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Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS

Just need to create a quick bibliography? Try ZoteroBib .

Meet Zotero.

Collect with a click..

Zotero automatically senses research as you browse the web. Need an article from JSTOR or a preprint from arXiv.org? A news story from the New York Times or a book from a library? Zotero has you covered, everywhere.

Organize your way.

Zotero helps you organize your research any way you want. You can sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Or create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as you work.

Cite in style.

Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. With support for over 10,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication.

Stay in sync.

Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your files, notes, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date. If you decide to sync, you can also always access your research from any web browser.

Collaborate freely.

Zotero lets you co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. You can share a Zotero library with as many people you like, at no cost.

Zotero is open source and developed by an independent, nonprofit organization that has no financial interest in your private information. With Zotero, you always stay in control of your own data.

Still not sure which program to use for your research? See why we think you should choose Zotero .

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10 Best Reference Management Software for Research

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Best Reference Management Software

Table of Contents

Introduction

When it comes to doing research, the process of gathering and organizing information is just as important as the actual research itself.

That’s where reference management software comes in. It can help you gather, organize, and cite your sources more effectively- saving you time and energy in the long run. 

Good reference management software can make all the difference for academic researchers and Ph.D. students- from making sure your references are formatted correctly to helping you find and use them quickly and easily. 

It allows you to keep track of your references, create bibliographies, and collaborate with other researchers.

But with so many different types of software to choose from, how do you know which one is right for you? 

This article aims to give you an overview of the most common names on the market and discussed their strengths and weakness preliminarily. 

Why Use A Reference Management Software For Research?

Whether you’re a Ph.D. student or an academic researcher, it’s important to use a reference management tool for research. Here are three reasons why:

1.  It can help you find information quickly and easily. With the right software, you can quickly and easily find the information you need- no more wasted time searching through endless pages of results.

2. It makes collaboration much easier. Have a group project? Reference management software will help you share resources with ease. No more passing around notes or spending hours trying to compile everything together by hand!

3. It can help you stay organized. When you’re dealing with a lot of information, it’s important to have a system for keeping track of it all. Reference manager can help you do just that.

Best Reference Management Software

Mendeley-most popular reference management tool.

Mendeley is a software that helps researchers manage their references. It can be used to create bibliographies and citations, and it also allows users to collaborate with other researchers. Mendeley can be accessed online or offline, and it is available for both Windows and Mac users.

Mendeley reference manager allows you to store, organize, and search all of your references from just one reference library. It makes it easy to add references and bibliographies to your google docs. Mendeley reference manager allows you to read, highlight, and annotate PDFs, and retain all of your ideas in one location across numerous pages.

  • Increased collaboration as it allows you to invite your teammates who have Mendeley to share the same paper.
  • Portability is made easier as the software can simultaneously be installed on different devices. 
  • It offers a browser plugin that works with Firefox and Google Chrome, so all you need to do is bookmark your desired web pages, and it saves on your Mendeley library. 
  • Not allow you to edit subscript and superscript characters in the title. For instance, number 2 in H2O needs to be in a small subscript which cannot be done through it. 

Pricing/Free Version

  • Free Version available with up to 2GB of cloud storage. 
  • Paid plans start from $4.99/month.

Endnote software is used to manage and import references. It can help Ph.D. students with compiling, storing, and managing references. Endnote desktop software helps to create citations and bibliographies. It also allows for the sharing of references with colleagues.

  • Endnote basic allows you to search databases and import citation info in Microsoft word. 
  • It has both online and offline options, the ability to edit output styles based on Journal requirements, and allows you to attach pdfs to references. 
  • Does NOT work well with Google Drive
  • Not free and takes longer to learn
  • Free 30-day trial available.
  • Paid version comes with a one-time cost of $99.

Zotero-Free Citation Management Software

Zotero is a reference management software that can be used by students and researchers of all levels. It’s a great way to keep track of your sources, as well as easily create citations and bibliographies. Here are some of the ways Zotero can be especially helpful for Ph.D. students:

Zotero helps you stay organized by allowing you to collect and save information about your sources in one place.

It can be used to create citation information and bibliographies in no time, so you can spend less time on paperwork and more time on your research.

Zotero integrates with many popular word processing programs, so you can easily use it as a citation management program for your papers as you write them.

  • It is an open-source and free citation management software. 
  • Works as a plugin to your web-based browser thus allowing one-click import of the references. 
  • It also has social features(shared bibliographies) and can import BibTeX and export to various word processing software (MS Word, Latex, etc.)
  • Zotero saves your citation library to your local computer but syncs with multiple computers so you can work from wherever you want. 
  • The only shortcoming I noticed is that it does not work with WordPress, where I write a lot of my papers. Although there is a WordPress widget for Zotero, it still needs some work. 
  • Free plan available. 

thesis bibliography software

Docear is one of the most unique and powerful reference management tools that helps researchers manage their references and PDFs. It integrates a number of features, such as PDF management, reference management, mind mapping, and note-taking. Because of its versatile features, Docear is an ideal tool for students, academics, and professionals.

  • Not just a reference manager, but also a composer of all research work. 
  • Very good for drafting your new paper by automatically including all of your comments in pdf files in your word file.
  • Might not be easy to understand at first, as it has a unique way of handling all of your references.
  • Free – open source

Below is Docear’s view on how it compares with Zotero and Mendeley

thesis bibliography software

Citavi – Powerful Thematic Knowledge Organization Tool 

Citavi is incredibly versatile which makes it so popular among academic researchers. It can be used to manage references for all types of research projects, from essays and theses to books and articles. This makes it an essential tool for any researcher who wants to stay organized and efficient.

Citavi is easy to use. It’s simple enough that even novice researchers can quickly learn how to use it without any trouble. But it’s also powerful enough that more experienced researchers will appreciate all its features.

  • Compatible with the most common writing software that makes it easy to get your manuscript done in a brief period.
  • It is easy to handle and is able to sort all the things you will need in your research(references, notes, tasks).
  • Citavi’s Add-In for MS Word and its LaTeX support ensures accurate citations. You can choose the style of the bibliography you want automatically inserted. There are over 10,000 professional citation styles available for all academic disciplines.
  • The software is not always compatible with all devices, which can be a problem for researchers who want to work on their references on the go.
  • Free trial available

thesis bibliography software

There are a number of different software options available for reference management, each with its own pros and cons. But if you’re looking for software that can help you manage your references effectively and efficiently, Wizfolio is definitely worth considering.

Wizfolio is a cloud-based reference management software that was designed specifically for academic researchers. It allows you to quickly and easily gather all of your references in one place, as well as organize them according to your own personal preferences. Wizfolio also comes with a number of helpful features that make it fairly convenient to use.

  • It integrates with the web browser and word processing software. 
  • The web browser integration is very useful as all you have to do is click to add a page as a reference. It is also an operating system independent. 
  • It also integrates with WordPress and allows you to easily share references easily between researchers.
  • It can be difficult to keep track of all your references if you don’t use the software correctly. 

Pricing/Free version

  • Contact Wizfolio to get a customized quote.

thesis bibliography software

If you’re an academic researcher, Paperpile should be your go-to reference management software. It’s designed specifically for academics, making it the perfect choice for those who need to keep track of a large number of citations. Paperpile makes it easy to import references from a variety of sources, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. 

It also has powerful search features that allow you to quickly find the information you need. And if you’re working on a collaborative project, Paperpile makes it easy to share references with your colleagues.

  • They can link to your Google account, so theoretically, you’ll have 15GB of storage and a nice Chrome extension, so adding papers to your library is incredibly simple. In addition, Google Docs integration for citations is available, and a beta test for Word is currently underway.
  • Paperpile is a web-based reference management software that makes it easy to import references from databases, journals, and websites.
  • It automatically formats citations and bibliographies in a variety of styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago.
  • Paperpile is not as comprehensive as some of the other software options available. 
  • Free to use for one user and two papers.
  • Paid plans from $2.99/month.

If you’re an academic researcher, then you know the importance of using the right tools for the job. And when it comes to reference management, there’s no better tool than RefWorks.

RefWorks is a web-based application that allows you to create and manage your references from anywhere in the world. With RefWorks, you can easily import citations from databases, journals, and websites, and then create bibliographies in any format you need.

But perhaps the best thing about RefWorks is its collaborative features. With RefWorks, you can share your references with colleagues or classmates and work together on projects. You can also create groups to collaborate on research topics.

  • Has Proprietary, Operating system support, Export file formats, Citation styles and Word processor integration.
  • Offers partial support for reference list file formats.
  • Supports import file formats.
  • Does not has database connectivity.
  • Doesn’t store copies of articles.
  • Free trial subscription available.
  • Get a customized quote from the sales team.

thesis bibliography software

Papers is a Mac OS X and Windows reference management program for academic researchers and Ph.D. students used for managing bibliographies and references for writing essays and articles. It’s mostly used to collect references and maintain a PDF document library, but it also offers a unified interface for document repository searches, metadata editing, full screen viewing, and a range of document import and export options.

  • It is very easy to fill with PDFs and bibliographic data can easily added.
  • It is integrated well to work with Word for Mac.
  • Papers is available for the iPhone/iPad, which offers the opportunity to carry all your references with you in your smartphone.
  • Many users have complained about the software’s clunky interface and how difficult it can be to navigate.
  • 30 day free trial available.
  • From $3/month.

Sciwheel – Next Generation Reference Managers

SciWheel is a reference management software that can be very significant for academic researchers. It helps manage references, PDFs, notes, and ideas. SciWheel has a powerful search engine that makes it easy to find any document you need. It also allows you to create groups for your documents, making it easy to keep track of your research.

  • A user-friendly interface that is easy to learn and use.
  • Integrated search capabilities that allow you to search for information both inside and outside of SciWheel.
  • Collaborative features that allow you to share information with other researchers.
  • The software can be slow and cumbersome at times.
  • It can be difficult to find information that is buried deep in the system.
  • Free plan available.
  • From $9.95/month.

Ultimate Guide to Best Reference Management Softwares for Academic Research

What is a reference management software.

Reference management software, or citation manager, is a program or online service that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Most of these programs also allow you to create bibliographies and footnotes in your papers.

Citation managers help you find sources more quickly and easily. Most programs have built-in search engines that allow you to quickly find articles and other resources related to your topic. They also allow you to save search parameters and customize your results. The more sources you find, the better equipped you will be to make an informed decision about how to word your paper’s thesis statement and plan out the rest of the writing process.

What Features Should You Look For In A Reference Management Software?

When looking for a reference management software, it’s important to consider the features that will be most helpful for academic researchers. Some features to look for include:

  • The ability to import citations from a variety of sources, including online databases, journals, and the internet.
  • The ability to organize citations into folders or groups.
  • The ability to create bibliographies or reference lists in a variety of formats, such as MLA, APA, and Chicago.
  • The ability to export citations and bibliographies into Word documents or PDFs.
  • A search function that allows you to quickly find the citation you need.
  • A user-friendly interface that allows for quick and efficient organization.

Final thoughts

In scholarly articles and research documents, citations play an important role for both researchers and readers. It is also very time-consuming to integrate these citations accurately into research documents without the aid of reference management software. 

We have provided an overview of the most common names for citation managers in the market and discussed their strengths and weaknesses.

There is more.

Check out our other articles on Best Academic Tools for Researchers below.

  • Need help with writing? Check out the Best Writing Tools here . 
  • Finished writing? Make sure you check it with Best Proofreading Tools 
  • Want to get the creative juice flowing? Check out the Best Mind Mapping Tools 
  • Looking for research ideas? Check out these Academic Search Engines 
  • Swamped with tasks and multiple projects? Try the Best Project Management Tools to stay ahead of the schedule 
  • Running survey research? Check out the dos and don’ts in the Best Survey Tools for Research
  • Still taking notes in meetings? Try these Transcription Tools For Researchers and focus on what matters

thesis bibliography software

Check out our other articles on the Best Academic Tools Series for Research below.

  • Learn how to get more done with these Academic Writing Tools  
  • Learn how to proofread your work with these Proofreading Tools
  • Learn how to broaden your research landscape with these Academic Search Engines
  • Learn how to manage multiple research projects with these Project Management Tools
  • Learn how to run effective survey research with these Survey Tools for Research
  • Learn how get more insights from important conversations and interviews with Transcription Tools
  • Learn how to manage the ever-growing list of references with these Reference Management Software
  • Learn how to double your productivity with literature reviews with these AI-Based Summary Generators
  • Learn how to build and develop your audience with these Academic Social Network Sites
  • Learn how to make sure your content is original and trustworthy with these Plagiarism Checkers
  • Learn how to talk about your work effectively with these Science Communication Tools

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10 thoughts on “10 Best Reference Management Software for Research”

Hello Joannah,

Thank you so much for all this information. It was a great read and gave me some good cites to look into. However, I would recommend that you also look into Opendemia. Opendemia allows students to manage their references, take notes, and create bibliographies. This tool has really helped me with my research papers and I think other students reading this article can benefit from this as well.

Thanks for the comment. We will look into it.

Thank you! Here is the website: https://www.opendemia.com

Thank you for a good overview, very helpful. I just want to mention that as a researcher it is very important for me to have a product that can last me throughout my career. In my mind, this requires, for a good and bad, a bigger company behind the product. I believe this is something you should also consider here.

Interesting point Peter. Love to hear more elaboration from you!

I agree. A single, reliable software package that works for your entire career sounds wonderful. Having to learn new packages, or even new versions of your old package is a waste of time. It may tickle the fancy of computer nerds and business folks who want a steady stream of income. However, adapting to the newest and latest software every few years sounds like self-abuse to me.

Thanks for the overview. You say that EndNote one-time cost is $99. I’m quoted almost four times that amount. Is that possible a regional issue? (I am in Iceland)

I ran a quick check and saw that upgrading from the trial will cost from USD $99.95 to USD $109.95. I’m not sure how they could quote you 4X as much.

Some of the reference managers mentioned in the article are no longer available. However, it’s worth noting that there are newer options like CiteDrive, which is considered one of the most modern reference managers available. Overall, it’s a great article!

I was a long term user of Ref 11.

Do you know of any current software that will import files from that?

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Speedy Citations: 6 Reference Management Software Solutions for Your Research

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Written by  Scribendi

Students, academics, authors, and researchers generally have to do a lot of online research. With so many different databases, online journals, and websites, it can be overwhelming to manage and organize so many references—especially if you're doing it manually.

Did you know that there are programs that can actually manage and keep track of your references for you? If not, then you are in for a treat!

Many reference management software programs make the process of managing your references nearly effortless. Here are the top 6, as determined by Scribendi's research.

Up Close: The 6 Best Reference Management Software Programs

Managing your references online doesn't have to be hard, e specially when citation programs exist that let you easily organize and cite your references.

Reference managers take the effort out of storing references, categorizing them, and including the right ones in your work.

Without reference managers, it's too easy to lose an important source, or worse, cite it incorrectly.

Below, we're expanding on the top reference management software programs out there, including:

Download our 1-page guide to reference management software solutions now.

thesis bibliography software

1. Mendeley

Mendeley

If you're in a technical or scientific field, Mendeley is an excellent option for you. This reference management software allows users to generate citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and LaTeX.

Mendeley is great for collaborative work because it allows you to connect with colleagues and share your papers, notes, and annotations. It can be used on your computer via the web or through your iPhone or iPad, which makes it easy to do your work wherever you go.

Mendeley Review

Mendeley Review

Mendeley is especially useful for gathering data from PDFs you find in your research process. It automatically extracts metadata and adds it to your library entry. The software also has a built-in PDF viewer for easy reading.

With both free and paid options, Mendeley is one of the best reference managers and is easily accessible across all devices. For easy organization, it gives you the option of categorizing sources as recently read or recently added.

As an additional way to keep all of your notes from sources on a single platform, Mendeley has its own proprietary system for annotating PDFs . This means you don't need to leave the platform to take notes as you go!

Endnote versus Mendeley

If you're like most researchers and authors, you might be considering Endnote versus Mendeley. If so, here are a few things that might sway your decision.

Mendeley offers the bulk of its platform features for free. It gives you the option to sync your references on all of your devices, and it makes reference categorization simple.

EndNote, on the other hand, is a pricier Mendeley alternative. The majority of its features can only be accessed with a paid subscription. However, EndNote is more of a complete tool, with a heavy focus on academic journals. You can search databases, such as PubMed, right inside the tool, and it makes citation formatting a breeze with its Cite While You Write integration.

Both platforms have great features; the choice just depends on how much you're able to spend per month and your specific discipline. 

2. Flowcite

Flowcite

Flowcite helps researchers manage every aspect of academic writing, including research, reference management, collaborative writing, annotating, editing, and publishing. It brings together all of the most requested services for creating a research paper from start to finish.

Besides free core features, such as a knowledge library of almost 25 million sources, a reference manager, LaTeX and rich text editors, and a collaborative PDF viewer, Flowcite offers a number of top-notch services for editing and proofreading (by Scribendi !), similarity checking, and publishing from leading service providers.

Get Academic Proofreading by Scribendi to get your work ready for journal publication.

Flowcite review.

Flowcite Review

Like other reference management tools, Flowcite has free and paid options. Their free option gives you 3 GB of storage and collaboration features for up to three people. However, at $9 a month, Flowcite's paid subscription isn't too steep.

With their paid option, you can enjoy the following features:

A PDF viewer in which you can collaborate with colleagues on annotations

The ability to access free journal articles within the platform

Up to 30 GB of storage for important references

Collaboration features for up to 10 people

The ability to purchase or rent e-books from Flowcite's online bookstore

A browser extension for saving references on the go

If you're searching for an all-in-one platform to help you not only research your paper but also write, format, and spell-check it, Flowcite is your best bet.

For help finding free peer-reviewed articles online, check out 17 Research Databases for Free Articles .

3. refworks.

RefWorks

RefWorks is an exceptional reference management software program. Although it is not free, many colleges and universities have subscriptions to RefWorks, which means that you may already have it available to you through your school. Score!

RefWorks is great because it allows users to generate and format bibliographies and manuscripts in hundreds of output styles, including some of the most common (e.g., APA , MLA , or Chicago ). It also allows users to manage more than just bibliographical data, which is why it's great for academics and researchers alike.

Refworks Review

RefWorks Review

RefWorks is an ideal reference manager for students and undergraduates, given that most universities subscribe to it.

With RefWorks, you can create bibliographies in multiple formats, and it has a simple user interface, which can be either a benefit or a disadvantage, depending on the complexity of your research needs.

It also has helpful features, such as reference organization, a built-in PDF reader, and the ability to sync your data to Dropbox so you can access it offline.

Mendeley versus Refworks

Both RefWorks and Mendeley have great options for saving and organizing your references, but choosing between them will depend on your specific needs and situation.

Mendeley is a more user-friendly and stable platform. Many enjoy the tool's robust collaboration features and the ability to view full-text PDFs from within it, making it a top contender in the reference and bibliography software space.

If your university uses RefWorks, they most likely have a subscription that allows you to cite sources, record data from articles or books, and share your database with multiple people at no cost.

Zotero

Zotero is both free and open source, which means that you don't have to pay for it and that its design is publicly accessible. Zotero is a great choice for a reference manager, especially for students, because it runs as both a web service and an offline service on your personal device (laptop, iPad, cell phone, etc.).

Zotero not only stores and formats your bibliographic information but also allows you to organize, tag, and search this information. It automatically and seamlessly extracts information from books, journal articles, and other online sources, making the process of creating a reference list effortless. 

Zotero Review

Zotero Review

Zotero is an open-source reference manager with free and paid options that allow you to save web-based sources. With its browser extension (Connector), you can easily save and organize the sources you find while researching.

As one of the more popular reference managers, Zotero offers up to 300 MB of free file storage and has a clean and minimal interface for reference organization. Its Microsoft Word plug-in allows for easy citation formatting, and its annotation feature gives you the option to add notes to your research from within the platform.

Zotero versus Mendeley

When considering Zotero versus Mendeley, it's easy to see that both reference managers give you the ability to organize your references effectively.

One benefit of Mendeley is that it offers more free cloud storage than other platforms—up to 2 GB. This gives you space for about 700–800 articles. If you plan to collect a lot of references, this might be the better option.

However, Zotero is known to be better for non-journal articles and for having a dedicated user community for support, given that it is an open-source project.

Both platforms allow you to save citations while you browse and have free plug-ins for Word and LibreOffice for creating in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies.

EndNote

EndNote is great if you're collaborating on a research paper. It lets you share sources with up to 14 colleagues anywhere in the world, so it's definitely the top choice for collaborations. 

One of the highlights of this reference manager is that it includes reference types such as interviews, podcasts, conference papers, and press releases. It also lets you add citations to Microsoft PowerPoint slides, which is especially helpful if you're creating a presentation with a group.

EndNote has a huge catalog of format options with over 6,000 reference styles, so regardless of your discipline, you're bound to find one that fits your needs. Although EndNote isn't free, it is certainly high quality.

EndNote Review

EndNote Review

EndNote has a reputation for being one of the most complete reference manager software packages in the industry. It's been around a lot longer than most other similar tools and contains robust features for researchers and students in its paid version ($299, one-time purchase).

Within EndNote, you can create rules that let you organize your references and effectively format citations in multiple areas within your text using its Cite While You Write integration.

The latest version of EndNote also makes collaboration easier, offering support for up to 200 users to share references. Additionally, EndNote has a search function that makes it easy to search databases, such as PubMed, without leaving the platform.

Endnote versus Zotero

Depending on the kind of citation manager software you need, both EndNote and Zotero offer helpful features for researchers and students.

While Zotero offers more features for free and has one of the best support communities, EndNote is a pricier but more robust option. However, both tools are effective at helping you to organize and categorize your references.

Both tools allow you to download references easily from a PubMed search, find and remove duplicate citations, and insert citations that are automatically formatted to your style preference into your text.

Additionally, Zotero seems to be a better fit for non-journal articles, while EndNote is often the best choice for STEM disciplines.

6. Citationsy

Citationsy

Citationsy is a great choice because it's so adaptable. You can access it as a page within your browser or download it as a Chrome extension or mobile app, which means that you can access your library from any device with an internet connection.

Like the other reference managers, it automatically extracts citation details so that you don't have to type them in yourself. You can even use its mobile app to cite your books by scanning their barcodes.

Citationsy Review

Citationsy Review

With its intuitive and easy-to-use user interface, Citationsy is a welcoming reference manager for students and professionals alike.

It boasts 300,000+ users and has features that help you add bibliographic references from your phone and scan physical books to save as future references. Currently, Citationsy supports over 8,000 citation formats, and references can be exported in BibTeX/LaTeX format.

In terms of price, Citationsy has a free 3-day trial with a $4.99/month subscription for students and a $9.99/month subscription for non-students.

The one thing to keep in mind with Citationsy is that some of its features are more limited in comparison with EndNote and Mendeley, so be sure it has exactly what you're looking for!

Do you see the common trend with these reference management software programs? They make creating a bibliography easy! Be sure to take advantage of the features offered by these programs to make your research just a little bit easier.

If you would rather have an expert editor format your references correctly according to any style guide, check out Scribendi's fast, affordable, and professional academic proofreading services .

1-Page Guide to Reference Management Software

Download now, what is a reference manager.

A reference manager, also called a citation manager, is a tool that makes it easy to collect and organize references during the research process. It allows you to store references from your browser so you do not overlook any references you've used. Many reference managers have plug-ins that make it easy to cite sources within your paper, usually with a single click. 

Which Is the Best Citation Manager?

The best citation manager will depend on your needs as a student, researcher, or author. You'll need to ask: Do I want a paid or a free option? How much storage do I need?

If you're looking for free options with the flexibility to be used from anywhere, try experimenting with EndNote Basic, Zotero, or Mendeley. However, if your university pays for your citation manager, RefWorks might be a better fit.

In terms of storage, Mendeley wins the race for large free storage options, but you may want to experiment with a few different tools to see what works for you.

How Long Does a Mendeley Data Review Take?

Each shared dataset in Mendeley Data can take 1–2 business days to approve from the time of submission to be sure it complies with Mendeley's dataset requirements. You should receive an email informing you whether your dataset has been accepted.

To ensure dataset acceptance, double-check that your datasets are scientific in nature, have not already been published, and do not contain sensitive or copyrighted content.

About the Author

Scribendi Editing and Proofreading

Scribendi's in-house editors work with writers from all over the globe to perfect their writing. They know that no piece of writing is complete without a professional edit, and they love to see a good piece of writing turn into a great one after the editing process. Scribendi's in-house editors are unrivaled in both experience and education, having collectively edited millions of words and obtained nearly 20 degrees collectively. They love consuming caffeinated beverages, reading books of various genres, and relaxing in quiet, dimly lit spaces.

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"The Complete Beginner's Guide to Academic Writing"

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ResearchBrains : The Benefits Of Researchbrains | PhD Assistance | Research Implementation

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ResearchBrains : The Benefits Of Researchbrains | PhD Assistance | Research Implementation

Top 11 Software Tools for Thesis Writing: Boost Your Research

Software Tools for Writing Thesis

Crafting a thesis may seem challenging, but employing suitable software tools transforms it into a more structured and approachable undertaking. Delve into these potent resources to simplify your research, elevate your writing, and excel in your academic pursuits. This post elaborates on several tools commonly utilized for academic thesis writing.

Citavi is a comprehensive reference management and knowledge organization tool. It allows you to manage references, create citations, and organize your research materials. Citavi is commonly used by students and researchers.

Docear is a unique solution to academic literature management, i.e., it helps you organizing, creating, and discovering academic literature. This unique literature management tool designed specifically for academics when it comes to discovering, organizing and ultimately creating academic literature. A recommender system that helps you to discover new literature: Docear recommends papers which are free, in full-text, instantly to download, and tailored to your information needs.

3. Paperpile

Paperpile is a software for reference management that is just like Zotero and works like an extension for the Google Chrome browser, making it accessible for Linux, Mac, and Windows users. We suggest that you use it to discover and import information from stage platforms such as PubMed, arXiv, and Google Chrome. You can undoubtedly trade all the PDF archives and information to Google Drive, which implies you will have the chance to edit your papers collaboratively. This collaboration will not end, as you can send data back and forth between P Zotero and Paperpile, such as Mendeley.

