Research Paper Management: Home
Did You Know?
Zotfile is a Zotero plugin to manage your attachments: automatically rename, move, and attach PDFs (or other files) to Zotero items, sync PDFs from your Zotero library to your (mobile) PDF read (e.g. an iPad, Android tablet, etc.) and extract annotations from PDF files.
Fondren Library catalog is experiencing a bit of a glitch saving publisher and date information from the library catalog to Zotero. We are working on it!
We have a new enhancement to catalog records, and unfortunately, it caused a glitch with Zotero! In the meantime, we recommend using WorldCat. Thanks!
Fee-Based Research Management Tools
EndNote has all the functionalities of the free tools in managing references and creating citations. It is a desktop application, and is available offline, but it also has a web aspect to allow you to access references from any computer. EndNote is more often used by professional researchers and academics Since it operates outside of the browser it operates faster than Zotero. It also has a Cite While You Write feature that allows it to add a currently selected citation directly to your document. EndNote also offers more options to customize and organize information.
You can also transfer sources between EndNote and Zotero.
EndNote is available for students for purchase from EndNote.
EndNote also offers a free limited-function web-based version called EndNote Basic (formerly EndNote Web). EndNote basic allows you to:
· Store up to 50,000 references
· Use 20 of the most popular bibliographic formats
· Use up to 2GB of cloud storage
· Search the 6 most popular databases
There is also an iPad app version of EndNote that works with either an EndNote or EndNote basic account.
Fondren's course instruction on EndNote: https://wiki.rice.edu/confluence/display/DMCGUIDES/Introduction+to+EndNote
RefWorks is a web-based bibliography tool that allows users to collaborate, generate citations and bibliographies, and store articles. Additional features include a Write-N-Cite feature that works offline, author profiles, and a built-in style guide. It also allows users to attach non-bibliographic information, such as graphics, sound, or video to references.
RefWorks subscriptions are $100 per year. There is also a mobile version for RefWorks.
About this Guide: Start Here
With so many citation and research management software tools available, how do you know which one will work best for you? It's worth asking yourself a few basic but important questions before deciding on which citation manager you're going to use to support your research projects.
Use the chart below to determine which application would work best for your research and then the tabs across the top to learn more about each citation management tool.
| You would like to... | Suggested application(s) | Reason |
| work on multiple computers |
Zotero, |
Zotero (PC/Mac/Linux) allows you the flexibility to sync your references across multiple computers as well as access your references online by logging into your Zotero account at zotero.org. Mendeley Desktop can be downloaded onto as many computers as you want and has full support for PC/Mac/Linux operating systems. Data synced on the desktop client is automatically backed up on the cloud.
|
| collect numerous web-based references and sources | Zotero | Zotero's translators make saving web-based content to your Zotero library very easy. Zotero allows you to capture websites and other web resources with one click. Zotero takes a snapshot of the website as it appears the moment you save it to your library. You won't have to worry about captured web content changing since Zotero stores the snapshot in your library. You can also add annotations to snapshots. |
| work collaboratively with others |
Zotero, |
Use Zotero Groups to easily share your resources with others either privately or publicly. Mendeley offers group functionality as well: open, invite-only, or private group members can share papers and notes. |
| organize a large number of PDF files that you already have saved on your computer | Mendeley, Zotero |
Each of these tools (Mendeley,and Zotero) allows you to organize your PDF collection as well as index them for easy searching and citing.
|
| highlight and annotate PDF documents | Mendeley |
Menedeley allows you to highlight, annotate and add sticky notes to PDF documents. |
| generate a bibliography quickly for an assignment | BibMe, EasyBib, Zotero |
Web-based applications BibMe and EasyBib can quickly format a citation for you online which you can then copy and paste into your document, export to Microsoft Word, or save online for later. BibMe is free for all formats, EasyBib is only free for MLA citations. Using Zotero's Quick Copy function, you can drag and drop a citation from your Zotero library into any text field (word processing document, Google doc, email, blog post, etc.) in order to generate a works cited or bibliography. |
| quickly cite a work in a popular bibliographic style (APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian) | BibMe |
BibMe allows you to generate a citation in any format quickly using their Citation Guides. EasyBib provides quick, free citations for MLA format. |
| cite a work within my document | Zotero |
With Zotero, you can reference your Zotero library directly from your word processing document in order to add an in-text citation using a word processor integration plugin.
|
| use a free tool | Zotero, Mendeley, Qiqqa, BibMe, EasyBib |
All of these tools are freely available for you to download (Zotero, Mendeley, Qiqqa) or start using online (BibMe, EasyBib) at any time. Zotero, and Mendeley have storage limitations for their free service. EasyBib only provides free MLA citations. |
| use a desktop application to be installed on my main computer, on which I will conduct most of my research | Mendeley, Qiqqa, Zotero |
Mendeley (PC/Mac/Linux) primarily uses a desktop application, but do provide online access to references. Zotero also has a standalone desktop application for PC/Mac/Linux that has connectors to plug into any browser. All functionality is the same as the Firefox plug-in version. |
| work offline when I do not have acess to the Internet | Zotero, Mendeley, Qiqqa | Zotero and Mendeley save your references and citations locally on your computer. Zotero, in particular, stores your library in your Firefox profile. |
| work in a specific citation style | Zotero, Mendeley |
Zotero comes standard with about 16 citation styles but you can view an extensive list of all available styles at their website which you can download and install into your Zotero instance. You can also create additional styles for Zotero Mendeley supports over 6,000 citation styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago.
|
| use a tool that is licensed and supported by my institution | Sorry! None available at Rice. | |
| use a tool that works on my mobile device | Mendeley, EasyBib, RefWorks |
Mendeley Reference Manager (Lite) is available for free download at the iTunes App Store. EasyBib has an iPhone app that you can download for free from the iTunes store to use the MLA citation tool.
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