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Citation Management : Home

A guide for all things citation management.

Why Cite?

Citing resources in your research papers acknowledges that other people have influenced your ideas. Citations are also used to support your own ideas and arguments and to place your research in the larger context of a field of study (for instance, in a literature review or an annotated bibliography). Citing work is essential to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

Use this guide to find support on citation styles (MLA, APA, Chicago) and to get started using citation management software.

Zotero Updates

March 2022: Zotero 6 is now available!

Learn more about Zotero 6. Updates include: an internal, tabbed PDF reader; PDF mark-up options with highlights, notes, and image annotations; add annotations to Zotero notes with automatic citations

Upgrade from within Zotero by going to Help > “Check for Updates…”.

New: Yale Zotero users can now access unlimited storage. 

To access unlimited Zotero storage, connect your @yale.edu email address to your Zotero account. Learn more here.

Upcoming Citation Workshops

What is a Citation Manager?

Because academic papers often require a lot of citations, a citation management tool to make keeping track of your sources easier!

See the tabs above for specific advice on using EndNote, EndNote Online, Mendeley, RefWorks, and Zotero, including how to:

  • Import references to your personal library
  • Organize and keep track of your sources
  • Take notes
  • Export a bibliography

Picking a Citation Manager

The citation management tool you use is up to you. Below are some things to consider to help you decide.

All Citation Management tools have these basic features to help you...

  • Gather and transfer references from databases / resources / webpages into your personal research database
  • Organize, annotate, sort and search your references, images, and PDFs
  • Insert in-text citations and reference lists into documents in a wide variety of styles (MLA, APA, etc)
  • Create stand alone bibliographies in a wide variety of styles

Before you choose which citation manager is right for you, here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Does the tool support your citation style (MLA, APA, Chicago)?
  • Does the tool support sharing between people?
  • Is the tool compatible with the databases and websites you use?
  • What kinds of file formats are you collecting? Does the tool capture webpage snapshots, and does it store PDFs?
  • Does the tool allow you to work off-line or from multiple places?

Review the comparison charts below to learn about the features available from each citation management option.