Citation tools, also called bibliographic management tools, help you organize, manage and format citations for your research. This chart provides an overview of three of the major citation tools.
| RefWorks | EndNote/EndNote Web | Zotero | |
|
Cost + registration |
Free for Duke users: Create an account
|
Free for Duke users: Download |
Free: Download |
| Access | Web-based | Not web-based; access on any computer with EndNote installed | Web-based (Zotero resides in your Firefox web browser) |
| Most useful for... | Collaborative projects, term papers, coursework | Complex research projects, dissertations, lengthy tomes | Web research |
| Sharing | RefShare allows users to share read-only references with other users | Best for single users or a single shared computer workstation in a lab or office | Best for single users; Zotero 1.5 (beta) allows you to sync references on multiple computers |
| Bibliographic styles | 3000+ | 3600+ | 15+* |
| Classes/tutorials | Tutorials and classes | Help docs and support | |
| PC + Mac compatability | Web-based; operating system-independent | Versions available for both MAC and PC | Web-based; operating system-independent |
* Zotero provides most of the major citation styles: Chicago, MLA, APA and hundreds of user-created citation styles
A favorite among graduate students. Desktop-based citation management software.
Web-based citation management system available through Duke.
Free reference manager that works within your web browser. It pulls citation information from webpages and some PDFs.
Free PDF and reference manager. Read, annotate, organize, and collaborate on research projects with others using Mendeley.
