' Citation Managers GuideThis is the UW Libraries' guide to citation managers, which provides general information on installing and using EndNote Basic, EndNote 20, Zotero, and Mendeley.
- UW-Madison Libaries' Citing Sources GuideThis guide provides information on how to cite sources using different citation styles.
- UW-Madison Writing CenterThe Writing Center supports writers affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Writing Center provides writers with support, resources, community, and accountability at any stage of the writing process.