*Human Development

Citation managers (sometimes called reference managers) are tools that allow you to:

• Import citations from databases and Find It! as you research
• Save and organize citations
• Attach pdfs of articles and chapters, when available
• Create bibliographies in a variety of formats
• Insert footnotes and parenthetical citations as you write
• Collaborate with others using shared folders

Binghamton University Libraries provides supports for three free citation managers: Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote Basic. 

For more information about  Mendeley and EndNote Basic, see our Citation Managers page. 

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

To get started, register for a free Zotero account at zotero.org/user/register. If you've already created an account, you can log in at zotero.org/user/login.

For an overview of Zotero's features and capabilities, see the Quick Start Guide.

Zotero is primarily a program that runs on your own computer. You can also access your web library on zotero.org. However, while the web library allows you to view and edit your data and access synced files, for full functionality you’ll want to install Zotero on each synced computer.

Download Zotero for Mac, Windows, or Linux at zotero.org/download.

All of Zotero's detailed documentation can be found at zotero.org/support.