A citation maker is a web-based site that allows you to make a citation on the fly. Most have a very limited amount of styles available.
Citation managers which are commonly referred to as bibliographic, reference, or citation managers, these tools are freely available (you can upgrade for a fee) and allow you to build your own database of resources in a wide variety of formats. Each allows you to:
- Upload citations from databases
- Use plugins in Google and other browsers to add resources to your folders
- Create bibliographies in a wide variety of styles, including many used by specific journals
- Use a plugin for Word or Google Docs that inserts in-text citations and build your bibliography at the same time
Below you will find information for Zotero and Mendeley two of the commonly used citation managers. Though both work a bit differently they provide similar services and document outputs.