Reference management
The indications of sources marking citations in the own text have finally to be collected and completely documented at the end of the paper within a list of references. By referencing and correctly citing publications of others used, you avoid infringements of copyrights, plagiarism or the unauthorized takeover of ideas. In addition, the sources indicated in the list of references may be used afterwards for subsequent searches.
In this respect, the usage of a reference management program is recommendable. It allows to collect, organize, administrate, search and arrange sources according to individual criteria.
Another advantage is the formatting of the sources to cite in kind of footnotes and list of references during the elaboration of the own paper. Reference management programs normally offer a variety of citation styles which, according to the requirements of the subject, may be used for the paper. The program generates automatically the formatting of the citations according to the citation style selected. This saves time and assures, that the citation style required is applied properly.
Hint
At Chemnitz University Library, two Reference management programs are taught: Citavi and Zotero.
A brief comparison of Citavi and Zotero
| Citavi | Zotero | |
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| Description | Chargeable program. Chemnitz University of Technology provides licenses for charge-free usage for university adherents. | Charge-free program. Exclusively for the additional usage of Zotero-web-resources of more than 300 MB, charges are raised. |
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Hint
A detailed comparison of the most common reference management programs is offered by Munich University of Technology.