Skip to Main Content
University of Iowa

University Libraries

Citing Sources: Citation Management Software

Citation format instruction for technical & scientific writing. Guide content supports the teaching and research goals of multiple departments on campus. Content represents a non-exhaustive selection of essential resources and tools for engaging a wide ra
Citation Software

Citation management software is a tool designed to make your work easier!

There are many great features:

  • save and organize your references
  • insert and format citations within your paper
  • create a bibliography
  • search library databases
  • collaborate with others online
  • discover the latest research

This guide discusses three options:

  • EndNote - the industry standard software tool for publishing and managing bibliographies, citations and references
  • Mendeley - a citation manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research
  • Zotero - an open source tool that can help you collect, organize, cite, and share research

EndNote

  • You don’t have to pay for it because University Libraries has subscription. EndNote Basic (web-based version) is freely available to UI affiliates and EndNote Desktop is freely available to faculty, staff and graduate students.
  • If you need to handle thousands of references, EndNote is probably the best tool.
  • If you work a lot with Web of Science, EndNote is probably the best tool since it can directly import references from Web of Science.
  • If you need access to many different citation styles, EndNote supports thousands of citation styles and continues providing new citation styles upon request.
  • You can also edit existing citation styles or create your own in EndNote.
  • Where to get?

 

 
EndNote Desktop
Endnote Basics
Pricing Free for faculty, staff and graduate students
but $113.95 for undergraduate students		 Free for faculty, staff and all students
Reference Storage Unlimited 50,000
Attachment Storage Unlimited 2 GB
Bibliographic Formatting Styles 7,000+ 4,200+
Reference Sharing Yes Yes
Send references directly from online databases 500+ 500+
Search Online Resources within EndNote 6,000+ 1,800+
Formatting in Microsoft Word Yes Yes
One-click "Find Full Text" Yes No
Automatic Reference Updating Yes No
Advanced Reference Organization Yes No

How do I transfer references from Mendeley to EndNote Desktop? 

EndNote Knowledge Base

How do I transfer references from Zotero to EndNote Desktop? 

EndNote Knowledge Base

What should I do if EndNote asks me for a license key? 

You may need to download the EndNote Desktop from the ITS website. Please make sure you extract both files from the .zip file prior to running the .msi installer on your Windows PC. 

What if EndNote doesn’t have the style I need for my paper? 

There are many citation styles listed on the EndNote website.

  1. Search the citation style or publisher’s name. 

  1. Download the citation style you want to install.  

  1. Double-click the style file. It should open in EndNote’s pop-up window. 

  2. Go to “File” on the top menu and choose “Save As”. Rename the style name if needed. Click “Save” and close the pop-up window. 

  3. In EndNote library, select a reference. Navigate to the style dropdown menu on the bottom right and then click “Select Another Style...”. 

  4. Search the style you’ve just installed, select it, and click “Choose”. Now you can preview the formatted reference in the desired style.  

How can I make EndNote automatically convert abbreviated journal names to full journal names? 

  1. From “Library” menu, select “Define Term Lists”, then click “Journals Term List”. 

  1. Click the second tab of “Lists”, and then select “Journals”.  

  1. Click “Import List...”. If most of your references are about Medical Engineering, select “Medical.txt” and “Open”. EndNote will automatically add thousands of journal names and their abbreviations to your EndNote library. 

  1. Double-check the citation style.  

a. From “Tools”, go to “Output Styles”, “Open Style Manager...”.  

b. Select the style you are using (e.g., APA 7th) and click “Edit”. It should open a pop-up window. 

c. Navigate to “Journal Names”, make sure you select “Use full journal name”. 

  1. If that does not solve the problem, you may need to manually edit your term list.

a. Go to the “Library” menu, select “Define Term Lists”, then click “Journals Term List”. 

b. Make the box larger so you can see the journal names and abbreviations. 

c. Find the journal that is not working correctly and click on it. 

d. Now, click on “Edit Term...” 

e. You can now enter the correct information manually. 

How can I make my EndNote library sync when working from multiple computers? 

  1. You may need to sign up an EndNote Online account.  

  1. From “Edit”, go to “Preferences...”. It should open a pop-up window. 

  1. On the left side, click “Sync” and then on the right side, enter your EndNote Online account credentials.  

  1. “Sync Automatically” is optional. If you choose not to “sync automatically”, you may need to click “Sync” from “Library” menu every time if needed.  

  1. Click “OK” to save the change. 

My reference list automatically groups together multiple references that are cited in the same location. How can I stop this from happening?  

  1. From “Tools”, go to “Output Styles”, “Open Style Manager...”.  

  1. Select the style you are using (e.g., APA 7th) and click “Edit”. It should open EndNote’s pop-up window. 

  1. Navigate to “Citations” and then “Numbering” in the left-side panel. 

  1. Under “Grouped References”, please make sure you unselect “Use one number for references cited together”.  

  1. When you close the pop-up window, make sure click “Yes” to the warning of “Save changes to the EndNote style file” before closing.  

