Literature Reviews

The APA Manual provides the most comprehensive guidance for in-text citation, reference lists and writing style, and it is highly recommended to familiarize yourself with the manual in order to understand how to properly cite materials both in-text and in your reference list.

Copies are available in all three library locations for use, and it can be purchased easily at the campus bookstore and all commercial bookstores.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. BF 76.7 .P83

Writing Tutors are available for assistance through on-line appointments through the Writing Initiative. 

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 supports the following free programs:

• Zotero can be used online or through a desktop program, and can be used with Google Docs. Tends to be more popular in the social sciences and humanities. 
• Mendeley can be used online or through a desktop program. Often used in the sciences.
• EndNote Basic is only available online, and is used across all areas. 

For more information on each program, a comparison chart of features, and how to get help, consult our Citation Managers page. 

 

Google Scholar and article databases often have a Cite feature, which will generate a citation. 

These can often be useful in helping you capture the information that is needed to create a citation, but do not do an accurate job in putting it in correct format.