Reference management software can be a really useful tool in assisting with collecting and organising the sources that you are using in your work. They are also extremely useful when it comes to adding citations and a reference list or bibliography to your work. They are particularly useful for longer essays, projects, reports or theses where a lot of sources are used and the research work takes place over a long period of time. In choosing which reference management software to use a number of things need to be considered, particularly access and cost; while Zotero and Mendeley are free up to certain storage limits,  there may be a cost if you need to store a lot of information.

It is important to note that while the output from reference management software tools will generally be accurate there can be the occasional error. For example there could be slight differences between different editions of a Referencing Style (we use the Harvard Anglia Ruskin Referencing Style 6th ed. (version 6.1.2 April 2019) or the fields on the original source document may be incorrect. It is important therefore to always check your citations and reference list for accuracy before submitting your work. 

Advice on access, technical information and costs of reference management software tools can be found at the following website:

https://www.library.wisc.edu/services/citation-managers/comparison-chart/