Comparing Citation Tools

Summary

There are a wide variety of citation/reference management tools available. Students, staff, and faculty can take advantage of one, some, or all of these tools. If you are not sure which one to choose for a specific task, read on for a feature comparison.

Body

Overview

Citation tools are applications that help you organize your research. You can import and manage citations for books, articles, and other resources and create bibliographies for research papers.

Note
The University of Alaska does not endorse any of the following vendors or their products, but is pleased to provide this information for references purposes only.

 

Warning
Any University of Alaska student, staff, or faculty interested in using the non-free versions of the following products may do so if they desire. However, you must pay for the associated cost yourself. The University of Alaska will not reimburse any expense you may incur associated with the use of the following products.

 

How do I use this technology?

Built-in to Microsoft Word is the ability to create bibliography, citations, and references; however, these are tied to the specific word document you are currently working on. Using a citation management tool lets you collect & organize citations, and easily insert them into any applicable document, and format bibliographies easily.

Comparison of Citation Tools
  Endnote Basic Mendeley RefWorks
Freemium		 Zotero
Vendor Clarivate Elsevier ProQuest Zotero
Cost Basic web version is free, desktop version available to students for $115.95. Basic version if free, paid for plans are available which increase the available storage space as well as enabling more individuals in shared groups. Freemium version included in UAA Consortium Library subscription to QuickSearch. Free and open source with 300 MB of storage available; more storage is available for an additional charge. Pricing for additional Zotero Storage is available on their website.
Usage Web application suitable for basic research papers.

Purchase desktop application for advanced projects, theses, or dissertations.		 Web application suitable for basic research papers.

Purchase desktop application for advanced projects, theses, or dissertations.		 Web application suitable for basic research papers.

Not suitable for advanced projects, theses, or dissertations.		 Desktop application with some web features.

Suitable for any research project.
Citations Supports many citation formats, manually adding citations, importing citations from a file, exporting citations to a file, organizing citations, and sharing citations. Supports many citation formats, manually adding citations, importing citations from a file, exporting citations to a file, organizing citations, and sharing citations. Supports many citation formats, manually adding citations, exporting citations to a file, organizing citations, and sharing citations.

Does NOT support importing citations from a file.		 Supports many citation formats, manually adding citations, importing citations from a file, exporting citations to a file, organizing citations, and sharing citations.
Library Integration Citations from QuickSearch and other library databases must first be exported to a file then imported. Citations from QuickSearch and other library databases must first be exported to a file then imported. Items saved to QuickSearch folder automatically added to RefWorks.

Many library databases support direct export of citations to RefWorks.		 Citations from QuickSearch and other library databases must first be exported to a file then imported.
Plugins Citation capture plugin for major web browsers. Integration plugin for MS Word. Mendeley's Citation Plugin is compatible with MS Word, and LibreOffice. It also supports BibTeX export for use with LaTeX. No browser or word processing plugins. Citation capture plugin for major web browsers. Integration plugin for MS Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice.
Portability Can continue to use after you leave the university. Can continue to use after you leave the university. Available only to current UAA students, faculty, and staff.

Before leaving UAA, export citations for import into Endnote or Zotero.		 Can continue to use after you leave the university.
Support Clarivate Support Mendeley Support ProQuest Support Zotero Support

 

Details

Details

Article ID: 670
Created
Thu 10/7/21 1:38 PM
Modified
Mon 10/11/21 11:40 AM