To make your work simpler and less time-consuming, all you need is a click of a button, with some simple and easy-to-use online citation tools. There is a long list of software programs available that commit to a better productivity in the thinking, writing and remembering of the research details. Not all of them live up to the promise that they make. However, there are a few of them that are worthy of your time spent.

“It appears that I’ve been living a very sheltered life as far as citation management software goes. My institution has a license for Evernote, so I’ve always just used that if I used the software at all! It offers options like typing of notes, collecting clippings, documents images, PDF and can be stored in the online account of  Evernote and can be accessed anywhere from the smartphone” , says Genelia Palmer, a research fellow, University of .........

The ever note is now also available on your smart phones. The expanding material on Evernote can be tagged in such a way that it remains accessible from anywhere.

Another superb tool to simplify the tedious task of referencing is Mendeley- the most sought after research management tool. It is compatible with Microsoft Word, Libre Office and BibTex. Various editing service providers prefer Mendeley as it is user-friendly. It facilitates creating a private group to share your draft dissertation and associated references with all of your advisors in one place. Create a profile on Mendeley and index your publications so that other users can get a quick snapshot of who you are. You can also add your syllabus, class lectures, slideshows and other course material to the private group. Store your documents in your account and access them from anywhere through your browser.

Using Mendeley:

1. Drag & drop your files into the open Mendeley window. You can also import the file from other software like Endnote, Zotero, etc.

2. Install the citation pluginOn Mendeley Desktop go to ‘Tools' in the main toolbar to click 'Install MS Word Plugin'. The Plugin is compatible with Word, LibreOffice or BibTeX.

3. Find your citation style from the view options. Click View - Citation Styles - More Styles to search for citation styles on Mendeley. In the Get More Styles tab, you can search for other styles e.g. "Chicago", "Imperial" or "Durham" and install them in one click.

4. Click the Mendeley citation bar and automatically insert formatted citations or generate a bibliography for your paper.

5. You can edit your citation using “citation style editor.”

“As an engineering student, all my work must be done in IEEE citation style. Do you know how hard it is to find a reliable citation generator that does IEEE? RefME is a life saver”, quotes a graduate student of Princeton University.  RefME automates the whole referencing process for you. It provides you the flexibility to search by book/journal article title, DOI, ISBN, ISSN or simply copy and paste any website URL to create a reference in seconds.

These tools do help in making the research process a bit more structured and organized, in a way that it eases the burden on the shoulders of the researcher.