Top picks for managing references

Whether you're writing your first assignment or preparing a thesis, managing your references effectively is key to academic success. We recommend four top reference management tools to help you stay organised, collaborate with others, and cite with confidence.

Why use a reference manager?

Reference management tools allow you to:

Store and organise references from databases, PDFs, or manual entry
Group references into folders or projects
Share your references with other people
Automatically generate in-text citations and bibliographies in your chosen style
Integrate with Microsoft Word and other writing platforms

Which tool is right for me?

Each tool has its strengths - check out the feature table below. Your choice may depend on your preferred platform, collaboration needs, or writing style. Faculty Librarians are available to help you choose the best tool for your research and can even run group workshops.

	Cost	Bond campus computers	Desktop or online	Operating systems	Storage	Word processor	Sharing references
EndNote	Free for Bond staff and students with Bond's licence.	Installed on student computers; Available for staff from the Company Portal.	Desktop based with an online extension	Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS	Unlimited	Microsoft Word [CWYW] for Windows: 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, Office 365 (locally installed desktop version only); Microsoft Word [CWYW] for macOS: 2016, 2019, 2021, Office 365 (locally installed desktop version only) LibreOffice [CWYW] for Windows 4.x, 5.x, 6.x[32-bit0	Share a library as read and write or read-only with up to 399 other users / have unlimited number of as read and write or read-only libraries shared to you
Mendeley	Free with additional storage provided under Bond's Institutional membership.	Not installed on student computers; Available for staff from the Company Portal.	Desktop and Online	Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS	Free account - 2 GB Bond Institutional Edition: 100 GB	Windows - Word 2016, Word 2019, Office 365; MacOS - Word 2016, Word 2019, Office 365; iOS - Microsoft Word for iPad; Web Versions - Word Online, Office 365	Free account - create up to 5 groups and share with up to 25 people (100 MB shared across all groups) Bond Institutional Edition - share unlimited groups with up to 100 people
RefWorks	Free for Bond staff and students with Bond's subscription.	'RefWorks Citations Manager' (RCM) is installed on Bond computers for staff and students.	Online	Not applicable (browser based)	100 GB	Windows - Word 2010-2021 or Office 365; Mac - Word 2016–2021 or Office 365; GoogleDocs	Share groups or whole projects.
Zotero	Free and open source with a small fee (paid by user) for additional storage.	Not installed on student computers; Available for staff from the Company Portal.	Desktop and Online	Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android	Free account - 300 MB Paid options include USD $20/year: 2 GB	Windows - Word 2010-2021 or Office 365, excluding Word 2010 Starter Edition; Mac - Word 2016–2021 or Office 365; LibreOffice - LibreOffice 5.2 or later; GoogleDocs	Share private groups, public closed groups or public open groups.

Guides and instructions

EndNote

Get started with EndNote

RefWorks

Get started with RefWorks

Mendeley

Get started with Mendeley

Zotero

Get started with Zotero