AMA Style Guide: Reference Managers
Created by Health Science Librarians
Using Reference Managers
Did you know that Reference Managers can help you collect your references and format your citations for you as you write?
See the chart below to help you choose the one that best meets your needs.
Comparing reference managers
 (Desktop) |
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| HSL Online Guides | EndNote | Zotero | Sciwheel (formerly F1000Workspace) |
| Classes at HSL | EndNote Classes | Sciwheel Classes | |
| Cost | Under $100 through UNC-CH |
Zotero is free | Free through UNC-CH |
| Notes | See EndNote Basic guide for further details on the free online version | Use this link to create account. Select No, I'm a new user then select password. | |
| How is it used? | Computer + Web |
Computer + Web |
Web |
| Major citation styles? | |||
| Annotation of PDFs | |||
| Locate full-text using UNC-CH subscriptions | Instructions for EndNote |
Instructions for Zotero |
Instructions for Sciwheel |
| Adds citation from a PDF | |||
| Sharing options | X7 and above users have sharing options / email compressed libraries | See group options here |
Share unlimited projects and manuscripts |
| Free online storage | X7 and above: unlimited | 700+ papers (more space can be purchased) |
Unlimited |
| Word Processor | Microsoft Word | Microsoft Word LibreOffice (all) |
Microsoft Word Google Docs Manuscripts for Mac |
Choosing a ref manager
Don't know which reference manager to choose?
Endnote is great for in-depth research projects like systematic reviews, but it costs about $65. Endnote has customizable duplicate searching so you can remove more duplicates. It also has a Find Full Text feature that attempts to automatically download the PDFs of articles you select. Endnote also connects with Word to cite while you are writing. Download the APA 7th edition style if your EndNote library does not yet have it.
SciWheel is a web-based alternative that is easy to use. It connects with Word to cite while you are writing. You can also import PDFs and SciWheel will create a citation for them.
Mendeley is a free software or a web-based tool that has similar features to SciWheel. Mendeley is less consistent with providing you links to the full articles, however.
Zotero is another free web-based tool with similar features to SciWheel or Mendeley. At this time, HSL only offers one-on-one support for Zotero.
