PPE 4884 - Hersch: Managing Citations

Citation managers are research project time-savers. They allow you to build your own database of citations and sources for your research projects. They provide tools to automate in-text citation and bibliography creation for research documents, such as research papers, grant proposals, and article manuscripts. They may also include options to share all or parts of your citation database with others - for collaborative research projects.

The Citation Managers library guide at VT Libraries is a great resource!

Virginia Tech Libraries recommends using any of these citation managers:

• Mendeley (free) | Mendeley Tutorials 
• Zotero (free) | Zotero Tutorials
• EndNote (provided by Virginia Tech Libraries through 2020) | EndNote X8 Tutorials

Each of these tools can be helpful, depending on what type of project you're working on. View this citation manager comparison chart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for help deciding which tool to use:

Citation Manager Comparison Chart

If you have questions about using these tools, don't hesitate to contact your librarian or one of the citation manager support groups on the citation managers library guide!

If a particular journal or other citation style does not show in your citation manager, you can often add it. For example, for the Journal of Nutrition, the default style list often does not include the specific Journal of Nutrition style. See the information below to add a citation style to your citation manager tool of choice.

*Note: most citation manager tools also offer the option to create a custom style - either based on an existing style (the easiest way) or from scratch.

EndNote Output Styles: http://endnote.com/downloads/styles 

• Search for and identify a style you need.
• Download it to your computer to add it to your EndNote application
  • Example, J Nutrition style page:  http://endnote.com/downloads/style/journal-nutrition
• After downloading it, double click it (or right click and choose to open the style). This will open a window in EndNote showing the style. While this window is open, go to the toolbar for EndNote and select: File --> Save As, then save the style as the default title 'J Nutrition' or as a name you prefer.
• Close the window, and now, when you are in a Word document and choose: Tools --> EndNote --> Configure Bibliography, you can Browse and choose J Nutrition style.

Zotero Style Repository: https://www.zotero.org/styles

• For more information on this topic see this Zotero webpage on Citation Styles.
• Search for a style you need, such as: Journal of Nutrition
• If a result comes up, hover over the link to preview the style examples and see if that's what you're looking for
• Click on the link to download the file for that style
• If you have Zotero with Firefox, if you have it on, the style will be added as soon as you click the link
• If you have Zotero Standalone on your desktop, after you download the citation style file, open the Zotero Standalone application. Then, go to your downloads and double-click on the citation style file. This will prompt Zotero Standalone to ask if you want to add the style, which you confirm, and then it will be added.

Mendeley Desktop - Adding Citation Styles: http://support.mendeley.com/customer/en/portal/articles/169935-adding-new-citation-styles-to-mendeley-desktop 

• Visit the Zotero Citation Styles File Repository
• Search for and Identify the style you need, such as Journal of Nutrition
•  Download the citation style file
• Open your Mendeley desktop application
• Double click on the downloaded style file - this should prompt Mendeley to ask if you would like to add it.
• For further information see this Mendeley desktop citation styles help article.