Reference software : what you need to know

Abstract

Managing references is a labour intensive, but necessary part of Information Management. Referencing correctly ensures that appropriate credit is given to sources and authors used to support research, avoids plagiarism and provides evidence that adequate research has been undertaken. If references are found incomplete and hence are untraceable then there is a serious problem for you, your organisation and your users. There are now a growing number of reference software packages which can help both you and your users in this process. This article outlines what reference software is, issues to consider when choosing a package to support with examples of software packages and concludes with information about a campaign to simplify the whole process!