It is a best practice to stay organized of your references by adopting bibliography management tools right at the beginning of your research. The tools help you organize your research materials, create bibliographies in multiple citation formats and assist in citing sources while writing your paper.
How to choose a bibliography management tool? Here are some essentials elements you can consider.
- import reference from a number of different sources, i.e. website, library catalogs, or databases
- manage the citations in the tools and you can add manually when necessary
- export references into your papers, like "cite while you write" in Endnote
- format the bibliography when you select a citation styles and change to another citation style if necessary
- share references with others
- attach full-text articles to the reference
A comparison chart below may help you choose a tool that best suits you.
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| How to get started? |
Free to HKU current faculty, students & staff*. (*Available as long as the HKU Libraries has an active subscription.) |
Free open source program. |
Free basic version. |
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Web-based or desktop version? |
Desktop application. Also available as EndNote Web via Web of Science with limited features. |
Zotero plugin for Firefox…and others Zotero Standalone: connector for different browsers available at: https://www.zotero.org/download/ |
Web based and desktop client for Windows, Mac or Linux. |
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Word processor compatibility |
Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, OpenOffice, Writer 3, Mathematica 8, LibreOffice, PowerPoint |
Microsoft Word, OpenOffice |
Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice |
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Location of stored records and storage capacity |
Local hard drive and unlimited storage in Endnote online |
Local hard drive and Zotero server 300MB for free. (Cost for additional space) |
Local hard drive and Mendeley server 2GB for free. (Cost for additional space) |
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Sharing options |
Share database and articles with other EndNote users via EndNote Online. EndNote Connect for collaboration |
Share database with other Zotero users or share without groups. |
Share database and articles with other Mendeley users. Create private and public groups. |
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Enquiry/ Support |
Submit an enquiry to EndNote
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| Online Tutorial |
Endnote@HKUL prepared by HKU LibrariesVideos and Tutorials provided by Clarivate Analytics
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Zotero for Citation Management prepared by HKU Libraries Videos and Tutorials provided by Zotero Documentation provided by Zotero
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Videos and Tutorials provided by Mendeley
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