Reference management tools

Reference management tools help you keep track of the books, book chapters, journal articles or any other material you use in your research.

Think of your reference management tool as a filing cabinet that allows you to manage references from LibrarySearch, databases, Google Scholar and the wider web. You can use it:

• to store and organise your references
• to create a reference list or bibliography for your assignment, dissertation or thesis
• to insert your references into your work
• with the correct referencing style for your academic school or publisher.

Mendeley

• Works with Windows, Mac and Linux and has iOS and Android apps. You can download it to your desktop, use it web based and it's also available on student PCs on campus. You get 2GB free space and can upgrade the storage at a cost.
• You can drag and drop documents straight into Mendeley.
• When you leave the University you can just carry on using Mendeley and don't have to migrate your content.

Zotero

• Works with Windows, Mac and Linux and can be synced across different devices. You get 300MB free space and can upgrade the storage at a cost.
• Zotero is an open-source tool that is supported by an online community.
• When you leave the University you can just carry on using Zotero and don't have to migrate your content.

Which reference management tool you should use depends on the word processing program you have on your Mac:

• Get a MS 365 student license: Download free Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Word 2016: use Mendeley or Zotero
• No Microsoft Word:
  • LibreOffice: use Mendeley
  • Google Docs: Zotero (This does not include Chromebooks)

Want to know more about referencing and how to do it at Kent?

• Guides on referencing and plagiarism from the Student Learning Advisory Service.

Before you add references to your chosen reference management tool, you need to know which referencing (or citation) style you need to use.

• find the style used by your academic school
• check your publisher's author guidelines.

Try Cite them right online, a tool that helps you correctly cite any information source

Find out all the ways you can get in touch: