Creating bibliographies with software programs

What is a citation?

"A citation or bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article, web page, or other published item with sufficient detail to identify the item uniquely." Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation

For more information about citing sources and citation styles see: Citing Sources in Research Papers (Includes: Guides for APA, ASA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

There are programs that will allow you to insert the elements of an item and then generate a citation (see "Programs for creating citations" below) and other programs/software will allow you to store information, generate citations/bibliographies, and work in conjunction with word processing programs (see "Reference management software")

Programs for creating citations:

These programs will format individual citations after you enter the bibliographic data. Usually allow you to work with one citation at a time. Most do not store the data. Description at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_creator

Some of the most common sites: Citation Builder, Citation Machine, KnightCite

Reference management software:

Stores data, formats citations, and may work with word processing software. There are both free and proprietary versions available. Some are web-based. Description at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_management_software

Some of the most common programs are EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley.

The UO Libraries does offer assistance with EndNote, EndNote Web, Mendeley, and Zotero.

The following provide lists of software options and reviews/opinions:

• Citation Managers Comparison:  Univeristy of Wisconsin [July 23, 2012]   http://www.library.wisc.edu/citation-managers/comparison.html
• Comparison of Citation Software:  MIT  http://libguides.mit.edu/content.php?pid=55486&sid=427307
• Comparison of reference management software (Wikipedia article) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software