Choose the workflow for your paper
ZoteroBib is a free bibliography service that works without an account or software installation. Citation is useful when your task continues into drafting, revising and reviewing the paper with its source records attached.
Start with a representative section of your paper and the sources it needs. Compare the reference work, revision process and actual delivery file before changing the workflow for a complete project.
Use the focused tool when the task is focused
ZoteroBib can be a good fit when you need a bibliography quickly and already have somewhere to write. Its account free workflow is different from maintaining a continuing writing workspace.
Choose Citation when you want to keep the draft and checked sources together. Add the record, insert the citation at the relevant sentence and keep writing without treating the bibliography as a separate final assembly task.
Keep writing and reference decisions connected
A reference list identifies works, but the paper still needs to show where and how you use them. Check each claim against its source and retain page locators for quotations and close paraphrases.
Citation lets you revise the surrounding passage and review suggestions against the original. Use comments for a question that needs another reader’s judgment, and inspect any change that broadens the claim beyond its evidence.
Transfer a bibliography as records when possible
ZoteroBib’s FAQ documents bibliography export options, including BibTeX and RIS. Use an eligible file to import the source records into Citation, then compare their details with the originals.
The import creates copies rather than a live connection to the saved bibliography. Pasted citations in a draft remain ordinary text until connected to source records. Inspect the exported document before making it the paper you submit.
Keep exploring.
Bring your sources and writing into one workspace. These guides will help you take the next step.