Citation Style Guides

These citation tools allow you to gather and organize sources, or references, in one place. They also have "cite while you write" features, allowing you to cite directly in certain writing software. (You can also copy and paste reference lists using these tools for quick citing options.

Zotero

Free. Created by researchers for researchers. Use with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or LibreOffice.

Download info is available at http://www.zotero.org

Learn more

• Libraries' Zotero guide
• Zotero Support for instructions and other tips and tricks
• Zotero Basics video playlist
• ZoteroBib - Zotero's quick online tool

EndNote

Available via certain departments or can be purchased from RamTech (see Libraries guide for more info). Created by Clarivate. Use with Microsoft Word.

Learn more

• Libraries' EndNote ​guide
• EndNote provides helpful online tutorials, webinars, tip sheets, and guides
• More EndNote video tutorials (Yale's Cushing/Whitney Medical Library)​

Mendeley

Free. Created by Elsevier. Use with Microsoft Word.

Download info is available at https://www.mendeley.com/download-desktop-new/ 

Learn more

• Libraries' Mendeley guide
• Mendeley Support guides

Compare

Check out this comparison chart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for help choosing the best citation manager for you.

Or, watch the video below for an introduction to each software/tool, as well as citation management in general.

Citing your sources correctly is the right thing to do because...

• you give credit to people who did research before you
• your readers may want to follow-up and track down some of your original sources
• it helps you avoid plagiarism, a form of academic dishonesty, which is “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work” (dictionary.com)

Step One: Take good notes as you do your research

• If you cut 'n' paste text, be sure to: 
  • put quotation marks around any works that you pull directly from another source
  • transfer the information about where the text came from as you go, for example cut 'n' paste the URL of the web site, and list the author, title, journal, etc. right below the text that you copied
• Keep all the research you collect in one place
• Write citations as you go

Step Two: Select the citation style you are going to use

• Use the citation style recommended or required by your professor (typically APA, MLA, or Chicago)
• If the citation style is left up to you, use the one that is recommended for your discipline
• Stay consistent, using only one citation style throughout your project

Step Three: Decide when you need to cite

• Have you quoted something directly?
• Have you paraphrased another person's idea?
• Every time you cite something within the text of your paper, there should be a corresponding entry in the References / Works Cited list

Step Four: Carefully follow the rules of the citation / style guide

• Rules apply to indentation, alphabetization, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, element order, using full names or initials, etc.
• Example citations are listed in each of the style guide to be used as models
• If you are citing something unusual, provide enough information to track down the original source, following the same general rules of punctuation, capitalization, etc. 

Step Five: Be consistent and proofread

• Watch for the little things - those little things are what make a citation style distinctive
• Have a detail-oriented friend proofread with you to help catch things you may miss
• If you have used "machine-generated" citations, you need to "human-proofread" those citations to make sure they are following the current rules, and so they are consistent with the rest of your citations.