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Creating bibliographies with software programs


What is a citation?

"A citation or bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article, web page, or other published item with sufficient detail to identify the item uniquely." Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation

For more information about citing sources and citation styles see: Citing Sources in Research Papers (Includes: Guides for APA, ASA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

There are programs that will allow you to insert the elements of an item and then generate a citation (see "Programs for creating citations" below) and other programs/software will allow you to store information, generate citations/bibliographies, and work in conjunction with word processing programs (see "Reference management software")


Programs for creating citations:

These programs will format individual citations after you enter the bibliographic data. Usually allow you to work with one citation at a time. Most do not store the data. Description at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_creator

Some of the most common sites: Citation Builder, Citation Machine, KnightCite

Reference management software:

Stores data, formats citations, and may work with word processing software. There are both free and proprietary versions available. Some are web-based. Description at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_management_software

Some of the most common programs: EndNote, Zotero, Biblioscape

Wikipedia provides a comparison of the various programs

The following provide lists of software options and reviews/opinions:

 


Maintained by: Katy Lenn, klenn@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 09/11/2008