A citation management tool can help you manage your citations (i.e. references) by building a personal online filing cabinet of citations and formatting bibliographies for your papers. Most of these tools have the following functions in common:
Some of these tools will have plug-ins that will work with your word processor (e.g. Word) so that you can dynamially create in-text citations and a bibliography as you write your paper.
This list includes some of the more commonly known tools. If you were to do a Google search for "Citation Manager" or "Reference Manager" or "Bibliographic Management", you'll see several others.
The Library does not endorse or recommend any particular product over any other. Users should be aware that pricing and availability of products are subject to change.
You can often get a reliable citation from a publication's record in Omni or in one of the library's licensed online indexes (e.g. PsycINfo, CINAHL); look for a "Citation" or "Cite" button when viewing your results.
Alternately, you can try on-the-fly citation creation tools. These are helpful for quickly creating a citation. The Library does not endorse or recommend any particular product. If you have any concerns or questions about the citations being created by these tools you should consult the proper style manual (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) to verify the accuracy.
Most citation managers provide technical support via their websites. A Google search will often find several helpful troubleshooting sites.
Additionally, please don't hesitate to contact the library: library@trentu.ca. We are not experts in all citation management tools but we will do our best to help you.
It's up to you to decide which one best meets your needs. Each of them will offer unique features. Some are free and some are fee based. To help make your decision, here are some web pages others have created comparing the features of these tools.
Check out some of our other Citation Management Guides:
