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Tools to Manage and Cite Your Sources

Mendeley

Use Mendeley if you want to automatically import citation details for sources you find and insert into your research paper. To use this free service, you must sign up for a web account, download a desktop application, and install a MS Word plug-in.

Benefits:

  • Produces higher quality references than other tools 
  • Allows you to automatically import citation information for sources from research databases and some websites
  • Saves your citations for future access

Detriments:

  • Requires installation, set up and time to learn
  • Does not produce perfectly accurate references, but is the best automated option

 

Mendeley Links


Microsoft Word

You can also use Microsoft Word's built-in Citation and Bibliography tool to add citations and create references in a document.

Benefits:

  • Convenient and familiar
  • Saves your citations for future access

Detriments:

  • Manual input of citation details for each source used
  • Reference quality is not as accurate as Mendeley

 

Microsoft Word Citation and Bibliography Links

Bibliography Generators

Use one of the following tools to manually enter in the citation details for a source, then have the generator create the reference/bibliography entry for you. 

Benefits:
  • Relatively quick and easy.
Detriments:
  • Not as accurate as Mendeley or Microsoft Word 
  • Manual input of citation details for each source used

 

Bibliography Generator Links