How can I make a reference list for each chapter of my thesis?  

  1. From “Tools”, go to “Output Styles”, “Open Style Manager...”. 

  1. Select the style you are using (e.g., APA 7th) and click “Edit”. It should open EndNote’s pop-up window. 

  1. Navigate to “Sections” in the left-hand panel. 

  1. Please make sure you choose “Create a bibliography for each section”. 

  1. When you close the pop-up window, make sure click “Yes” to the warning of “Save changes to the EndNote style file” before closing.  

Why do I get an error message that EndNote is unable to connect to Web of Science? / Why can’t I search Web of Science using my EndNote library?  

If you’re off campus, your IP address can’t be recognized because subscribed databases like Web of Science restrict access based on IP range. To bypass this problem, you may need to access Web of Science through the library website and then export and import references.  

How can I export references in BibTeX? 

  1. Open EndNote library and select the references that you would like to export to BibTeX.  

  1. On the bottom right corner, expand the citation style box, click “Select Another Style...” And in the list that appears, choose “BibTeX Export”.  

  1. From “File” menu, select “Export”, rename file name as needed, save the file as Text File, and then select the output style of “BibTeX Export”.   

  1. When the output file is generated, make sure change the file extension of .txt to .bib 

 

Resources 

Mendeley

  • Free but there are costs for upgraded storage. 
  • If you have a huge number of PDF files in your computer that you want to import into a citation manager, Mendeley works the most smoothly for this purpose. Mendeley’s file organizer can automatically rename your PDFs and file them in a clear folder structure.
  • If you work a lot with Science Direct, Scopus and Compendex, Mendeley is probably the best tool, since it can directly import references from these databases.
  • The Mendeley interface is probably the most intuitive out of the three citation managers.
  • Mendeley has social media features that enable you to share your research with a network of people, find out what citations other people are compiling in their libraries, or search Web Catalog which is Mendeley’s crowd-sourced research catalog with millions of papers.
  • Where to get? Mendeley website
  • Overleaf (online LaTeX editor) integrates with Mendeley. Check out How to link your Overleaf account to Mendeley
  • If you are using other LaTeX editors rather than Overleaf, you would need to manually export citations in BibTeX:
    • Select reference records you wish to export to BibTeX.
    • From the toolbar dropdown menu, go to File and then click Export.
    • On the pop-up window, choose file type BibTeX(*.bib), rename file name and save it.

Zotero

  • Free but there are costs for upgraded storage. 
  • If you are a Firefox user, Zotero works best as a Firefox extension.
  • If you want to archive webpages, Zotero allows you to capture a snapshot of the webpage as well as other data about the webpage.
  • Where to get? Zotero website 
  • Overleaf (online LaTeX editor) integrates with Zotero. Check out How to link your Overleaf account to Zotero
  • If you are using other LaTeX editors rather than Overleaf, you would need to manually export citations in BibTeX
    • Select the library you wish to export to BibTeX.
    • From the toolbar dropdown menu, go to File and then select Export Library.
    • On the pop-up window, choose format BibTeX, and then click OK.
    • Navigate to the folder where you would like to save the file, rename it and save it as BibTeX.

Feature Comparison Chart

 

EndNote 

Mendeley 

Zotero 

Availability 

Desktop version for Mac and Windows available to download for free through ITS;

EndNote Basic (web-based version) also available  

Mendeley Reference Manager, Mendeley Cite, Web Importer available to download for free;

Premium plans for more storage are purchasable.  

Web browser, desktop available to download for free for Mac, Windows, Linus and iOS;

Storage plans are purchasable. 

Word processor compatibility 
  • Microsoft Word
  • Office 365 (locally installed desktop version only) 
  • Apache OpenOffice
  • LibreOffice  
  • Apple Pages 
  • Wolfram Mathematica 8
  • Microsoft Word 
  • Office 365 

 
  • Microsoft Word 
  • LibreOffice 
  • Google Docs 

Citation plugin 

Auto install when installing desktop version 

Require installing Mendeley Cite 

Require installing word processor plugin 

Capture citation information from PDFs and webpages 

Yes, but webpages require plugin called EndNote Click.

Yes, but require plugin called Web Importer. It allows import papers, web pages and other documents directly into your reference library from search engines and academic databases.

Yes, but require plugin called Zotero Connector. It allows you to add bibliographic information with a single click.

Citation/bibliography styles 

7,000+ predefined; plus modify and create your own

nearly 7,000 predefined; plus modify and create your own

10,000+ predefined; plus modify and crate your own

Sharing references 

Yes, you can share references in groups or the entire library. Check out How to share a library

Yes, you can share groups. Check out How to share a group

Yes, you can share groups. Check out How to share a group
  • Last Updated: Jun 11, 2025 1:01 PM
  • URL: https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/citations
  • Print Page
Subjects: Engineering