Molecular and Cell Biology: Save, organize & cite

Citation managers (also called reference managers or bibliographic management software) offer a way to save, organize and manage references. Many work with word processing software to format in-text citations and bibliographies for papers and theses, allow you to share references, and enable you to attach or link PDFs to a citation record.

Citation managers supported by the UC Berkeley Library:

• Zotero guide [UC Berkeley Library]
• Zotero documentation [Zotero.org]
• Free Zotero workshops [UC Berkeley Library; offered in the Fall and Spring semesters]
• Free desktop program with browser connector; 300 MB storage (can be synced with Google Drive, Berkeley Box or Dropbox for greater storage--see Zotero guide for details)
• Sync Zotero to access your library from any computer with internet access
• Insert citations and automatically format reference lists in Google Docs/bDrive, MS Word and LibreOffice
• Capture citation data from PDFs and web pages
• Share and collaboratively edit folders of references

• Mendeley guide [UC Berkeley Library]
• Free software/web hybrid for PC, Mac, Linux
• Format bibliographies in MS Word
• Sync PDFs to your web account for online access
• Capture citation data from some PDFs
• Read and annotate PDFs
• Share and collaboratively edit folders of references

• EndNote guide [UC Berkeley Library]
• Desktop-based software and online EndNote Web
• Desktop program requires purchase; EndNote Web is available without cost to UC Berkeley students, faculty and staff
• Format bibliographies in MS Word
• Capture citation data from some PDFs
• Annotate PDFs
• Find the full text of articles from within desktop EndNote
• Share lists of references with other EndNote users

For additional options: Wikipedia comparison of reference management software

• LaTeX in Engineering & Physical Sciences: The document formatting markup language LaTeX, which is especially useful for rendering mathematical and chemical symbols and equations (UC Berkeley Library guide)
• Virtual Online Library Tutorials (VOLT): LaTeX: Self-paced exercises for learning LaTeX

• Writing + Citing in the Sciences: LaTeX editor Overleaf and citation managers (UC Berkeley Library guide)