Citation management tools help you manage your research, collect and cite sources, and create bibliographies in a variety of citation styles. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, but any are easier than doing it by hand!
Zotero: A free plug-in that works exclusively with the Firefox browser: keeps copies of what you find on the web, permits tagging, notation, full text searching of your library of resources, works with Word, and has a free web backup service.
RefWorks - free for UC Berkeley users. It allows you to create your own database by importing references and using them for footnotes and bibliographies. Use the RefWorks New User Form to sign up.
It's always good to double check the formatting -- sometimes the software doesn't get it quite right.
What is This? Reading Citations...
Finding a citation in a bibliography (online or in print) is a great way to find more resources on your topic.
However, you have to be able to read the citation in order to find the item in the UCB Library.
The most common citations are for books, articles, and book chapters. Can you tell which citation below is for a book? For a chapter? For an article?
Orbe, Mark P. "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss." Critical Studies in Media Communication 25.4 (2008): 345-352.
Winters, Loretta I., and Herman L. DeBose. New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc., 2003.
Fine, Michelle, and Adrienne Asch. “Disability Beyond Stigma: Social Interaction, Discrimination, and Activism.” The Culture and Psychology reader. Eds. Goldberger, Nancy Rule; Veroff, Jody Bennet New York: New York University Press. 1995. 536-558
Orbe, Mark P. "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss." Critical Studies in Media Communication 25.4 (2008): 345-352.
The article "Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss" is in the journal Critical Studies in Media Communication, volume 25, number 4, 2008, pages 345-352.
Find it by searching a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) for the journal titleCritical Studies in Media Communication. Do we have volume 25, number 4? Is the text online or is that issue of the journal available in a campus library?
Winters, Loretta I., and Herman L. DeBose. New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Inc., 2003.
This book, New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century was published in 2003 by Sage Publications, which is located in Thousand Oaks. (Place of publication and publisher are standard parts of a book citation).
Look it up in a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) by title or by the authors (last name first).
Fine, Michelle, and Adrienne Asch. “Disability Beyond Stigma: Social Interaction, Discrimination, and Activism.” The Culture and Psychology reader. Eds. Goldberger, Nancy Rule; Veroff, Jody Bennet New York: New York University Press. 1995. 536-558
This article, "Disability Beyond Stigma..." is a chapter by Fine and Asch. It was published in the book The Culture and Psychology Reader, edited by Goldberger and Veroff. The book was published by New York University Press, located in New York.
Look it up in a library catalog (OskiCat or MELVYL) by the author or title of the book, not the chapter.
There are many other types of resources available for research. If you have questions about interpreting a citation or locating a source, please ask for assistance.
