ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Tools for Adults Returning to College: Reference Managers

Updated on December 13, 2015
Source

It does not matter if you are returning to college after a break or beginning a graduate program, one fact of life in college is true: you are going to spend a lot of time reading scholarly articles. Another truth is that you are going to need a system to keep track of the articles you have read and the notes you have taken. One way to organize your references is to build a bibliography.

There are a number of reference managers available for free or as paid applications that will aid you in this task.

FREE REFERENCE MANAGERS

Source

Evernote

Evernote (www.evernote.com) is a free application that can serve as your information hub. You can set-up a notebook to include a list all of your citations and your entire collection of annotated portable document files (pdfs). You can easily share your citations and pdfs and they are available on your desktop, your tablet and Evernote Web. If you add keywords to the descriptions of your pdfs, your documents are easily searchable.

Advantages:

Easy to Use

Free

Allows sharing with classmates and colleagues

Disadvantages:

You have to add keywords to documents to make them searchable.

You cannot cite while you write.

Google Drive

Like Evernote, Google Drive (drive.google.com) is free application that may be used to manage your references. You can use Google Drive as a repository for your pdfs and sort your documents into separate folders. You can create a listing of all of your citations in Google Documents and format them according to your preferences. You can also create a sortable reference database in Google Spreadsheets.

Like Evernote, you can easily share your citations and pdfs with classmates. Unlike Evernote, Google Documents and Spreadsheets are only accessible when you are connected to the internet.

Advantages:

Free

Easy to Use

Disadvantages:

The user must manually insert references from Google Spreadsheets into Google Documents

Qippa

Qippa (www.qiqqa.com) is a free reference organizer that allows you to import all of your pdfs to one location. You can also annotate your references, create mindmaps, inserts citations into documents created with MS Word.

Advantages:

Free

Easy to Use

Integrates easily with MS Word documents

Disadvantages:

Qippa is not compatible with Mac.

Mendeley

Mendeley (www.mendeley.com) is a free reference manager and network that allows researchers and students to organize references, share resources with collaborators and classmates and discover the most recent articles in an area of interest.

Advantages:

Free

Easy to Use

Imports Endnote libraries

Disadvantages:

Limited access to free articles

Zotero

Zotero (www.zotero.org) is another free reference tool that allows the user to organize, collect and share pdfs, images, audio and other files.

Advantages:

Free

Integrates well with MS Word, Open Office and Apple Pages

Disadvantages:

May have difficulty handling very large databases

REFERENCE MANAGERS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Endnotes

Endnotes (www.endnote.com; $249.95 download and $299.95 physical) is probably one of the most widely used reference organizers. The latest version (X6) allows users to search hundreds of databases like PubMed and import those citations directly into a searchable and sortable database. Endnote is easily integrated into MS Word and Apple Pages. The “Cite as You Write ®” function allows users to format references while working on a document. Users can also annotate PDFs.

Advantages:

Intuitive

Widely used by researchers

Disadvantages:

Cost

MS Office and Apple Works


MS Word and MS Excel can be used manage your references. You can set-up a list all of your citations in Word or Pages and as a sortable database in Excel or Numbers as you would in Google Drive.

Advantages:

Easy to use

The user does not have to learn how to use new software

Disadvantages:

Both programs can be costly if they were not included in your computer software package.


Selecting a Reference Manager

For adults returning to school, there are a number of free and paid managers available to help you efficiently organize your references. Ask yourself the following questions before you settle on one:

1. How large are your databases?

2. Which computer system am I using?

3. Do I need to share with others?

4. Do I need to continuously edit references?

5. Can I afford to upgrade every year?

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)