Science writing is a skill that takes time and practice to master. Find resources to help you including guidebooks and best practices for writing journal articles, research proposals, and scientific posters here.
EndNote Online is a reference manager that is freely available and linked to the database Web of Science. EndNote Online also has a Word plugin to help generate citations. For more information about EndNote, please check our EndNote guide.
Mendeley is a free reference manager that is tied to the publisher Elsevier and its databases, including ScienceDirect. Mendeley's citation plugin is not currently available for UNCW users.
Zotero is a free reference manager that can automatically abbreviate journal titles with a word processor plugin. This is particularly useful for anyone using a citation style that requires abbreviated journal titles. For more information about Zotero, please check our Zotero guide.
Which reference manager is right for me?
All the reference managers listed have access to many thousands of citation styles. They all also are bundled with citation plugins for word processors and with a variety of browser extensions for citation and reference management. All these reference managers have the ability to share their libraries with others and work collaboratively as well.
EndNote Online is free software published by the company Clarivate. While EndNote Online is free and runs on your web browser, a paid license for EndNote X20 gives access to a desktop client with significantly more features, including the ability to automatically abbreviate journal titles. However, EndNote Online alone has a robust citation plugin and is deeply integrated into Web of Science, a large multidisciplinary database with many features itself. EndNote Online requires some setup but is simple afterward. For more details, please see our guide to EndNote Online.
If you:
Zotero is a free open-source software published by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Additional cloud storage can be purchased for Zotero for a subscription fee, but Zotero can store files locally on your computer instead if you download the desktop version. The program also has a built in PDF reader and PDF annotation features. Zotero's citation plugin is easy to set up but can be slightly difficult to navigate for new users. Zotero is not integrated into databases, but it does come with a Zotero Connector browser extension to allow for easy reference capture. For more details, please see our guide to using Zotero.
If you:
Reference managers are all about your preference! Try different tools and find what works best for you.