Tracking your sources protects you.
When anyone questions the supporting evidence of an argument, knowing exactly where it came from clears up why you included it.
More importantly, when that challenge is correct, you can quickly remove it and know where to search for new supporting evidence.
Ask the ARC your questions about indents, introductions, and which quote marks to use.
| RefWorks | EndNote | Mendeley | Zotero | |
| Access | ||||
| Web Based | Yes | No* | No* | No* |
| Cost | Free** | Free** | Free*** | Free |
| Adding References | ||||
| Import from online databases | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import citation information from web page | Yes | Yes (Web Component) | Yes | Yes |
| Output | ||||
| Create in-text citations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create bibliographies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Collaborate | ||||
| Sharing references | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sharing PDFs | No | Yes**** (up to 17 group members) |
Yes**** (up to 3 group members) |
Yes**** (unlimited group members) |
| Group ability to add references to shared folder | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Publicly share Profile/citations | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage | 5GB | 5GB | 2GB (free) |
Yes, 300 MB cloud based and unlimited on desktop**** |
*While these tools are not Web based, meaning you need to download a desktop application, they do have a web component (which can be used without being on the desktop download and which can be synced with the desktop).
**NYU Libraries licenses the use of RefWorks and EndNote for NYU students and faculty.
***Can pay for a more robust subscription, but the basic package is free.
****PDFs may be shared in private groups (size of group depends on tool, as does the amount of free storage available for PDFs).
Citation Management Tools
For help using:
A free download that works with your web browser. There are two options: Zotero for Firefox is a Firefox-specific extension that offers the full range of functionality. Zotero Standalone -- a separate browser-independent application that can be used with Chrome, Safari, or Opera -- offers slightly less functionality than the Firefox extension.
NYU purchases a campus-wide subscription to this web-based service that covers all members of the NYU community. Because RefWorks is web-based, you can use it from any Internet-connected computer/device on campus or off.
NYU has a campus-wide license to this software, which you download (at no cost to you) to your laptop or desktop computer. The software includes a less developed web-based component called EndNoteWeb, which can be used to sync across multiple personal computers.
Mendeley is a free citation manager with editing functionality in both a web-based and a desktop application. There is also a browser plug-in (compatible with most major browsers) for saving citation information from websites.
Citation Management Tools enable you to:
Import citations from databases, websites, catalogs
Organize citations using folders and tags
Attach PDFs, images, etc. to your citations
Annotate your citations and/or PDFs
Output auto-formatted bibliographies and in-text citations (APA, MLA, & hundreds more styles)
How do I choose the right tool?
It depends on your personal needs and preferences. This comparison chart can help inform your choice.