Building a citation in APA
To get one citation in APA, you can often find the information using the Cite button in a database. Be sure to check that these citations are correct APA format.
UNC also offers a citation builder with which you can manually create your citation: https://library.unc.edu/citationbuilder/
What citation managers do the University Libraries support?
Don't know which reference manager to choose?
Endnote is great for in-depth research projects like systematic reviews, but an EndNote license costs $108 with our UNC discount. 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. You can also download nearly 6,000 custom output styles for any citation style your field uses. You can also use a free, web-based version called EndNote Basic.
Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) is a web-based alternative that is easy to use and has a browser plugin to grab citations from the web. It connects with Word to cite while you are writing. You can also import PDFs and Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) will create a citation for them.
Zotero is another free citation management tool with similar features to Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) or Mendeley. At this time, HSL only offers one-on-one support for Zotero.
Mendeley is another free software you may have heard of that has similar features to Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel). Mendeley is less consistent with providing you links to the full articles, however. Our library does not provide technical support for Mendeley.
We have an in-depth comparison chart below and tips for switching citation managers on our Choosing a Citation Manager guide.
Comparing reference managers
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| HSL Online Guides | EndNote | Zotero | Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) | |
| Classes at HSL | EndNote Classes | Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) Classes | ||
| Cost | $108 for students, faculty, & staff 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 |
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| Locate full-text using UNC-CH subscriptions | Instructions for EndNote |
Instructions for Zotero |
Instructions for Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) |
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| 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 | EN21- three year access to EndNote Web with unlimited storage | 700+ papers (more space can be purchased) |
Unlimited | |
| Word Processor | Microsoft Word |
Microsoft Word |
Microsoft Word Google Docs Manuscripts for Mac |