Important notice

We are upgrading our VLE (Moodle) installations. Most have been upgraded, but but are providing two versions of this site to support the few that haven't.

If you find that the guidance here does not match your course, you can access the other site at: http://onlinesupport-m19.conted.ox.ac.uk.

You are viewing the new (Moodle 2) support site.

To determine if you are on the correct site, compare the top of your course with these images:

  1. A horizontal grey bar above a blue area, with white text.
    Old version - Use http://onlinesupport-m19.conted.ox.ac.uk
  2. An entirely blue area, with white text.
    New version - Use this site

When the upgrade is complete, all the online support will be on http://onlinesupport.conted.ox.ac.uk/.

Updated: 2013-01-02.

Citation tools

What are they?

Reading list management, referencing and citation tools are all tools that aim to simplify the process of managing reading lists, references, citation and bibliography creation. They allow the collection of fully referenced sources in one place with functionality to export them into word-processing applications and other programs. Often these tools are integrated with library catalogues and online resource banks or repositories to provide a seamless experience, of searching, finding and referencing sources. Frequently they allow annotation of references. They can also help you impose a referencing system uniformly across citations, so that all your sources are cited in the same way.

How could they help me with my learning?

Correctly citing sources is a key part of writing a good essay. These tools make it easier to keep track of your reading, and to reference correctly the sources you use in your written work.

How can I start using one?

These are usually commercial tools, the most well known being EndNote. However, there are an increasing number of free open-source tools in this area. Perhaps the best known at the moment is Zotero, an extension for the Firefox web browser.

This tour provides an overview and guidance on how to get started with Zotero.