4. RefWorks

RefWorks is accurate; select from thousands of customizable citation styles to use within authoring tools. Generate bibliographies and citations in a snap with any authoring tool. Use our integrations to insert citations in Word and Google Docs. Leverage thousands of pre-built citation styles and request new styles. Customize citation styles or create your own from scratch with the citation style editor.

5. SpellCheckPlus

SpellCheckPlus applies the same concept to the writing process. Rather than simply correcting your mistakes, it summarizes them into distinct categories. SpellCheckPlus offers feedback that not only improves your current project but also your writing and grammar at large. In other words, SpellCheckPlus is no mere editing tool; rather, it’s a teaching tool. And as even the very best writers know, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to how you deliver your message.

MindMup acts as an online mind-mapping canvas, perfect for representing ideas and concepts visually. Capture ideas at the speed of thought using a mind map maker designed to help you focus on your ideas and remove all the distractions while mindmapping. MindMup is also a terrific collaborative tool.

7. iA Writer

iA Writer gives you the essence of pure writing by providing an unobtrusive interface that lets you concentrate on your text. Despite its minimalistic approach, the application offers a variety of distinctive features that are specifically designed for writing-focused tasks. With iA Writer, you can gain unparalleled insight into your writing structure, detect superfluous words and clichés, and navigate through your documents and notes with ease.

Elicit uses language models to extract data from and summarize research papers. As a new technology, language models sometimes make up inaccurate answers (called hallucinations). They reduce hallucinations and increase accuracy by: training our models on specific tasks; searching over academic papers; and making it easy to double-check answers. Elicit only shows you papers that actually exist and are part of the scientific literature.

9. Lucidchart

It is an online diagramming tool to create flowcharts, diagrams, and visuals. Lucidchart is an intelligent diagramming application that brings teams together to make better decisions and build the future. Lucidchart helps users sketch and share professional flowchart diagrams, providing designs for anything from brainstorming to project management.

10. Trinka AI

Trinka is an online grammar checker and language correction AI tool for academic and technical writing. Trinka finds difficult errors unique to academic writing that other grammar checker tools don’t. From advanced English grammar errors to scientific tone and style, Trinka checks it all! Trinka goes beyond professional grammar checks and enhances your writing for vocabulary, tone, syntax, and much more. Make your point confidently with Trinka.

11. WhiteSmoke

WhiteSmoke renders you with the highest quality proofreading abilities available, correcting not only simple spelling mistakes like old-fashioned word processors but everything from grammar, word choices, and even style mistakes, all without breaking a sweat.

https://www.ref-n-write.com/blog/academic-writing-tools-and-research-software-a-comprehensive-guide/

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thesis bibliography software

Lumivero's $20,000 Grant for Early Career Researchers - Apply by July 31, 2024! 🠆

The only all-in-one writing and referencing solution

Designed for individuals and teams.

Focus on what counts and power up your research with Citavi.

Work efficiently

Whether you just need a quick bibliography, you're searching a team library of 20,000 sources, or you want to keep track of notes, Citavi's tools help you work faster and more effectively.

See the big picture

Big projects with tons of sources can feel overwhelming. Break your work down into tasks, keep track of important information from your articles, and sift through your sources to find the ones you really need – alone or in a team.

Data security made easy

Citavi is the only reference management program for teams that gives you the option of storing your information on your own server instead of in the cloud. Individuals can also choose between local and online projects. Citavi automatically creates backups so you never lose your information.

Write with style

Say goodbye to wasted time formatting citations and bibliographies. Citavi offers over 10,000 citation styles: APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, etc., etc. Need one that's not there? You can create it yourself or ask us.

Citation Management and Writing Tools: Home

  • LaTeX and BibTeX
  • Other Citation Tools

Citation Management and Writing Tools

Researching and writing? We can help you:

  • determine the best citation management tool to use
  • organize citations and documents with Zotero  or  Mendeley  or recommend other tools
  • add references using BibTeX & LaTeX
  • use Overleaf and other online writing tools to submit papers and write collaboratively
  • read and organize PDFs and notes

We are unable to help with formatting papers/citations or determining when to cite something. See our Citing Sources Guide  for resources to use while writing your paper.

For guidance on citing AI-generated content, see our Citing AI Tools Guide .

News and Updates

Annotation Tools in Zotero 6.0

  • Zotero 6.0 now includes PDF annotation tools and the ability to extract annotations as notes in your Zotero library. See the Zotero blog post about this features and the documentation .

Unlimited storage for Zotero accounts

  • The Libraries were recently able to purchase a Zotero subscription which provide all MIT users with unlimited storage. The increased storage will be automatically applied if you have a .mit.edu email address affiliated with your account. To add an email address, log into your Zotero account .

Get help with citation software

Contact us at:  [email protected]

  • Next: Citation Management Tools >>
  • Last Updated: Mar 4, 2024 12:55 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.mit.edu/cite-write

Become a Writer Today

Best Citation Software: 10 Top Options For Academics

Are you looking for the best citation software to handle different citation styles? Learn more in this article.

Suppose you are producing academic work, such as a research paper. In that case, you must follow MLA, APA, or Chicago format, use the correct annotations, and present a professional, finished paper or essay. This process includes generating citations. However, it can take a lot of time to type up a reference list that readers can follow and check. 

Enter citation management software. Plenty of reference management software programs are available, and they can save academics and essayists hours. We’ve profiled the best citation software to meet your needs. 

What Does a Citation Manager Do?

Do i need a citation manager, 1. endnote, 3. mendeley, 4. readcube papers, 6. bibtex, 7. paperpile, 8. quillbot, 10. grammarly, selection criteria, which software is best for citations, why you can trust me, final word on the best citation software, are there any other citation management programs i should consider, why should i use a citation software program, what citation software works with google docs, citation manager resources.

Quillbot is a best-in-class essay checker and paraphrasing tool. It's a great choice for essayists, academics and content writers.

Quillbot

A citation manager helps academics track and cite sources for research and essays. They can also generate a reference and bibliography. A researcher or academic can use them to create lists of blog posts, articles, books, talks, interviews and more that they refer to in their work. Then, they can correctly format these references and paste the correct citation into their writing app of choice. They can also refer to their library of sources at any time.

Not every writer needs a citation manager. They’re more suited for those in academia or who spend time working with various sources and references. A freelance writer can get by with a basic link to their source. 

However, an academic, essayist or author may have additional needs. If, for example, they want to create a bibliography of over a dozen sources, they need a citation manager to save time and avoid accidental plagiarism . That way, they can check their library at any time and also update it as they source new research.

Learn about why citations are important .

Price: $110. 30-day free trial available Uses: Best for those looking for a comprehensive citation program.

Endnote

Endnote has been around for years and is rock-solid. Endnote has several significant benefits over other tools. It offers automatic PDF downloads and enables searching hundreds of related academic resources. Using this reference manager, you can share PDFs or your library with an unlimited number of people. However, some users complained that it’s clunky and takes time to learn. You might also be be wondering why write a dissertation .

  • Import multiple references easily
  • The program provides support for a wide variety of citation styles
  • You get access to unlimited storage for no additional charge
  • The automatic PDF downloader is exceptional
  • Meant for desktop use, with other platforms being a bit clunky.
  • Web sync is a challenge to configure

Price: Free up to 15 GB as long as you have Google Drive. Uses: Best for anyone looking for a free, open-source software program.

Zotero

Zotero is one of the most popular citation programs available and is one of the few programs compatible with Linux. It is a cross-platform program that features a Firefox plug-in, is compatible with Microsoft Word , and lets you export your references and just about any file format.

Even though the default storage option isn’t significant, you can increase your default storage if you have access to Google Drive. Some programs might have flashier features, but this is a great way to support an open-source program that benefits researchers everywhere. 

  • Free and compatible across multiple platforms.
  • Great tools for sharing PDFs
  • Integrates with Microsoft Word. 
  • Designed for Firefox, so it can be clunky.
  • Free file storage is limited.
  • No built-in PDF annotator. 

Price: Starts at $5 per month, but no free trial is available Uses: Best for research departments looking for a program that can handle multiple types of academic citations.

Mendeley

Mendeley is a citation program that is ideal for departments with multiple users. The program is perfect for keeping references organized, sharing references with others, and annotating documents. The collaborative features are what set this program apart from the others.

The program is excellent for research staff teams that need to organize references in different formats, from MLA to APA and Chicago-style citations. While the program can be challenging for those without an academic background, it is still one of the strongest citation programs available.

  • Easy for you to collaborate with other people
  • Handles a variety of citations ranging from MLA to APA
  • Drag and drop works well for organizing citations
  • The servers go down from time to time, which can be frustrating
  • A learning curve for those outside academia
  • Mendeley does not automatically sync across multiple files or folders

Price: Starts at $3 per month for a single user or $20 per month for the Enterprise package Uses: Best for those who have projects that already have a clearly defined scope.

ReadCube Papers

ReadCube Papers is another program that can help you handle your citations. The program excels if you have a project with well-defined topics, as you can divide work among multiple people and handle citations easily. This program also works well with Microsoft Word. While it can be a bit clunky if you need to move citations from document to document, ReadCube Papers can streamline the process, ensuring that your citations are accurate before you submit your work for review.

  • The user interface is easy to follow.
  • Integrates with Microsoft Word.
  • The customer support team slow to respond
  • Older PDF documents not compatible
  • Citations and annotations are not compatible with Adobe Acrobat.

Price: There is a free version. The paid version starts at $10 per month. There is no free trial available. Uses: EasyBib is an ideal program for students and teachers who want to show others how to do citations.

Easybib

If you are looking for a helpful program that can make citations easier for students, you will want to check out EasyBib . The program has a built-in bibliography creator that can make it easier for you to handle citations and annotation.

This program includes a variety of other writing resources, including guides and grammar lessons . Plenty of videos can make it easier for people to follow MLA and APA citations. The program also has flowcharts and infographics that can help with the process.

  • Helpful videos that can explain how to cite
  • Built-in bibliography creator
  • Features a variety of flowcharts and infographics
  • No free trial available and free version is lacking.
  • Slow for those who know exactly what they want to do.
  • User interface and graphics look dated.

Price: Free Uses: Best for those looking for a consistent management program that works on multiple platforms.

BibTex

Bibtex is a reference management software program that can help you compile multiple lists of references. Usually, this program works with another to compile references called LaTeX. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to cite your sources consistently. It was first released in 1985 and is updated from time to time, with the last update being in 2010.

  • Straightforward and easy to use.
  • Handles multiple formats including, MLA, and Chicago formats.
  • Exports to multiple platforms.
  • The program’s interface looks outdated.
  • Users must learn LaTeX and BibTeX 

Price: $36 per year Uses: Best for those looking to publish research documents in academic journals.

Paperpile

Finally, you might also want to consider Paperpile . It is a simple but effective citation and reference manager developed by academic professionals.

Using this program, you can organize sources easily, keeping track of what citations correspond to what information is in your piece. The program is compatible with many document formats, and you can add citations to your work through Google Docs . Finally, you can customize your keyboard shortcuts to make the citation process easier.

  • Can handle a wide variety of document formats
  • Inserts a citation with just a few clicks
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts
  • There is no free version.
  • Does not contain a lot of automation features
  • Cannot work without internet access

Price:  $19.95 per month Uses: managing citations and grammar checks

Quillbot citation generator

Quillbot was released in 2017 and has 50 million plus users. Academics will love the citation generator. It formats any link, document or reference based on a user’s preferred academic or house style . 

Users can copy the correct citation into their essays and manage a library of citations inside Quillbot. It saved us hours checking and formatting a bibliography and references. Quillbot customers can use its premium tools for academic writing, particularly the paraphrasing and summarizer features.

To learn more, read our Quillbot review.

  • Many valuable tools beyond a citation manager
  • Easy to use
  • Supports a wide variety of citation styles
  • Grammar checker is not as powerful as competitors
  • Features may overwhelm new users

Price: free trial/$10 per month Uses: managing citations and grammar checks

Chegg review

Chegg is a grammar checker and citation manager built for students. We found Chegg helpful but used Quillbot more because of its similar feature set at this price point. That said, academics can use the citation machine to create free manual citations of blog posts, articles and books. It supports MLA, APA, Chicago and other stylers. It takes about three clicks to create a citation.

Chegg is also a grammar checker, and it offers a similar service called Easy Bib, which features a similar citation manager. To learn more, read our Grammarly vs Chegg comparison.

It’s now possible to generate citations quickly and easily with Grammarly for APA, MLA and Chicago Manual of Style. This new feature works across journals and some other online publications. In the below, tutorial I explain how it works. For more, check out our Grammarly review .

YouTube video

  • Affordable, with free version available
  • Simple to use
  • Aimed at academics
  • No mobile app
  • Fewer plugins and desktop apps than competitors

There are several factors that we considered during our selection process. Some of the factors we considered during our ranking include:

  • Ease of Use: We considered how easy each program was to use. The easier the program is to use, the better it is. We looked for integrations and browser plugin options, such as Chrome and Safari. Developing citations can be time-consuming, so the faster the program can help you handle your citations, the higher we ranked them.
  • Value for Money: We also considered the features you got for your money. Even though having too many features can be overwhelming, customizability is usually good. More expensive programs can be beneficial if they give you access to features you will use.
  • Compatibility Across Multiple Platforms: Everyone uses a slightly different platform, so we looked for program compatibility across multiple platforms. Is it easy to use the program on PC and Mac products? Does it work well on mobile devices? Will it work well on IOS and Android? The more compatible the program is, the better it should work. 

