Citation Managers

Manage your citations and references with citation manager software

What is a citation manager?

Citation managers are software tools that help you collect, organize, cite, and share references. They take your collection of PDFs, source citations, and other references and organize them into a personal library. They also can integrate with writing tools like Microsoft Word to create citations from your library as you write.

With citation managers you can:

  • import and annotate PDFs and source information for journal articles, book chapters, webpages, and other source types from library databases or the web.
  • generate references and citations in your papers as you write, whether you're using MLA, Chicago, APA, or hundreds of other citation styles.
  • organize your research in folders or with tags, allowing you to keep projects separated.
  • share your citations and saved documents with others. 

Register once, save citations for your whole college career!

Citation managers available through W&M Libraries

W&M Libraries provides institutional access to two citation managers: 

Zotero

Zotero is an open-source citation manager that runs primarily as an installed application on your computer but can also be used through the cloud. Users can sign up for an account with their @wm.edu email address in order to take advantage of the university's unlimited storage plan.

RefWorks

RefWorks is a cloud-based reference management service that allows you to import references from online databases and other sources. 

Visit our guide to learn more about how to use each citation manager.

Looking for the previous version of RefWorks?

As of Fall 2019, William & Mary Libraries no longer supports the Legacy version of RefWorks. The legacy platform, while still available for use, will be retired June 2023. We'd be happy to help you transfer your references and folders over to the new version - see our guide or ask a librarian to learn how.