Citation generators and Citation managers are both tools available online that can help you create citations. Citation generators automatically create citations in the style of your choice after you enter information such as a title, URL or DOI into a form. Many are available online for free and don’t require an account. Citation generation tools are also included in some library article databases and sites like Google Scholar and PubMed. Look for links labeled “Cite”, “Citation Tools” or “Cite this page. “ Citation generators are convenient but may not always be accurate. You should always double check your citations against an authoritative style guide.
Citation managers go beyond citation generators to store and organize your research. They usually require that you download software and navigating them is more involved, but the extra effort can pay off for big research projects and save you time in the long run. They allow you to collect articles, links, downloaded PDFs and other materials and organize them into a library for your research . They can be used with Microsoft Word to insert In-text citations as you write and automatically build and update your bibliography.
Most of these are free and have an easy look-up feature that generates a citation from a title, DOI or URL. Some types of sources may require more manual entry. Many of the free sites contain ads.
Citations generated by automatic tools are not always correct. Always check them and correct any errors or missing data.
Microsoft Word –-Many versions of Word contain tools for creating citations in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Turabian formats for both In-Text and reference list citations.
Medical and Scientific Citation Generator
Created by Mick Schroeder, a Doctor of Pharmacy, this citation generator will help develop Vancouver/NLM style citations
Zotero and Mendeley are both free citation managers that provide the following features:
Zotero provides 300 MG of free storage. Mendeley provides 2 GB of free storage. Both tools provide extra storage for a fee.
Mendeley also has an integrated PDF viewer that can create citation records from importing PDF files.
Endnote 20 requires purchase. An alternative free version, Endnote Basic is also available.
Both versions import citations from web pages and databases, create bibliographies in many different citation styles, allow download of PDF files and integrate with Microsoft Word.
Endnote Basic provides storage for 50,000 citations and 2 GB of downloads. Endnote 20, the paid version, provides unlimited storage, syncs desktop with web application, can highlight and annotate and search PDFs, allows group sharing and provides automatic and bulk updating of references.