Citation Styles and Management Tools Guide

There are many tools available on the internet that can quickly create citations in common styles. However, these tools can be challenging to use effectively; on this page, we offer some suggestions for doing so. Remember: It is always your responsibility to double-check that your citation is correct! 

If you need to create a long bibliography, or you want software that can help coordinate in-text and reference list citations, we recommend looking at the Citation Management page on this guide.

If you have questions or concerns, double-check using Style Guides page on this site, make an appointment at the Writing Center, and for assignments always ask your instructor.

If you need to create just a few citations and would like to use an online citation generator, we recommend ZoteroBib. It is a free, fast citation generator that is similar to other tools but more accurate and reliable. It was developed by the same people that created the more powerful Zotero program.

If you need more functionality (e.g., you are working with many sources, are developing a long-term project, or want to share citations with others), we recommend looking at the Citation Management page on this guide.

Remember: It is always your responsibility to double-check that your citation is accurate!

When you're using the library catalog or searching within databases, look for built-in citation tools. They can create a citation for you to use instantly according to different citation styles. They can be inaccurate sometimes, however; as always, it's your responsibility to make sure that the citation is correct.

Above is the citation button (quotation marks) in an EBSCO database that brings up citation options on an article record.

Above is the citation button in the records found through the "Articles + Library Catalog" search on the library homepage. (Note, however, that there are several errors in the citation here! These citations are generated with the information input into the catalog record, which can sometimes confuse these automated systems.)