Research projects can quickly generate a mountain of sources. Citation managers make that process more manageable by helping researchers collect, organize, annotate, and cite their sources while creating bibliographies and reference lists.

UW–Madison students, faculty, and staff have access to a variety of citation-management tools through the Libraries. The best choice depends on your research workflow, the types of sources you use, and whether you need to collaborate or share your research with others.

For legal researchers, Zotero remains a particularly useful option. Zotero is a free, open-source research tool that allows you to collect and organize sources directly from your web browser. It supports a wide range of citation styles, including the Bluebook, making it useful for legal research and scholarly writing.

One of Zotero's strengths is its straightforward organization system. Researchers can create collections for different projects, save bibliographic information from books, journal articles, websites, court opinions, and other sources, and add notes and tags to make those materials easier to retrieve later. Zotero can also store associated files, such as PDFs, alongside their bibliographic records.

Adding sources to a Zotero library is generally quick and easy. When Zotero recognizes bibliographic information on a webpage, researchers can save the citation with a click and then review or edit the information as needed. The search and tagging features make it possible to locate sources without having to remember exactly where they were saved.

Zotero also integrates with word-processing software, allowing researchers to insert citations while writing and automatically generate bibliographies. This can be particularly helpful for lengthy research projects in which sources are added, removed, or reorganized throughout the writing process.

Another advantage is synchronization. A Zotero library can be synchronized across devices, allowing researchers to access their collections and research materials from more than one computer. For collaborative projects, Zotero also provides options for sharing research libraries and collections with others.

Citation managers are not a substitute for checking your citations, however. Legal researchers should always review generated citations against the applicable citation rules and verify the accuracy of the underlying bibliographic information.

If you are looking for a way to bring some order to a large research project, Zotero is worth exploring. Visit the Zotero website for information about downloading and getting started, and consult the UW–Madison Libraries' resources on citation managers to compare Zotero with other available options.

A citation manager may not do your research for you—but it can make keeping track of that research considerably easier.

Submitted by Liz Manriquez, Head of Reference & Scholarly Support on September 11, 2026

This article appears in the categories: Law Library