What do citation management programs do?
Although features vary from program to program, most citation managament tools help you do three things:
- Import citation information from a variety of sources (including library databases and catalogues) automatically
- Collect, organize and annotate references
- Generate bibliographies and in-text citations in a variety of styles automatically
Imagine finding articles in a database that you would like to cite in a paper or book you are writing. With citation management software, you can pull that citation into your own personal collection of references, annotate it as you do your research, then cite it in a Microsoft Word document - the software will automatically put in correctly formatted citations and a bibliography.