Health Sciences

Citation tools can be useful for anyone doing research. Citation tools allow you to create bibliographies quickly and automatically format in-text citations with word processing software (Word, Google Docs, Open Office).

For beginners: 

These tools help generate citations using URLs, DOIs, or your Google Scholar search results. These are good for citing a few items very quickly.

• Google Scholar Button
• ZoteroBib

For advanced users:

More in-depth citation tools, sometimes called reference management tools, can also help manage your references for big or long-term research projects by helping you:

• Collect citations as you research and save them in a personal account
• Add citations automatically from JMU's Library Catalog and databases without having to cut and paste or retype the information
• Annotate citations and link them to full-text documents
• Organize citations into folders

JMU researchers generally use one of three:

• RefWorks
• Zotero
• Mendeley

Please look at the comparison table to the right to decide which is best for you.  One thing to keep in mind is that you can switch from one reference management tool to another.  You can export your citations, but transferring tags or folders will be difficult.

More extensive comparisons and other reference management tools can be found at:

• Wikipedia's Comparison of reference management software
• University of Washington University Library's Choosing a Citation Manager
• University of Wisconsin-Madison's Citation Managers Comparison Chart