After considering all these factors, we developed the ranking list above to help you find the best citation software to meet your needs. 

Endnote is the best-in-class citation software. That said, we particularly like Zotero and Quillbot due to their price points and ease of use. The latter has excellent functionality academics would like, such as a grammar checker. Papers excels due to its ease of use. That said, all of the tools in this article are good.

You have multiple software programs available, so you might wonder why you can trust these reviews. Some of the most important reasons why you should trust my review process include:

  • Personally Tried: I have tried all these programs to see which works best for my needs. I used them to develop an individual list of citations to see how easy the process was.
  • Published Author: I have experience producing citations in various formats for various publications. I understand what is required to write a good, accurate source, and I used these programs to create my citations.
  • Solicited Other Opinions: Finally, I spoke with people who publish content regularly to see what programs they use. I incorporated their opinions as I was trying to figure out how to rank each of these individual programs.

After talking to other people, trying these programs, and using them to make my citations, I developed the ranking list above to help you find the correct citation program to meet your needs. 

These are a few of the many programs you can choose from. Plenty of citation styles are available if you need to add bibliographies to your work. You might be looking at EDU websites, trying to figure out the best way to add your citations.

It would help if you considered the benefits and drawbacks of each of these programs before you decide which one is right for your knee. That way, you can format a reference list appropriately while saving as much time as possible. 

If you like this article, check out our profile of the best essay writing apps .

FAQs About the Best Citation Software

You may want to consider a few other options, such as Mendeley and RefWorks. There is no single best program out there. You need to think about your specific needs and compare them to the features of each program. 

You need to use a citation management software program because it can help you save time while ensuring the accuracy of your references. That way, you can give credit where credit is due while getting the most out of your writing time.

Paperpile works best with Google Docs. A writer can access PDFs from anywhere using this citation manager and then paste their citations and a correctly formatted bibliography into a Google Doc.

If you’re unsure about what style works best, check out the following guides:

Who uses Chicago style?

What are MLA citations?

What are APA citations?

What are footnote citations?

What are intext citations?

thesis bibliography software

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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ThePhDHub

7 Must-Have Thesis Writing Tools in 2021

Writing tools like Grammarly, Mendeley online, Thesaurus, BibMe, Evernote, Plagiarism checker, Hemingway Editor, Stay Focused and Dissertation authors have significant importance in thesis writing.  

Traditionally, writing a thesis for either PhD or dissertation was a tougher task, needing huge manual writing, Proofreading, correction, re-writing, and editing things manually. 

So, it was tedious, time-consuming and depressive and therefore no one wants to go for a doctorate. However, the recent scenario is totally different, now we have computers, mobile phones and a lot of apps. 

Things can be done at a fingertip, with one click and all done! Thanks to high-power computers and apps. “Useful” apps make tasks, work and everyday life easy for us. 

We now have apps for writing, proofreading, arranging documents, taking instant and important notes, doing citation & referencing and other stuff during your research. This article explains how a PhD student can utilize apps that are useful. I will also explain how you can use it. 

Features of Mendeley:

How to use mendeley , how to cite the work , features of evernote , how to use evernote , features of bibme are: , how to use bibme, how to use thesaurus , how to use dissertationauthers , features of grammarly: .

  • How to use Grammarly? 

Features of Hemingway Editor: 

Wrapping up: , 7 must-have thesis writing tools in 2021, mendeley: .

Citing articles and enlisting references orderly isn’t an easy task; it’s time-consuming and tiresome. But what if a tool can do all this work seamlessly, effectively and precisely? Mendeley is that one tool you need.

Every PhD must have Mendeley- a reference manager tool. This app or web portal is exclusively designed to manage bibliography and citations therefore it must be there on every PhD students’ laptop. 

Four amazing features of Mendeley are, 

  • You can store articles, PhD, journal reads on your Mendeley. 
  • It automatically creates a reference format. 
  • It can cite every bit of information seamlessly and precisely when integrated. 

Meaning just read the article from Mendeley, write your content in MS word and just do insert a citation. It automatically inserts the related citation and reference at the end of the page. 

Besides, several other features are, 

  • It automatically generates a bibliography 
  • You can import a pdf and research papers from other sources 
  • You can find the relevant articles to what you are reading 
  • You can collab with other researchers online 
  • You can access all your article libraries from anywhere by logging in to your account. 

The Mendeley is developed by Elsevier Publication available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 

  • Go to www.mendeley.com from your computer 
  • Click on “create a free account”. 
  • Enter your email address and continue your work. 
  • Download the ‘Mendeley for desktop’ software 
  • Start adding reading materials, pdfs and research articles or create your own library. 
  • To use Mendeley for citation and referencing, first from your Mendeley app for tools and click on ‘Install MS word Plugin’. 
  • Go to MS word>> referencing and insert citation using the Mendeley.

Now you are ready to use, write literature from the article and just click on insert citation and your work is ready. 

We are planning to write a whole article on the present topic, how to use it and how helpful it is, that article’s we will provide you later.

In summary, the very first software or app or tool every PhD student is required is Mendeley to write a thesis. It’s a citation and reference manager tool. 

thesis bibliography software

 “Notes” as writing, images, pdf, article, news paragraph is an everyday part of a PhD student . Whatever you read, whenever you find things related to your PhD topic, you have to keep a note. 

And trust me keeping notes isn’t so easy. If you fail to make it up, you will forget it the next morning. Evernote- is a tool that keeps your notes from desktop, mobile or any other device and syncs them. 

  • You can scan and save documents, label them, make important sentences underline and create pdf. 
  • You can even save rich notes, save images, record audio, capture ideas. 
  • You even can save entire or partial web pages. 
  • You can mark, highlight, underline, and pinpoint every note you capture. 
  •  And guess what you can excess it from anywhere. 

Go to www.evernote.com and click on sign in. 

Now click on ‘create account’ and create one using your email address. 

Or you can download the desktop apps. 

In summary, to keep notes seamlessly and organized, the Evernote tool is required. Moreover, users can create keyboard shortcuts, note links, anchor notes to remember and share notes. 

BibMe: 

BibMe- The online writing center is the tool or service developed by Chegg. It has many features to improve your academic writing and PhD work. 

One of the best features it has is it cites your work using different styles, even using their recent version of the style. 

  • You can create accurate citations in multiple styles 
  • Insert citation and references in your article or paper 
  • Improve your writing by improving sentence structure, grammar and spelling 
  • It can also detect plagiarism and can correct it. 

Go to www.bibme.org .

Click on ‘Create account’. Create your account using your email address and use their features. 

In summary, a BibMe app is an excellent tool, however, it isn’t available as a plugin for MS Word. You can use the free version or can use the paid version to explore more features. 

Thesaurus: 

Academic writing should be professional and precise, one needs to choose the correct word as per the sentence requirement. Using Thesaurus you can find synonyms of various words. 

Besides, You can find antonyms and choose acronyms and abbreviations. 

Go to www.thesaurus.com . 

Click on synonyms and type your word in the search box.  

In summary, Thesaurus makes your writing impressive when you use synonyms and transient words. 

Disserationauthors:  

Writing a research paper, review article or thesis is quite hard for a novice, you may feel helpless sometimes when your writeup is rejected multiple times. Even if you don’t understand what is wrong with your part. 

 If you feel so, don’t worry you can hire writers, experts or writing assistance who helps you. Dissertationauthors hire expert writers for you basically from the USA and UK. 

  • Go to www.dissertationauthors.com . 
  • Fill the order form 
  • Pay for your write up or paper 
  • Reach your personal writer 
  • Download your completed work

In summary, students have to write their own stuff, however, if your writing isn’t of that level you can use this service. 

Grammarly: 

Grammar, spelling and synonyms are common problems every research student faces, specifically those who aren’t from a pure English background. Imagine, what if some software or tool can do all stuff automatically!

Grammarly is exactly that one tool. They have free and paid plans available, however, the free version is enough for most students. 

It has many services in which the Google chrome “add on” extension is the best. When activated it automatically detects and corrects English problems to all documents. 

Related article: Grammarly: Your PhD writing assistant

  • Correct spelling and Grammer 
  • Correct wordy sentences 
  • Suggest punctuations 
  • Structurize the sentence 
  • Check plagiarism 
  • Adds more transient words and synonyms 
  • And a lot more… 

Read more: How to Check Plagiarism for PhD Thesis?- Top 10 Plagiarism Checkers

How to use Grammarly?  

  • Go to www.grammarly.com  
  • Sign in or sign up for your account. 
  • Go to the Google chrome extension search for Grammarly. 
  • Add Grammarly to your chrome extension. 
  • Do a quick setting as per your requirement. 

In summary, Grammarly is the one tool or software that must be present on every PhD fellow’s laptop. Its technology is based on AI, meaning as you write more, it understands your style more and suggests accordingly. 

Moreover, it also mails you your performances, common problems and how you can improve.  

Hemingway Editor 

This software is somehow similar to Grammarly, however, it has something unique in it. It’s an online editor you can use to quickly edit your article. It finds common errors, sentence structure, and grammatical mistakes. 

It corrects it precisely. Several common features are enlisted here, 

  • Highlight lengthy and complex sentences, and corrections 
  • Finds common writing errors 
  • Finds active or passive voices. 
  • It denotes each error with a different color quote. 
  • It can also add headings, count the number of words and other things. 

In summary, It’s not that impressive software for the students but can help especially to correct complex sentences. It is useful for bloggers. 

Apps and Softwares make your everyday life easy and when you are in PhD, it becomes so important to make things easy. You should visit and use all this Softwares and its tools. 

However, as per my opinion research candidates should have at least Grammarly, Mendeley and Evernote. These three are enough to do a lot of work. 

Use Mendeley for citation, bibliography generation and other PhD stuff, Grammarly for writing assistance and Evernote for keeping notes and important things. 

Dr Tushar Chauhan

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism in Your PhD Thesis?

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Best 6 Free Citation Management Software For Researchers: Mendeley, Zotero & More

In today’s academic and research landscape, citation management tools have become indispensable. Zotero, Mendeley Basic, EndNote Basic, Citation Machine, JabRef, and Citavi each offer unique features catering to various user needs, from generating bibliographies to collaborating in real-time.

While some tools like Zotero are celebrated for being open-source, others, such as Citavi, are lauded for their all-inclusive features, making the research process seamless.

This article delves deep into each tool, highlighting their distinct functionalities and comparing their strengths, assisting researchers in choosing the perfect tool for their endeavours.

Best Citation Management Tools For Researchers

Zotero stands out as a robust citation management tool, offering a diverse range of features for researchers, students, and writers.

thesis bibliography software

One of Zotero’s prime selling points is that it’s a free citation management software, allowing users to manage their citations, generate references, and create bibliographies seamlessly.

Unlike Mendeley, another free citation manager, and EndNote, which has both a premium version and a simplified EndNote Basic, Zotero remains steadfastly open source.

The Zotero library serves as your personal research assistant, where you can store PDFs, web pages, and other bibliographic records seamlessly. With the Zotero Connector browser extension, the platform automatically senses research on web-based platforms, making it easy to add papers directly to your library.

Sync features let you maintain the same Zotero library across multiple computers. And if you decide to sync, the first 2GB is free.

One distinct feature is Zotero’s compatibility with various word processors. It can work seamlessly with:

  • Microsoft Word
  • LibreOffice
  • Google Docs

Users can insert in-text citations and generate bibliographies in a whole range of journal styles, including APA, MLA, and Turabian. Directly inside Word or using Mendeley, you can “cite while you write.”

If collaboration is on your agenda, you can also share a Zotero library with as many people as you like and collaborate in real-time.

Mendeley Basic

thesis bibliography software

Mendeley is a free citation management software that stands in league with tools like Zotero and EndNote Basic. Designed to streamline the citation process, Mendeley Basic enables researchers to manage their:

  • Generate bibliographies, and
  • Cite while they write.

With a free account, users can import citations from databases, web pages, and even directly from PDFs into their Mendeley desktop library.

Notably, Mendeley’s browser extension is a game-changer for researchers. Just as Zotero automatically senses research on web pages, Mendeley’s browser extension can add papers directly from the web to your library.

This tool even supports importing bibliographic records seamlessly from platforms like preprint from arxiv.org. Its integration with Microsoft Word and LibreOffice allows users to insert in-text citations and generate references in popular citation styles like APA, MLA, and Turabian.

thesis bibliography software

A standout feature is Mendeley’s ability to annotate PDFs, making it not only a citation manager but also a personal research assistant. With 2GB of free storage, it supports file syncing across multiple computers, ensuring your references are always up-to-date.

If you decide to sync, your bibliographic data is always backed up and available. Collaboratively, Mendeley empowers users to share a library with as many people as they grant permission to, fostering a social networking aspect in the research realm.

Beyond this, for those familiar with LaTeX, Mendeley can generate BibTeX entries for papers, making it a holistic tool for comprehensive reference management.

