Reference Management Software (or Citation Management Software / Bibliographic Software) programs allow the user to collect, store, and organize references, insert citations in the body of the manuscript, and generate a list of references in an appropriately formatted bibliographic style.
As Zotero (below) claims "research, not re-search."
RefWorks is a web-based citation management program that enables you to download, store, and share references, and format bibliographies in seconds. UBC Library maintains a site licence to both RefWorks and RefShare. They are available for free to UBC students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
For more information, including workshops and webinars schedule, see the UBC Library RefWorks Wikiresources website.
Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. It lives right where you do your work—in the web browser itself.
Overview and Quick Start Guide
Screencasts demonstrating many of the basic functions of Zotero
Zotero - indepth documentation (multilingual)
EndNote is a popular commercial package, produced by Clarivate Analytics (previously by Thomson Reuters). EndNote is a reference management solution with both a desktop and online component.
EndNote training on YouTube
Mendeley is a tool that enables you to manage citations and PDFs using a desktop client or through your account on mendeley.com. Mendeley also includes plugins for Word or OpenOffice, so you can easily create citations and/or bibliographies as you write your papers.
Mendeley support Links:
Not sure which one is right for you?
Check out the following comparisons:
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Overview of Citation Software
- University of California Berkeley Library - EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley Help
- University of Wisconsin-Madison - RefWorks/EndNote/Zotero Features Comparison
- UBC Library - Citation Management
- See also Wikipedia's Comparison of Reference Management Software for extensive comparisons of many citation managers.