Public Administration and Public Policy: Managing References

There are several different online tools, including EndNote basic, Zotero, Papers, and Mendeley, that help manage references, generate citations and bibliographies, annotate, and store the documents associated with the references such as pdf and word files and web pages. These typically have a somewhat steep learning curve and are not very useful for papers and reports with just a few citations. 

The University Library offers help and instruction on the following reference managers. Feel free to contact the librarian for your subject area, or submit your question to the portal

Reference / citation managers are designed to:

• track where you found a particular idea, picture, fact, or quote so it can be properly cited later.
• organize your references by research project in your own searchable database.
• import references from online databases, library catalogs, journal indexes and web sites.
• automatically format your references into any style you choose, such as MLA, or APA.

Efficient management of references is one of the best defenses against plagiarism, as well as an aid to productivity.