Endnote Basic

EndNote Basic, commonly referred to as EndNote Web, is a web-based citation management tool offered for free. It’s a simplified version of the more comprehensive EndNote desktop software available for purchase.

thesis bibliography software

EndNote Basic stands tall among free citation management tools like Zotero and Mendeley. Zotero is a free, open-source personal research assistant, while Mendeley is a free citation manager with social networking capabilities, EndNote Basic has its unique offerings.

One of EndNote Basic’s main draws is its integration with Microsoft Word. Users can cite while they write, meaning they can insert in-text citations and automatically generate bibliographies in styles like:

It also provides 2GB of storage, sufficient for most users to manage their citations and import bibliographic data. Unlike Zotero, which requires a browser extension (Zotero Connector) to work efficiently, EndNote Basic is web-based, making it accessible from multiple computers.

However, if you decide to sync, say, with a Zotero library, you’d have the capability to collaborate and share a Zotero library with as many people as you have permission to.

Moreover, while Mendeley and Zotero can integrate with Google Docs and LibreOffice, EndNote Basic’s unique selling proposition is its seamless file syncing and extensive library guides available through many university libraries.

Its ability to create citations, manage bibliographic records seamlessly, and even annotate PDFs gives it an edge for researchers looking for a free online reference management software solution.

Citation Machine

Citation Machine is a cutting-edge tool that offers free online citation management, simplifying the often complex process of crafting bibliographies.

thesis bibliography software

Differing from popular tools like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote, it provides an intuitive browser interface that doesn’t require users to log in.

Unlike EndNote Basic, a web-based reference manager or the libreoffice integration seen in Zotero, Citation Machine focuses singularly on citations and bibliographies. There’s no extended library guides or management of PDFs. However, its simplicity is its strength.

Here are some of Citation Machine’s features:

  • Variety in Citation Style : While some citation management tools, such as Zotero and Mendeley, support a wide array of citation styles, Citation Machine shines for its user-friendly APA generation. A boon for students, especially those diving into science and social sciences. Notably, while APA is highlighted, other styles like MLA are accessible too.
  • Integration with Google Docs : After crafting your citations, the platform allows you to directly export your entire references page, making it a seamless fit with platforms like Google Docs or Microsoft Word.
  • Attention to Detail : It doesn’t just generate a quick bibliography. Users must ensure the accuracy of details—verifying data against the original source. This might remind some of the Zotero library feature, but it’s less about managing a database and more about perfecting individual citations.
  • Browser Extension & Syncing : Though it doesn’t boast the Zotero Connector or Mendeley’s browser extension for direct paper additions, users can easily import URLs. However, remember to periodically sync your work to a desktop or another platform like Google Docs—since it doesn’t save your work by default.
  • Endnote Basic Comparison : Ad-Supported Free Use : Yes, it’s a free citation manager, but the platform sustains itself through ads. Sometimes, viewing a sponsored message is a small price for utilizing the free citation management tools.

JabRef stands out in the sea of citation management tools, functioning as a robust open-source reference management software for users to manage their citations and bibliographies.

thesis bibliography software

Similar to popular tools like Zotero and Mendeley, JabRef offers a variety of features that cater to the academic and research community.

Firstly, the software integrates seamlessly with word processors such as Microsoft Word and LibreOffice, enabling users to insert in-text citations and generate bibliographies in a whole range of journal styles, including APA and MLA.

It also supports BibTeX, a format used in LaTeX, allowing for easy management of bibliographic records seamlessly.

For researchers accustomed to Zotero, the free citation manager has a feature known as the “Zotero Connector.” In contrast, JabRef doesn’t directly provide browser extension capabilities. However, it allows for importing citation information from databases and web pages with ease.

Unlike the limited 2GB storage on Zotero or the web-based interface of EndNote Web, JabRef is a desktop application, giving users direct control over their databases.

thesis bibliography software

Although Mendeley is a free citation management software with social networking aspects, JabRef focuses on its core function: being an excellent citation manager and bibliography creator.

Those who collaborate on research papers will appreciate JabRef’s features that permit sharing bibliographic data and syncing across multiple computers.

While it might not automatically sense research like Zotero or offer the “cite while you write” feature seen in Mendeley and EndNote, its depth in citation tools and bibliographic management makes it a worthy choice for millions of researchers worldwide.

In the vast world of reference management software, Citav i stands out as an all-inclusive tool that seamlessly manages every step of the research process.

thesis bibliography software

Much like Zotero and Mendeley, Citavi allows users to import sources directly, but its robust features don’t stop there.

Citavi’s users can effortlessly add PDF articles, books by ISBN, and even cite web pages via its browser extension.

The software’s built-in task planner and knowledge organizer are particularly handy, letting researchers like Lisa structure ideas, manage citations, and visualize connections.

A standout feature is Citavi’s integration with Microsoft Word, which facilitates the writing process by allowing users to insert in-text citations and automatically format them according to desired citation styles such as APA or MLA.

Additionally, its bibliography management ensures references appear correctly at the end of a research paper without the fuss of comma and period placement.

Furthermore, while not entirely free like Zotero’s basic plan or Mendeley’s free citation manager offerings, Citavi offers a full experience free for 30 days, making it an enticing option for many researchers.

It may not be open-source, but its unique combination of features places it among top citation management tools, offering a comprehensive solution for those seeking more than just a basic citation manager.

Wrapping Up: Cite With Ease With Citation Manager Tools

The landscape of citation management has been enriched by diverse tools such as Zotero, Mendeley Basic, EndNote Basic, Citation Machine, JabRef, and Citavi. Each brings its unique flair to the table, from open-source capabilities to all-inclusive research functionalities.

Whether you’re an academic, a writer, or a student, the choice available ensures that there’s a tool tailored for every need.

By understanding and comparing these offerings, researchers can streamline their processes, enhance collaboration, and elevate the quality of their work in the ever-evolving world of academic research.

thesis bibliography software

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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45 Software Tools for Writing Thesis

Boost Your Thesis Writing with Essential Software Tools

Dr. Sowndarya Somasundaram

Software tools for Writing Thesis

Table of contents

1.2 endnote, 1.3 mendeley, 1.4 refworks, 1.7 readcube papers, 1.8 paperpile, 2.1 microsoft word, 2.2 google docs, 2.3 apple pages, 2.3 libreoffice writer, 2.4 wps office writer, 3.2 google scholar, 3.3 ieee xplore.

  • 3.4 ScienceDirect

4.1 Microsoft OneNote

4.2 evernote, 4.5 google keep, 5.1 turnitin, 5.2 grammarly, 5.3 copyscape, 5.4 plagscan, 5.5 duplichecker, 5.6 unicheck, 5.7 quetext, 5.8 plagiarism checkerx, 5.9 writecheck, 6.3 microsoft project, 6.4 todoist, 6.5 evernote, 7.3 tableau, various software tools for writing thesis:.

Writing a thesis is a significant milestone in any academic journey. It demands an immense amount of dedication, research, and organization. To streamline your thesis writing process and ensure a well-crafted and cohesive document, it’s crucial to equip yourself with the right software tools. In this article, iLovePhD will explore some of the most important software tools you need to effectively write your thesis. These tools encompass a range of areas, including research, writing, organization, and productivity. Let’s dive in!

Discover the must-have software tools for writing a successful thesis. Streamline your research and boost productivity today!

Master Your Thesis Writing with These Essential Software Tools

1. reference management software.

Comprehensive reference management software , such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote, is a must-have tool for any thesis writer. These tools help you organize and manage your references efficiently, generate citations in different formats, and create a bibliography effortlessly. They save time, eliminate the risk of citation errors, and facilitate the seamless integration of references into your thesis. Here is a list of the top ten reference management software tools:

Zotero is a free and open-source reference management tool that helps you collect, organize, and cite research sources. It has a user-friendly interface and offers features like web browser integration and collaboration options.

EndNote is a popular reference management software used by researchers, students, and librarians. It allows you to store, organize, and format bibliographic references, and it offers a wide range of citation styles.

Mendeley is a reference manager and academic social network. It enables you to organize your references, collaborate with others, and discover new research articles. Mendeley offers both free and premium versions.

RefWorks is a web-based reference management tool that helps you store and organize your references. It offers features like citation formatting, collaboration options, and document sharing.

Citavi is a comprehensive reference management and knowledge organization tool. It allows you to manage references, create citations, and organize your research materials. Citavi is commonly used by students and researchers.

JabRef is an open-source reference manager that specializes in handling bibliographies in BibTeX format. It is cross-platform compatible and offers features like customizable citation styles and integration with LaTeX editors.

ReadCube Papers is a reference management tool that focuses on enhancing the reading experience of research papers. It offers features like PDF annotation, article discovery, and cloud-based reference syncing.

Paperpile is a reference manager designed specifically for Google Docs and Google Scholar. It provides seamless integration with Google services and offers features like citation formatting and collaboration tools.

Colwiz is a reference management, collaboration, and research discovery platform. It allows you to organize your references, collaborate with colleagues, and discover new research articles.

Qiqqa is a reference management software that offers features like PDF management, annotation tools, and citation generation. It also includes advanced features like full-text search and note-taking capabilities.

These are just a few of the popular reference management software tools available. Each tool has its own unique features and capabilities, so it’s worth exploring them further to find the one that best suits your needs.

2. Word Processing Software:

While this might seem obvious, using powerful word-processing software is essential. Microsoft Word and Google Docs are popular choices due to their robust features and compatibility. These tools provide a professional writing environment, including features like spell check, grammar correction, formatting options, and word count tracking. Additionally, they offer collaborative features, making it easier to seek feedback from advisors or peers. Here are the top five word-processing software tools:

Microsoft Word is one of the most popular and widely used word-processing software tools. It offers a comprehensive range of features for creating, editing, and formatting documents. It includes a user-friendly interface, collaboration tools, templates, and advanced formatting options.

Google Docs is a web-based word-processing tool offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online, collaborate in real-time, and easily share documents with others. Google Docs also provides cloud storage, offline access, and seamless integration with other Google services.

Pages is the word processing software included in Apple’s iWork suite. It is designed specifically for macOS and iOS devices and offers a clean and intuitive interface. Apple Pages provide a variety of templates, advanced typography tools, collaboration features, and seamless integration with other Apple products.

LibreOffice Writer is a free and open-source word processing software that is part of the larger LibreOffice suite. It offers a range of features comparable to Microsoft Word, including extensive formatting options, styles, templates, and compatibility with various document formats.

WPS Office Writer is a popular word-processing tool that provides a free alternative to Microsoft Word. It offers a familiar interface, supports a wide range of file formats, and includes features such as document collaboration, templates, and extensive formatting options.

Please note that the popularity and preference for word processing software can vary depending on individual needs and preferences.

3. Research Databases and Search Engines:

Conducting thorough research is a cornerstone of thesis writing. Access to reliable research databases , such as PubMed, JSTOR, or IEEE Xplore, is vital. These platforms provide access to a vast array of scholarly articles, journals, books, and conference papers. Additionally, search engines like Google Scholar and Scopus can help you discover relevant literature and enhance your research capabilities. Here are the top five research databases and search engine tools commonly used:

PubMed is a widely used research database in the field of medicine and life sciences. It provides access to a vast collection of biomedical literature, including articles from scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings.

Google Scholar is a freely accessible search engine that indexes scholarly literature across various disciplines. It includes articles, theses, books, conference papers, and more. It provides a convenient way to search for academic resources from multiple sources.

IEEE Xplore is a digital library that focuses on electrical engineering, computer science, and related disciplines. It provides access to a vast collection of technical documents, including journal articles, conference papers, standards, and ebooks.

3.4 ScienceDirec t

ScienceDirect is a leading full-text scientific database offering access to a wide range of scholarly literature in various fields. It covers subjects such as physical sciences, engineering, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences. ScienceDirect includes journals, books, and conference proceedings.

JSTOR is a digital library that provides access to a vast collection of academic journals, books, and primary sources across multiple disciplines. It covers subjects such as arts, humanities, social sciences, and more. JSTOR is particularly useful for historical research and accessing older publications.

These tools offer comprehensive access to scholarly literature and can be valuable resources for researchers, academics, and students. However, depending on your specific field or research area, there may be other specialized databases and search engines that are more relevant to your needs.

4. Note-Taking Tools

Keeping track of ideas, concepts, and findings is crucial during the research process. Note-taking tools like Evernote, OneNote, or Notion can be immensely helpful. These tools allow you to create and organize digital notes, attach files, insert images, and even collaborate with others. The ability to access your notes across different devices ensures seamless integration with your thesis writing workflow. Here are the top five note-taking tools commonly used in research:

OneNote is a versatile note-taking tool that allows you to create and organize notes in a free-form manner. It offers features such as text formatting, audio and video recording, image embedding, and cross-platform synchronization.

Evernote is a popular note-taking tool that enables users to capture, organize, and search their notes across multiple devices. It offers features like text formatting, web clipping, file attachments, and collaboration options.

Zotero is a powerful research tool specifically designed for academic and research purposes. It allows you to collect, organize, cite, and share research materials such as articles, books, web pages, and more. It also integrates with word processors for easy citation management.

Notion is an all-in-one productivity tool that can be used for note-taking, task management, project planning, and more. It provides a flexible and customizable workspace where you can create and organize notes using a combination of text, tables, lists, media, and more.

Google Keep is a simple and lightweight note-taking tool that integrates well with other Google services. It offers basic note-taking features, including text, voice, and image notes, as well as checklists and reminders. It also syncs across devices and allows for easy collaboration.

