Skip to Main Content

Computer Science

A guide to help computer science folks at NYU get to the resources they need.

Citation Management

Having a management system for your citations will help you save time and avoid the menial tasks of manually changing the citation style every time. Using a bibliographic management tool to keep all your citations in can help you:

  • Save citations from databases, web sites, and library catalogs with one click

  • Manage, categorize into collections, and organize your citations

  • Cite sources "in-text" as you write and create reference lists in most styles (e.g., IEEE, ACM, ELS, etc.) automatically

  • Attach PDF's, images, web page snapshots, reading notes, and more to citations in your collection

  • Add notes, tags, and highlights to attachments

Recommended tool: Zotero

Zotero logo.Zotero is a recommended tool that can help you build a personal library of source information from articles, books, documents, web pages, and more.  This personal library of sources can work with your word processing tool to format a paper in your choice of style, as well as export bibliographies as BibTex and add items to your library with one click on the web!

Zotero can be used on the Web, via their Web interface, or as a desktop tool.  There is an extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari that automatically detects content in your web browser, allowing you to add to your personal library with a single click.

View the Zotero guide for more information about installation, how to use Zotero with word processors like Google Docs, MS Word, or Libre/OpenOffice, and more great tips to help you make the most of the tool.