Bibliography management

"Citation management" or "reference management" tools help you collect, manage, and prepare bibliographies of your research sources. They help you import citations from research databases, websites and other electronic sources, as well as allowing you to manually enter citations. In addition, you can add citations to your documents and generate a bibliography in your desired citation format with plug-in tools for word processing programs.

The Stanford University Libraries provide campus-wide subscriptions to RefWorks and Mendeley.  EndNote Web is part of the Stanford University Libraries' subscription to Web of Knowledge.  Zotero is an open source tool with basic features at no charge.

RefWorks

RefWorks is provided by Stanford Libraries under a site license. Go here to set up a RefWorks account, and use your Stanford email to create it. You can view a Quick Start Guide or a more in-depth RefWorks tutorial. RefWorks also offers a mobile platform for users on the go.

EndNote Web

EndNote Web is a web-based version of EndNote available to Stanford faculty, students, and staff. To create an account:

1. Navigate to ISI Web of Knowledge.
2. Look for the "SIGN IN" link in the upper right of the screen.
3. Follow the prompts and create a username and password for ISI Web of Knowledge.
4. Return to the ISI home page and click the "My EndNote Web" link in the upper right of the screen.
5. Sign in with the username and password you just created.
6. You will need to agree to the terms and conditions before using the service.
7. You may want to check out EndNote training as well (choose the option for EndNote Web).

Note: If you already have EndNote installed on your computer, you can transfer references to and from libraries with EndNote Web. Transfers are initiated through EndNote.

EndNote

You can purchase EndNote (as opposed to EndNote Web, which is web-based and free) at the Stanford Bookstore or elsewhere for use on your personal computer. Most of Stanford’s research databases allow you to export citations into EndNote. EndNote also offers many tutorials.

Zotero

Zotero 3.0 is a web-based, open-source citation management tool that is available free online for the basic features and integrates with the Firefox browser, Google Chrome and Apple Safari.

Several tutorials are available:

• Zotero screencasts
• Zotero tutorial from the Stanford Education Library
• Information guide on Zotero from Georgia State University

Mendeley

Mendeley is a PDF and citation manager that indexes and organizes your research library into a digital bibliography. The program includes a collaboration component that allows you to share citations with other researchers. Mendeley is both a desktop application and a web-based application.  

The Stanford Mendeley Group account offers students, faculty, staff and researchers 7 GB of storage and the ability to create up to 10 private groups. To join, click the "join this group" button on the Stanford Mendeley Group page.

Tutorials include:

• Mendeley Tutorials
• Mendeley Getting Started Guide
• Mendeley YouTube

Need More Help?

For more help on citation management tools, join the Reference Manager Users list at Stanford. You'll have access to the daily digest of questions and answers to problems with various tools and can post your own questions for help from the campus community.