These software tools provide various features and functionalities, so it’s worth exploring them to find the one that best fits your specific research needs and preferences.

5. Plagiarism Checkers

Maintaining academic integrity is of utmost importance when writing a thesis. Reference checkers like Grammarly and Turnitin can help ensure proper citation usage, prevent accidental plagiarism, and improve the overall quality of your writing. These tools provide detailed reports on potential issues and suggest corrections, thereby enhancing the credibility and originality of your work. There are several plagiarism checker tools available for researchers to ensure the originality of their work. Here is a list of ten popular plagiarism checker tools used in research :

Turnitin is one of the most widely used plagiarism detection tools, often integrated into educational institutions’ systems. It compares submitted work against a vast database of academic content, publications, and internet sources.

While primarily known as a grammar and writing assistance tool, Grammarly also offers a plagiarism checker feature. It scans the text for similarities against various online sources and provides a detailed report.

Copyscape is an online plagiarism checker used to detect copied content. It searches the web for matching content and provides a list of URLs where the content has been found.

Plagscan is a comprehensive plagiarism checker that compares documents against multiple sources, including academic journals, websites, and its extensive database. It offers a detailed report highlighting potential matches.

DupliChecker is a free online plagiarism checker that scans the text against various online sources and offers a percentage of similarity along with highlighted matches.

Unicheck is a cloud-based plagiarism detection tool specifically designed for educational institutions. It compares submitted documents against a massive database to identify potential instances of plagiarism.

Quetext is an AI-powered plagiarism checker that scans documents for similarities against an extensive database of academic content and web sources. It provides a detailed report with highlighted matches.

Plagiarism CheckerX is a software-based plagiarism detection tool that scans documents against online sources, academic databases, and publications. It offers an easy-to-understand report highlighting similarities.

WriteCheck is a plagiarism checker developed by Turnitin. It allows users to submit their work and receive an originality report, indicating potential matches found in the database.

Viper is a free plagiarism checker that scans documents for similarities against online sources. It provides a detailed report and also offers additional features for academic users.

6. Project Management and Task Tracking software Tools:

Thesis writing involves managing numerous tasks, deadlines, and milestones. Employing project management and task tracking tools like Trello, Asana, or Todoist can greatly aid in staying organized. These tools enable you to create task lists, set deadlines, allocate priorities, and collaborate with others. Visualizing your progress and breaking down the writing process into smaller, manageable tasks boosts productivity and helps you meet your targets effectively. When it comes to project management and task tracking tools for thesis writing, there are several options available. Here are five popular ones:

Trello is a highly visual project management tool that allows you to organize tasks and projects on virtual boards. You can create lists, add cards for individual tasks, set due dates, and collaborate with others. Trello’s flexibility makes it suitable for organizing research materials, outlining chapters, and tracking progress.

Asana is a comprehensive project management tool that helps you track tasks, assign responsibilities, set deadlines, and communicate with your team. It provides features such as task dependencies, subtasks, and file attachments, making it useful for managing complex thesis projects with multiple contributors.

Microsoft Project is a powerful project management software that offers robust features for planning, scheduling, and tracking projects. It allows you to create Gantt charts, set milestones, allocate resources, and monitor progress. While it may have a steeper learning curve compared to other tools, it offers extensive functionality for managing large-scale thesis projects.

Todoist is a simple yet effective task-tracking tool that helps you create and manage to-do lists. It allows you to set due dates, prioritize tasks, and create recurring tasks. You can also collaborate with others by sharing tasks and adding comments. Todoist’s intuitive interface and cross-platform availability make it a popular choice for individual thesis writers.

Although not strictly a project management tool, Evernote is a versatile note-taking application that can be invaluable for thesis writing. It allows you to capture and organize research notes, save web clippings, create to-do lists, and attach files. With its powerful search functionality and synchronization across devices, Evernote helps you stay organized and retrieve information quickly.

The choice of the tool ultimately depends on your specific needs and preferences. It’s a good idea to try out a few options and see which one aligns best with your workflow and project requirements.

7. Data Analysis and Visualization Tools:

For research involving data analysis, tools like SPSS, R, or Excel can be invaluable. These tools provide powerful statistical analysis capabilities, allowing you to draw meaningful insights from your data. Additionally, visualization tools like Tableau or Python’s Matplotlib can help present your findings in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand manner. There are several popular data analysis and visualization tools used in thesis writing. Here are the top five tools:

R is a widely used open-source programming language for statistical analysis and data visualization. It provides a vast number of packages and libraries specifically designed for data analysis. R allows you to perform various statistical tests, create visualizations, and generate reports, making it a popular choice among researchers.

Python is another powerful programming language commonly used for data analysis and visualization. It offers libraries like NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib, which provide efficient data manipulation, analysis, and plotting capabilities. Python’s versatility and ease of use make it a preferred choice for researchers in various domains.

Tableau is a popular data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive and visually appealing charts, graphs, and dashboards. It provides a user-friendly interface for exploring and analyzing data from various sources. Tableau offers advanced features for storytelling and data presentation , making it suitable for thesis writing and research projects.

SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is a software package widely used in social science research. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for data analysis, including descriptive statistics, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing. SPSS also offers data visualization capabilities to present research findings effectively.

Microsoft Excel is a widely available spreadsheet program that offers basic data analysis and visualization functionalities. It is often used for organizing and manipulating data, performing simple statistical calculations, and creating basic charts. While Excel may not be as powerful as specialized data analysis tools, it remains a popular choice due to its familiarity and ease of use.

These tools provide researchers with a range of options for data analysis and visualization, allowing them to choose the one that best suits their needs and preferences.

Conclusion:

Writing a thesis can be a challenging yet rewarding experience. By equipping yourself with the right tools, you can streamline your workflow, enhance your research capabilities, and produce a well-structured thesis. Remember, the tools mentioned in this article are meant to assist and optimize your writing process, but it’s crucial to adapt them to your specific needs and preferences. Embrace these tools, and let them empower you to create a compelling thesis that showcases your academic prowess. Happy writing!

Writing Softwares for Thesis

Research Tools for Thesis Writing

Citation Management Tools for Thesis

Plagiarism Checkers for Thesis Writing

Grammar and Proofreading Tools for Thesis

Formatting Tools for Thesis Writing

Reference Management Tools for Thesis

Data Analysis Tools for Thesis Writing

Literature Review Tools for Thesis

Time Management Tools for Thesis

Collaboration Tools for Thesis Writing

Presentation Tools for Thesis Defense

Thesis Writing Templates and Samples

Tips and Techniques for Thesis Writing

Common Challenges in Thesis Writing

Thesis Writing Resources and Guides

FAQ on Tools for Writing Thesis

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Dr. Sowndarya Somasundaram

UGC-CARE List of Journals – Arts and Humanities – 2024

Choosing a phd supervisor 9 key factors to consider, 10 ideas to get 10x more google scholar citations, email subscription.

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  • Citation guides

BIBTEX Citation Generator

- powered by chegg.

Keep all of your citations in one safe place

Create an account to save all of your citations

Check your paper before your teacher does!

Avoid plagiarism — quickly check for missing citations and check for writing mistakes., is this source credible consider the criteria below..

Is the purpose to entertain, sell, persuade, or inform/teach ? Journal articles are often designed to inform or teach. Books and websites could have any of these or a combination of the purposes above. So it is important to determine why the source was created and if it is appropriate for your research. For websites in particular, looking at their "About Us" page or "Mission Statement" can help you evaluate purpose.

Accuracy is the reliability and truthfulness of the source. Here are a few indicators of an accurate source:

  • Citations or a works cited list. For websites, this can be links to other credible sites.
  • Evidence that backs up claims made by the author(s).
  • Text that is free of spelling and grammatical errors.
  • Information that matches that in other, credible sources.
  • Language that is unbiased and free of emotion.

Based on the above the source could be accurate, inaccurate, a mixture of accurate and inaccurate, or hard to tell.

Authority: Author

The author is the individual or organization who wrote the information in the book, in the journal article, or on the website. If no author is listed, there may be another contributor instead. For example, an editor or a translator. A credible author has:

  • Written several articles or books on the topic.
  • Provided contact information. For example, an email address, mailing address, social media account, etc.
  • The experience or qualifications to be an expert on the topic.

Authority: Publisher

The credibility of the publisher can contribute to the authority of a source. The publisher can be a person, company or organization. Authoritative publishers:

  • Accept responsibility for content.
  • Are often well-known.
  • Often publish multiple works on the same or related topics.

Relevance describes how related or important a source is to your topic. While a source may be credible, it does not necessarily mean it is relevant to your assignment. To determine relevance, you should:

  • Determine the website's intended audience. Look at the level of the information and the tone of the writing. For example, is it meant for academics or the general public?
  • Make sure that the information is related to your research topic.
  • Make sure that the information helps you answer your research question.

A publication date is an important part of evaluating the credibility of a source and its appropriateness for your topic. It is generally best to use content that was recently published or updated, but depending on your assignment, it may be appropriate to use older information. For example, a journal entry from Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War is too outdated to use in a discussion about modern politics and war, but would be appropriate for a paper about the Civil War. Consider the following when evaluating currency:

  • Was it published or updated recently? If a website, is there even a publication date listed?
  • Is the date of the source appropriate or inappropriate for my assignment?

After analyzing your source, do you believe it is credible, not credible, partially credible, or are you unsure? If you are still unsure, it may help to ask your instructor a librarian for assistance.

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Grad Coach

7 Essential Dissertation Writing Apps & Tools

By: David Phair (PhD) & Kerryn Warren (PhD) | October 2019 (Updated March 2022)

Completing your dissertation or thesis requires a hearty investment of time, effort and hard work. There’s no shortcut on the road to research success, but as with anything, there are ways to optimize the process and work smarter.

In this post, we’ll share with you a handful of apps, software and services that will make your life a little easier throughout the research process.

Overview: Essential Thesis Writing App s

  • Grammarly (language editing)
  • Evernote (note taking & productivity)
  • Otter (dictation/transcription)
  • Dropbox (cloud storage)
  • Canva (graphic design)
  • Mendeley (reference management)
  • Freemind (mind mapping)
  • Bonus – MOOCs (learning & development)

#1: Grammarly Premium

Let’s face it – the spell checker in Microsoft Word just plain sucks. False positives and negatives abound, missed errors, ridiculous suggestions – you’re often better off spell checking yourself. Thankfully, you don’t need to do that, thanks to Grammarly .

Grammarly app for proofreading your dissertation on the fly

Grammarly is  more than just a spelling and grammar checker – it picks up far more complex issues such as:

  • Inconsistent writing style and unclear sentence structure
  • Overuse of specific works and ineffective vocabulary
  • Impolite, insensitive or non-inclusive language
  • Inappropriate tone or formality level

Simply put, Grammarly is the closest thing you’ll get to having a real-time editor and proofreader looking at your work. Of course, it doesn’t replace human-based editing , but its ideal for cleaning up your early drafts prior to submitting them to your supervisor/advisor for feedback. Grammarly integrates directly into Word, Google Docs and Chrome, so it’s extremely versatile.

Grammarly offers both a free and premium version. For dissertation writing purposes, we recommend the premium version as it includes a plagiarism checker , which is very handy. 

#2: Evernote & Penultimate

No doubt, you’ll be taking an endless stream of notes throughout the research process. Some will be written notes, some will be photos, some might even be audio recordings. You’ll need a way to stay on top of it all and keep things organized. Enter Evernote .

Evernote app for taking notes during your thesis

Evernote is the ultimate note-taking app, as it allows you to take notes in various formats, including text (typed and handwritten), photos (snap that workshop slide) and audio (record that interview). You can also attach files of any format (for example, an Excel data set), so absolutely everything stays in one place. The text in any note is fully searchable, and all data is synchronized across your phone, laptop, desktop and tablet.

Writing up a good dissertation or thesis requires a lot of, well, writing. Spending hours upon hours hunched over a keyboard can be really draining (and potentially physically harmful). Imagine you could just speak instead of type. Well, now you can, thanks to Otter.ai

Otter

The number of times we’ve seen students lose hours, days or even weeks’ worth of hard work (and even miss the submission deadline) due to corrupted flash drives or hard drives, coffee-soaked laptops, or stolen computers is truly saddening. If you’re not using cloud storage to save your work, you’re running a major risk.

Cloud storage apps for your dissertation backups

If you take only ONE thing from this post , let it be this point. Go sign up for any of the following cloud services (most offer a free version) and save your work there:

  • Google Drive
  • iCloud Drive

Not only will this ensure your work is always safely stored (remember to hit the Save button, though!), it will make working on multiple devices easier, as your files will be automatically synchronized. No need to have multiple versions between your desktop, laptop, tablet, etc. Everything stays in one place. Safe, secure, happy files.

Need a helping hand?

thesis bibliography software

Even the most well-written dissertation or thesis will suffer if the visuals cause retina damage to the reader’s eyes. Sadly, badly designed conceptual frameworks and document visuals are all too common in academic work. This needn’t be the case, thanks to Canva .

Canva

Canva is an intuitive, easy to use, fully web-based graphic design service that lets anyone design high-quality graphics . And yes, we mean anyone . You don’t need to have a background in graphic design or visual arts to make good looking graphics with Canva. Just drag and drop . Canva also offers a wide variety of pre-made templates, so it couldn’t be easier to create visuals for your dissertation or thesis.

