Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. Some of the features are:
Here are some questions to consider when choosing the citation tool that's right for you:
1. Do you switch computers often? If so, cloud based storage space may be better.
2. Do you use different operating systems? Mendeley supports Windows, Mac, Linux and Mobile devices while some other products don't.
3. What do others members in your research group/your professor use? Some provide collaboration capabilities.
To use Mendeley, you need to register an account first. You will get 1GB of free storage space on the Mendeley server. To sign up, please go to http://www.mendeley.com.
Mendeley has two interfaces: web version and desktop version. The two versions can be synced to be exactly the same. While the desktop version gives you easy access to your locally saved files, the web version provides the convenience on the go.
To download the desktop version of Mendeley, please go to this page: https://www.mendeley.com/download-reference-manager/windows
To install the web importer, go to https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/web-importer. Web importer will allow you to import article references to your web library easily and quickly.
Mendeley also has mobile apps. Please go to the app store to download the app.