Lillian Goldman Law Library | Citation & Bibliographic Tools

Citation & Bibliographic Tools

Before beginning your research, you will want to select at least one bibliographic tool that will help you organize your research and citations and format your papers and bibliography. You should take some time and examine each of the bibliographic tools to decide which is right for you.

All of the information below, except for Zotero, can also be found here: http://www.library.yale.edu/cite/

RefWorks

RefWorks is a subscription and web-based citation management tool that Yale affiliates can use free-of-charge
Click here for more details about RefWorks including features and how to create an account

EndNote Web

EndNote Web is a subscription and web-based citation management tool that Yale affiliates can use free-of-charge
Click here for more details about EndNote Web including features and how to create an account

EndNote

This tool must be purchased by the individual
Click here for more details about EndNote

Zotero

Zotero is a free, open access extension that runs in the Firefox broswer
Zotero combines the citation management features of programs such as Refworks and Endnote with a number of other features helpful to researchers, including:
- the ability to save webpages and attachments in your Zotero account
- the ability to annotate saved web documents
- the ability to tag items your Zotero items for future retrieval
Check out Zotero’s online tutorials

EndNote v. EndNote Web v. RefWorks v. Zotero

Check out this EndNote v. EndNote Web v. RefWorks Usability Comparison (from YUL)
Check out this EndNote v. RefWorks Technical Comparison (from YUL)
Check out this EndNote v. RefWorks v. Zotero Usability Comparison (from MIT)

The Usability Comparisons mentioned above are reproduced below, with minor additions:

Compare Features	EndNote	EndNote Web	RefWorks	Zotero
Cost	Academic pricing is approximately $90. Available for sale from Yale University E-portal, and other places where software is sold.	No charge for Yale community. You must login from a computer connected to the Yale network at least once every three months to maintain your account.	No charge for Yale community. Available by subscription after you leave Yale.	Free; open-source Firefox 2.0 extension. Download Firefox then download Zotero. Also works with Flock.
Format	Desktop software for PC and Mac.	Web-based.	Web-based.	Desktop software as Firefox extension that lives in the browser.
Access	You can Download a full-featured trial version for free to try for 30 days. You can work offline.	Register/access your account at http://www.myendnoteweb.com/. Access your database of references from any Web-connected source.	Register/access your account at www.refworks.com/refworks. You must be online in order to add/edit your references and format a bibliography. You can cite references in a paper without being online.	Download Zotero at http://www.zotero.org/. You can access Zotero whenever your browser is open; you can also access your content while not online
User Group	People who want to organize references, images, and/or documents and use them to format bibliographies. People who want to add research notes to references. People planning for a long term career in research. People who require a flexible and customizable tool.	People who want to organize references and use them to format bibliographies. People who want to add research notes to references. Students and other researchers who want basic functionality, but do not require advanced functionality and customizability.	People who want to organize references and use them to format bibliographies. People who want to add research notes to references. People planning for a long term career in research. People who require a flexible and customizable tool.	People who want to format bibliographies, organize references, save webpages and attachments, annotate saved web documents, and tag items for future retrieval. People who want an open-source tool they can access after leaving Yale.
Ease of Use	Moderate learning curve, particularly if you wish to take advantage of advanced features.	Easy to use.	Easy to use. Many online user guides and demos.	Easy to use. Many online user guides and demos.
Collaboration	Best for single users.	Ability to share references in read-only format with others who have EndNote Web accounts.	Ability to create and share databases and share specific collections of references. You can share references with people who do not have RefWorks accounts.	Not yet. In development.
Compatibility with Yale Literature Databases	You can directly export references from many databases to your EndNote reference collection. You can search some online databases, like Orbis, Morris, and PubMed, from within EndNote and copy references to your reference collection. You can save results from many databases as text files and import into your reference collection.	You can directly export references to your EndNote reference collection ONLY from databases on Web of Knowledge. These databases are: Web of Science, BIOSIS, Medline, and Zoological Record. You can search some online databases, like Orbis, Morris, and PubMed, from within EndNote and copy references to your reference collection. You can save results from many databases as text files and import into your reference collection.	You can directly export references from many databases to your RefWorks reference collection. You can search some online databases, like Orbis, Morris, and PubMed, from within RefWorks and copy references to your reference collection. You can save results from many databases as text files and import into your reference collection.	Zotero senses when you are looking at an item and shows an icon for it in the Firefox location bar. Click on the icon to add the item to your Zotero references. So it works on all webpages and catalogs and many subscription databases, including some unique ones like Factiva and LexisNexis.
Link to Full Text	You can link references in your EndNote database to PDF files, images, and documents on your computer. You can include hot links to Web resources. You can configure "Yale Links" (OpenURL server) to locate full text if available.	Click the "Yale Links" button beside each reference to locate full text if available. You can include hot links to Web resources.	You can link references in your RefWorks database to PDF files and documents on your computer. They will be available from anywhere you access RefWorks. Click the "Yale Links" button beside each reference to locate full text if available. You can include hot links to Web resources.	You can import books, articles, patents, and webpages and you can store pdfs, web screenshots, files, and images in records. May want to verify that document or record is complete after import (some databases are not fully compatible).
Word Processing Software	Clean integration with Word and powerful formatting and customization features.	Works with Word.	Works with Word through “Write-n-Cite” feature.	Works with Word and Open Office, and with Google Docs.
Output Styles	Many popular styles and formats.	Many popular styles and formats.	Many popular styles and formats.	Some popular styles and formats, but not as many as EndNote and RefWorks.