6: Mendeley

Correctly formatted citations and references are essential to a polished dissertation or thesis. Even the highest quality piece of research will lose credibility (and marks) if the referencing is not on point. It’s such a shame to see students lose marks on this , as its such an easy thing to get right with reference management software like Mendeley .

Mendeley is a free reference management software that takes care of all your citations and references in Word. Simply load up your journal articles in Mendeley and then just drop in your citations as you write up in Word. Mendeley then automatically builds your reference list according to whichever format you choose (e.g. Harvard, APA , etc). Sure, there are many similar pieces of software out there, but personally I find Mendeley to be the most feature-rich. See the video above for a taste of the functionality.

7: Freemind

When you’re undertaking your research, especially your literature review , you’re going to be dealing with a wide-ranging number of theories, models and frameworks, and it can be difficult to see the big picture and connect all the dots. Mind mapping is a highly effective way to visualize (and connect) all the information, but doing it on paper is so old fashioned. Enter Freemind .

Freemind app

8: Udemy & Coursera

Okay, so this is not an app or piece of software, but we couldn’t resist including it…

While you’re undertaking your dissertation, chances are that you’re going to need to learn about some niche topic very quickly in order to complete some part of your research. For example, how to use SPSS or NVivo analysis software, how to develop statistically sound survey scales , how to undertake structured interviews, and so on. However, these sorts of skills are typically not included in the university syllabus and will have a major impact on the quality of your research. Enter Udemy and Coursera .

Udemy

Udemy and Coursera both provide a wide-ranging variety of super-short, highly digestible online courses.  These courses are a great way to pick up specific skills (especially software skills) in a very short amount of time (many courses are less than 10 hours total).

Recap: Dissertation Apps

And there you have it – 8 apps, software and services that will undoubtedly make your life easier come dissertation time.

Have a suggestion?  We’d love to hear your thoughts. Simply leave a comment below and we’ll consider adding your suggested app to the list.

thesis bibliography software

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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13 Comments

Gale

It seems some of the apps mentioned are not android capable. It would be nice if you mentioned items that everyone could use.

Derek Jansen

Thanks for the feedback, Gale!

Maggie

Yet to explore some of your recommended apps. I am glad to commend on one app that I have started using, Mendeley. When it comes to referencing it really helps a lot.

Great to hear that, Maggie 🙂

Haseena Akhtar

I have got Mendeley and it is fantastic. I have equally downloaded Freemind but I am yet to really understand how to navigate through it.

Based on your YouTube lessons,my literature review and the entire research has been simplified and I am enjoying the flow now,more than ever before.

Thank you so much for your recommendations and guide.It’s working a great deal for me.

Remain blessed!

mikael badgett

Thank you for all the amazing help and tutorials. I am in the dissertation research proposal stage having already defended the qualifying paper. I am going to implement some of your advice as I revise chapters 1 & 2 and expand chapter 3 for my research proposal. My question is about the writing– or specifically which software would you recommend. I know MS Word can get glitchy with larger documents. Do the “reference” apps you recommend work with other options such as LaTeX? I understand that for some programs the citations won’t be integrated or automated such as cite while you write etc.. I have a paid version of endnote, and free versions of mendeley and zotero. I have really only used endnote with any fidelity but I’m willing to adapt. What would you advise at this point?

Derek Jansen

Thanks for your comment and for the kind words – glad to hear that the info is useful.

Generally, Word works reasonably well for most research projects and is our first recommendation. As long as one keeps the document clean (i.e. doesn’t paste in loads of different styles, ultra high-res images, etc), it works fine. But I understand that it’s not perfect for absolutely huge projects.

Regarding referencing with Latex, this article covers how to use Mendeley with Latex – https://blog.mendeley.com/2011/10/25/howto-use-mendeley-to-create-citations-using-latex-and-bibtex/ . Perhaps it will be useful. I hesitate to tell you to adopt software X or Y, or to move from Endnote, as each software has its strengths and weaknesses, and performs better in certain contexts. I’m not familiar with your context, so it’s not possible for me to advise responsibly. Mendeley works well for the vast majority of our students, but if there’s a very specific bit of functionality that draws you to Endnote, then it may be best to stick with it. My generic advice would be to give Mendeley a try with some sample references and see if it has the functionality you need.

I hope this helps! Best of luck with your research 🙂

Joyce

Thank you for your amazing articles and tips. I have MAC laptop, so would Zotero be as good as Mendeley? Thank you

Abdelhamid Jebbouri

Derek would you share with me your email please, I need to talk to you urgently.

Dr Peter Nemaenzhe,PhD

I need a free Turnitin tool for checking plagiarism as for the tools above

Veronica Y. Wallace

I have been going crazy trying to keep my work polished and thesis or dissertation friendly. My mind said there had to be a better way to do literature reviews. Thank God for these applications. Look out world I am on my way.

Sebisibe Sibere Wolde

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  • APA Citation Generator

Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

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🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

  • Save a considerable amount of time
  • Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
  • Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

  • Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
  • MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
  • Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
  • Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

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Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Top 11 Dissertation Writing Software For Students 2024

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Top 11 Dissertation Writing Software For Students 2024

Dissertation Writing Software: Your Research, Streamlined.

Writing a dissertation or thesis plays an important role in one's academic career. However, it is also a rigorous task that students often struggle with. Writing a thesis requires a lot of research, dedication, and organisation which needs to compile a lot of information together. To create a well-crafted and cohesive dissertation, it’s important to equip yourself with the right tools that will make the writing process easy for you. Well, here’s the good news for you: there are many dissertation writing software available that will help you up your game & increase your chances of producing a top-quality thesis. In this blog, we will be covering some of the top thesis-writing software that will help you write a dissertation that will stand out. 

Top 11 Dissertation & Thesis Writing Software 

To write an effective thesis, one needs to do extensive research and consider many factors that will help one’s dissertation stand out. We are covering some of the best dissertation writing software that will help you stay organised and write an effective dissertation. These tools will help you with meticulous research and planning. Without further ado, let’s check out some of the amazing dissertation writing software. 

Top Feature: Organize and Label Items

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, Android (beta)

Rating: 9.1/10

Review: Excellent Open Source Citation Software with Multiple Integration Plug-ins Available

The first one on our list of dissertation writing software is Zotero, which helps you organize and label items. Zotero is a reference management software that helps in managing bibliographic data and research-related materials. This is one such dissertation writing software that will make your research task easy and organize & label items. The user-friendly interface and additional features such as web browser integration and collaboration options. 

Top Feature: Translation

Platform: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/Unix

Rating: 4.7/5

Review: Latex is very helpful for preparing the documents. It has high-quality typesetting system.

Another of the best dissertation writing software is the open-source document preparation system that was exclusively developed for scholarly and technical writing. This software is known for its highly customizable and powerful typesetting system. Students can take the utmost advantage of this software when writing a dissertation or thesis using its strong reference manager, BibTex. 

Top Feature: Mind Mapping

Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux

Rating: 8.2/10

Review: A unique approach for organizing literature, focusing on your annotations instead of documents. It allows you to find the information you are looking for much faster.

While writing a dissertation, students often face a blocker in keeping multiple documents organized and sorted. Docear’s single-section user interface lets you sort documents and annotations. It contains a variety of tools, including PDF management and mind mapping, which allow its users to connect with new literature related to their area of research.  

4. Otter.ai

Top Feature: Custom Vocabulary, Playback Control

Platform: iOS or Android app

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Great alternative to manual transcription services as it is faster and easier to access.

Another one of the best dissertation writing software is Otter, which develops speech-to-text transcription. Otter, developed by Otter.ai, was founded in 2016 by Sam Liang and Yun Fu who has a history of working in artificial intelligence. Otter does the hours of work with just a click; instead of writing for long hours and spending most of your time on the keyboard, you just have to speak, and Otter will do the rest of the work for you. This simple yet powerful app converts the audio into text format and ta da you on your way to writing the best dissertation. 

5. SpellCheckPlus

Top Feature: Spelling, Grammar, and Vocabulary Checks.

Platform: Web App

Rating: 4.1/5

Review: Grammar checker that finds common spelling errors and grammatical mistakes in English.

While writing such a long thesis or dissertation, mistakes are bound to happen well, what if we tell you that there is a tool that will not only edit but will give you suggestions to make your writing better? Isn’t it great? SpellCheckPlus is one of the best dissertation writing software that gives a summary of the suggestions that can make your writing better. It has a free version that gives you suggestions based on the content, whereas you can opt for an upgraded “pro” option, which includes additional features. 

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Top Feature: Bibliography & Citation Maker

Platform: Windows, MacOS

Rating: 2.6/5

Review: This is a great plagiarism checker at a good price.

A dissertation or thesis is incomplete without bibliographies; however, it takes a lot of time to manually find and write them. With BibMe in frame, this has become easy. The fully automated system generates citations and cited pages for you with just one click. All you have to do is select the format of your choice—APA, MLA, or Chicago/Turabian—and choose from a database that provides a wide range of options. Click “add” and download the bibliography of your choice. 

Top Feature: Different Controls & No Annoying Installation

Platform: Google Drive

Rating: 4.2/5

Review: Easy to use, lots of different controls, and no annoying installation.

With so many thoughts and ideas to make one's thesis better, it becomes too difficult to keep track of it becomes overwhelming. With Mindmup in the picture, you can easily connect the dots and your ideas and create an amazing thesis. Mindmup is one of the best dissertation writing software that works as online mind-mapping that makes it easy for students to put down their thoughts into action. MindMup is also a terrific collaborative tool.

8. iA Writer

Top Feature: Focus Mode, Content Blocks

Platform: Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android

Rating: 4.4/5   

Review: A pleasing minimalist tool for short-form writers, content creators, and bloggers.

Received recognition from The Guardian and The New York Times, iA Writer is one of the best dissertation writing software. It allows students to focus more by providing them with a writing-conducive environment. It has some of the best features, like focus mode, version control, cloud support, and insightful metrics. With broader clarity as to what it needs to rectify, it keeps the focus on the text and focuses on improving the content. 

9. Grammarly Premium

Top Feature: Tone Adjustments; Plagiarism Detection

Platform: Windows, iOS

Rating: 4/5

Review: Yes, the premium version of Grammarly is worth every penny.

Another one of the best dissertation writing software is Grammarly Premium, which can make your dissertation better with its amazing features. Grammarly Premium proofreads your content and gives you suggestions based on the analysis. It also has a handy feature of plagiarism check that will help you in making your thesis better. Another good feature is it easily integrates with Word, Google Docs and Chrome and gives you instant suggestions for rectification.

10. RefWorks

Top Feature: Stores and Organizes all forms of information

Rating: 4.3/5

Review: It is a useful program for managing citations and has helpful features for organisation.

RefWorks is a web-based reference management tool that helps you organize and store your references. It has amazing features like citation formatting, collaboration options, and document sharing. RefWorks is one of the best dissertation writing software that will help you keep your references handy and well-organized. 

Top Feature: Text Editor

Platform: Safari, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge

Rating: 4.8/5

Review: Notion is a good note-taking app for collaborating and is packed with features.

Writing a thesis or dissertation requires extensive planning and research. This leads to organizing and keeping things on track, which, if not handled properly, can lead to confusion. Notion allows you to organise your ideas and provides a flexible and customizable workspace. You can use a combination of text, tables, lists, media, and more. The notion also allows you to color-code text to keep the content highlighted. 

Writing a thesis requires a lot of research, which can often make it difficult for students to keep their research material organized. This dissertation writing software will let you organize and create an outstanding thesis or dissertation. These thesis writing software will make the process of writing dissertation easy for you and stand out.   

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best dissertation writing software, what are some of the features that notion offers, is there any dissertation writing software that can help with checking spelling or grammar, can i use ai to write my dissertation, which software is used for phd thesis.

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Ref-n-Write: Scientific Research Paper Writing Software

Top Referencing Tools and Reference Management Software for Academic Writing

Overview   | Writing Software   |  Reference Management Software  |   Research Tools  |  Grammar Checking Tools

  Referencing tools are handy to organize and format references so that you can easily incorporate them in your essays, research papers, dissertations and PhD thesis. There are many terms used for such tools such as referencing software, referencing tool, reference management software, citation software, citation app, paper software, citation manager, research paper management tool, bibliography software, literature review software, literature management software and research paper organizer.  These all refer to a piece of software or an online tool that allows you to store and format references. It is very important that you choose a right tool for your research and stick to it. We have reviewed some of the popular referencing tools used in the scientific community below from an academic writing perspective.

Zotero is a free referencing tool that allows you to collect, cite, organize and share research sources. Zotero comes with a browser extension that automatically senses content in your web browser, allowing you to add it to your personal library with a single click. It automatically picks up the nature of the text displayed in the page and displays a relevant icon in the address bar that represents the content (book, article, etc). The user can click this icon to add the reference to the library. Zotero automatically parses metadata of PDF files and extracts citation information and adds it to the library. You can include the references in your text by simply dragging and dropping citation files from the Zotero library into the document. Zotero supports all the major citation formats.

2. Mendeley

Mendeley is a free referencing manager and social network that helps you organize research, collaborate online and discover new research. You can sign up for a Mendeley account online and install the Mendeley Desktop Tool in your computer. You can import papers into Mendeley library from your hard drive by simply dragging and dropping files. You can also import reference list from other reference managers or by searching various web databases for papers through Mendeley Literature Search.  You can also use Mendeley Web Importer, a browser plugin that allows you to import documents from anywhere on the web quickly. Mendeley desktop will display a PDF icon next to the paper if the full text is available. You can search annotate and add notes to PDF documents. You can sync your libraries to the cloud to access them anywhere. Mendeley Writing Addins are available for MS Word and LibreOffice which enables you to insert references into your article and generate a bibliography list.

EndNote is a reference management tool that allows you to import references directly from online sources such as PubMed, Web of Science, Library of Congress, etc. You can also import references by uploading a list of references in Citation Manager format. Alternatively, you can manually input the references if it is an unpublished source. You can insert references in the document as you write using EndNote Word Addin. EndNote supports numerous citation formats. The tool automatically generates the bibliography for the references contained in the text. The cost of full single user license is £209, and student license is £99.

4. RefWorks

RefWorks is a reference management software quite similar to EndNote. RefWorks is web-based as in the reference database is stored online. The references can be accessed and updated from any computer with an internet connection. Institutions subscribe to RefWorks on behalf of all their students, faculty and staff. The references can be included in the text using RefWorks’s Write-n-Cite Microsoft Word Addin. This plugin allows users to insert references in the text and generate a bibliography in a wide variety of formats.

Citavi is a reference management tool that combines referencing with task management. Citavi allows users to search for sources, analyze content, structure ideas and write a paper. You can import PDFs by dragging and dropping files and add books and articles using ISBN. When you find information on the web, you can use Citavi browser plugin to import quotations, pictures, and web pages to Citavi library. You can annotate PDFs and save pictures to Citavi library. You can also make a note of your thoughts while reading a research paper using Citavi Thoughts Option. You can add tasks to the tasks manager window to manage project deadlines. You can structure your paper by creating an outline in Citavi. Then you can drag and drop references, image, and quotations to relevant sections of the paper. Finally, you can download the paper outline as a Word document and start filling in the missing bits of the paper.

6. PaperPile

PaperPile is a GoogleDocs Addon for managing your references and bibliography. It is a very useful tool if you are using GoogleDocs for writing papers instead of MS Word. PaperPile is attached to your Google account. You can download this app from the Google store. There is a basic version available for free, and you can upgrade for a few dollars to a premium version.  One of the big advantages of PaperPile is that it works very well with other citation managers such as Zotero and EndNote. PaperPile allows you to import Zotero or EndNote citations into GoogleDocs. You can insert citations, format citations and generate a bibliography in a wide variety of formats. You can easily import papers from Google Scholar into PaperPile. If full-text PDF is available for an article, you can use PaperPile to store them in GoogleDrive.

JabRef is a reference management software for Latex. The tool allows you to manage citations and generate bibliography if you are using Latex as your writing medium. This is a free tool and is well maintained. You can simply download citations in BibTex format and create entries in JabRef. You can also export a list of papers from multiple sources at the same time by selecting multiple items from a web page.  JabRef tool will produce a .bib file with a list of references in your library and create a BibTexKey for each source. Now you can link this .bib file with Latex using ‘addbibresource’ command and cite articles in your Latex document using BibTexKey and ‘cite’ command. It supports a wide variety of citation styles and bibliography formats.

Papers is a citation manager and referencing tool that allows users to discover, organize, read & annotate and share research. Papers tool is available for both Windows and Mac. It comes with all the basic functionality offered by other reference managers. Also some useful features are unique to Papers. You can search multiple search engines at the same time for keywords and view one set of results. You can organize your references by annotating, ranking and color coding. You can search your research library by building a complex query rather than searching for simple keywords. You can share your collection with your colleagues using Papers online web interface.

Docear helps you to find relevant literature and remember all the things you read in the literature. Docear is a free tool and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It provides a user-friendly graphical interface where you can drag and drop PDFs into different categories and topics. Then you can directly open the PDFs from this interface and annotate them. The annotations can be viewed by clicking on annotation icon that is displayed next to the PDF in the graphical interface. You can create an outline of the paper using Docear’s interactive user interface. You can drag and drop annotations and references into relevant sections of your outline in the interface. Once you are done, you can download the outline as a document in a wide variety of formats. 

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17 Comments

It’s a very nice app for generating references and citations from the article and theses. in one word it is an awesome app.

Very good materials

This is so marvelous honestly

Informative Videos.

Nice sessions

Nice session

Well, Mendeley should be removed from this list since the new changes to it. Seems if Microsoft has bought it, or maybe it was a hostile take-over? It is horrible now. Real horrible.

Informative videos

Best Sessions

Informative session

Nice sessions and good information

Nice Session.

Best session

This is very useful and valuable.

Do ref n write also enlists references?

Is there a way to import reference list of the library articles to ref n write and cite those in my own articles?

The complete scenario is:

I search a term “competencies” in my added article bank in ref n write.

Ref n write searches and shows to me a list of sentences relating to competencies.

Observing relevency, i add a sentence to my own article from an article written by “Dominic” for example. The sentence was as follows: “competencies are the skill sets (Tom 2020)”.

Now, how will i cite Tom in my own article using ref n write?

Note: this Tom is in text citation inside a major article added to article bank/library in ref n write.

Any solution to cite in-text citation within an article added to a library to my own article?

This will be a great help please

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2.Decide how you'll manage your research materials

Trust us: you don't want to make your thesis bibliography by hand, or mess with formatting footnotes, in-text citations and explanatory text.  Theses these days are not just built from books and articles: you may be using all kinds of additional sources in atypical formats or with idiosyncratic ways of identifying themselves.  When the thesis crunch time hits, stressing about the nuances of APA or the order of elements in MLA or Chicago styles is the last thing you'll need. 

So don't go too long without choosing a good citation software program. We always recommend Zotero , th ough if you're using BibTeX or EndNote already, stick with those programs.   . 

If you've never used citation software, like Zotero,   now's the time to explore . If y ou've made a Zotero  account but not used it much, now's the time to get a refresher.   And if you're using it but aren't quite sure you're using it well and to maximum benefit, now's the time to troubleshoot with us! 

Zotero classes run all semester long, at various times, both in-person and online. Register for one here . 

Or ask us questions about Zotero anytime via ask.library.harvard.edu  

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  1. How to write References, Citations & Bibliography in Thesis/Dissertation

  2. Zotero A to Z in Bengali বাংলা

  3. Bibliography In PhD Thesis-References in Thesis ,NET Paper I

  4. How To Find Bibliographies on Your Topic in Dissertations and Theses

  5. Citation & Bibliography in Ms Word Urdu Hindi Tutorial

  6. Write a Thesis Statement on how behavior traits can help or hinder effective leadership

COMMENTS

  1. Zotero

    With support for over 10,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication. Stay in sync. Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your files, notes, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date.

  2. 13 Best Bibliography Maker Tools in 2024: Online & Plug-In Citation

    Create a bibliography from the collection. 3. EndNote. Endnote is a complete reference management software that promises users to research smarter. Aside from your own library where you can gather, sort, and share your research, it also has a Cite-As-You-Write plug-in for Word and Mac.

  3. Mendeley

    Access your library, everywhere. Add papers directly from your browser with a few clicks or import any documents from your desktop. Access your library from anywhere. Windows, Mac, Linux and all browsers.

  4. 10 Best Reference Management Software for Research

    Reference management software, or citation manager, is a program or online service that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Most of these programs also allow you to create bibliographies and footnotes in your papers. Citation managers help you find sources more quickly and easily.

  5. Reference Management Software

    Common features of reference management software include advanced searching, reference libraries, the ability to import references, and version history. Best reference management software at a glance: Best for small business: ReadCube. Best for mid-market: Mendeley. Best for enterprise business: Mendeley. Best by G2 user satisfaction: EasyBib.com.

  6. Speedy Citations: 6 Reference Management Software Solutions ...

    Download our 1-page guide to reference management software solutions now. 1. Mendeley. If you're in a technical or scientific field, Mendeley is an excellent option for you. This reference management software allows users to generate citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and LaTeX. Mendeley is great for collaborative work ...

  7. Best Reference Management Software in 2024

    RefDB is a research management software and bibliography and reference database tool for SGML, XML, and LaTeX/BibTeX documents. It is accessible through a web interface, command-line tools, and text editors like Emacs and Vim. It has an integrated SRU server. RefDB allows users to share databases over a network.

  8. Scribbr

    Which citation software does Scribbr use? The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett's citeproc-js . It's the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

  9. Top 11 Software Tools for Thesis Writing: Boost Your Research

    This post elaborates on several tools commonly utilized for academic thesis writing. 1. Citavi. Citavi is a comprehensive reference management and knowledge organization tool. It allows you to manage references, create citations, and organize your research materials. Citavi is commonly used by students and researchers. 2.

  10. Citavi

    Citavi is the only reference management program for teams that gives you the option of storing your information on your own server instead of in the cloud. Individuals can also choose between local and online projects. Citavi automatically creates backups so you never lose your information. Learn more.

  11. LibGuides: Citation Management and Writing Tools: Home

    We can help you: determine the best citation management tool to use. organize citations and documents with Zotero or Mendeley or recommend other tools. add references using BibTeX & LaTeX. use Overleaf and other online writing tools to submit papers and write collaboratively. read and organize PDFs and notes.

  12. Best Citation Software: 10 Top Options For Academics

    9. Chegg. Price: free trial/$10 per month. Uses: managing citations and grammar checks. Chegg is also a grammar checker, and it offers a similar service called Easy Bib, which features a similar citation manager. Chegg is a grammar checker and citation manager built for students.

  13. 7 Must-Have Thesis Writing Tools in 2021

    In summary, the very first software or app or tool every PhD student is required is Mendeley to write a thesis. It's a citation and reference manager tool. Evernote "Notes" as writing, images, pdf, article, news paragraph is an everyday part of a PhD student. Whatever you read, whenever you find things related to your PhD topic, you have ...

  14. Best 6 Free Citation Management Software For Researchers: Mendeley

    Although Mendeley is a free citation management software with social networking aspects, JabRef focuses on its core function: being an excellent citation manager and bibliography creator. Those who collaborate on research papers will appreciate JabRef's features that permit sharing bibliographic data and syncing across multiple computers.

  15. 45 Software Tools for Writing Thesis

    1. Reference Management Software. Comprehensive reference management software, such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote, is a must-have tool for any thesis writer. These tools help you organize and manage your references efficiently, generate citations in different formats, and create a bibliography effortlessly. They save time, eliminate the risk ...

  16. MyBib

    MyBib is a free bibliography and citation generator that makes accurate citations for you to copy straight into your academic assignments and papers. If you're a student, academic, or teacher, and you're tired of the other bibliography and citation tools out there, then you're going to love MyBib. MyBib creates accurate citations automatically ...

  17. BibMe: Free BIBTEX Bibliography & Citation Maker

    Accuracy is the reliability and truthfulness of the source. Here are a few indicators of an accurate source: Citations or a works cited list. For websites, this can be links to other credible sites. Evidence that backs up claims made by the author (s). Text that is free of spelling and grammatical errors. Information that matches that in other ...

  18. 7 Essential Apps For Writing A Dissertation Or Thesis

    3: Otter. Writing up a good dissertation or thesis requires a lot of, well, writing. Spending hours upon hours hunched over a keyboard can be really draining (and potentially physically harmful). Imagine you could just speak instead of type. Well, now you can, thanks to Otter.ai. Otter is an app that allows you to simply speak into your ...

  19. The Best Software for Writing Your Dissertation

    Here are a few non-Word options I have come across in my search for the best dissertation-writing software that seem to be favorites: LaTeX. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/Unix. Cost: free. LaTeX is an open-source document preparation system that was designed for scholarly and technical writing, and is great for handling large documents.

  20. Free APA Citation Generator [Updated for 2024]

    An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style. It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official ...

  21. Top 11 Dissertation Writing Software For Students 2024

    This software is known for its highly customizable and powerful typesetting system. Students can take the utmost advantage of this software when writing a dissertation or thesis using its strong reference manager, BibTex. 3. Docear. Top Feature: Mind Mapping. Platform: Windows, MacOS, Linux. Rating: 8.2/10.

  22. Top Referencing Tools and Reference Management Software for Academic

    JabRef. 8. Papers. 9. Docear. 1. Zotero. Zotero is a free referencing tool that allows you to collect, cite, organize and share research sources. Zotero comes with a browser extension that automatically senses content in your web browser, allowing you to add it to your personal library with a single click.

  23. Citation Software

    Citation Software. Trust us: you don't want to make your thesis bibliography by hand, or mess with formatting footnotes, in-text citations and explanatory text. Theses these days are not just built from books and articles: you may be using all kinds of additional sources in atypical formats or with idiosyncratic ways of identifying themselves.

  24. Report from the 2nd International Workshop on FAIR Containerized

    NIST requested information from the community on approaches to achieving interoperability of containerized software, designing a container manifest file that meets the community needs, and lowering the barrier for constructing such a manifest file. ... Additional citation formats DOI; Google Scholar; BibTeX; RIS; Created April 30, 2024, Updated ...