June 1, 2023
If you work on certain kinds of grant proposals, particularly proposals for research grants, you must cite sources that support your proposed solution and provide evidence of related work and data. Proposals for community-based projects often require references, such as citations to government reports, public datasets, or news articles. Proposal teams often struggle to create systems for organizing background research and correctly citing sources in their proposals. The result is that decisions on how to manage references are often made only after the proposal is well underway, and references are scattered across multiple locations. It’s much easier and less stressful if you decide at the beginning of the proposal process which tools and methods you will use. Doing so will help everyone working on the proposal, from the writers and subject matter experts to the reviewers and editors.
Several options exist for organizing references and adding citations to grant proposals or other documents, such as project reports and research papers. In this post, we highlight three citation tools (aka reference managers) we’ve used to collect references and generate bibliographies for grant proposals. Two options are free, and the third offers a 30-day free trial.
Before we discuss each tool, we want to provide a quick overview of what a reference manager is and why you may want to add one to your proposal-development toolbox.
A reference manager is software that helps you organize and format your references. Reference managers typically share standard features, such as the ability to collect and format citations before exporting them for use in applications such as Microsoft Word. Many reference managers also integrate with other software, support collaboration, and import content from various sources.
Many reference managers also allow you to search for relevant articles within the tool and include features similar to a PDF reader (e.g., importing and reading PDFs, highlighting text, and adding notes).
If you are writing anything that requires background research, including grant proposals, a reference manager can be extremely valuable. Without one, you’ll have to collect your references in a Word document or something similar and, depending on the required style, manually format the citations before pasting them into your document. You’ll also need to find a safe place to store the reference list and copies of articles and other source material, so they can be easily found, accessed, and shared. With a reference manager, you can do all of this—find relevant articles, add and format citations, read and annotate PDFs, and collaborate with others—using a single tool.
One of the main advantages of reference managers is that they make it much easier to insert and format citations. Scholarly journals, online news sites, and government agencies each use a specific style for referenced information. While the styles can be very similar in what information needs to be included, there are often nuances that are easy to miss in the order in which the information should appear (e.g., the date of publication before the name of the publisher, or vice versa). If you use a reference manager, you can use the software to search for and select the citations you need and automatically change the citation format to the required style.
The ability to quickly change styles is reason enough to use a reference manager, especially if you have a long list of references that need to be formatted in an unfamiliar style. Another benefit of a reference manager is that it can replace other Cloud-based storage options. Because many reference managers can be used to find and save full-text articles, you can use them instead of Google Drive or Dropbox for storing your background research.
If you’re thinking: But Microsoft Word has a reference tool—why not just use that? That’s a good question. The answer is that Microsoft’s reference tool is for formatting citations that you’ve added to your document. It isn’t a tool for conducting or managing background research, or for reading and annotating PDFs. However, if you need to add just a couple of footnotes to a proposal, a reference manager is unnecessary, and Word’s reference tool is fine. Even in that case, there may still be a benefit to setting up a reference manager. If you do, you’ll be prepared to manage a more extensive list of references should the need arise when working on future proposals. Additionally, using a dedicated tool to collect and organize references can reduce the risk of data loss from staff turnover. Instead of having references for various proposals scattered across personal files that will disappear when someone leaves, a reference manager keeps reference lists accessible to multiple people in the organization, ensuring that past research is not lost.
Below, we summarize the key features of three reference managers—Mendeley, Zotero, and Paperpile—and suggest use cases for each. We chose these three for their overall usability, features, customization, and affordability. If you’ve used reference managers in the past, you may be surprised that EndNote is not on our list. EndNote is the best-known reference manager and the only one many researchers consider using. We’re not profiling EndNote because it is more expensive and thus out of reach for many nonprofits. However, EndNote has many features that make it particularly useful for effective collaboration, so it is worth considering if you can afford it. At the time of this writing, an EndNote license goes for $248 ($135 for students). EndNote offers a 30-day free trial. EndNote also offers a free option called EndNote Basic, which includes 2GB of storage and limited features.
Mendeley, owned by the publishing company Elsevier, offers many of the same core features as EndNote but offers more affordable subscriptions based on your storage needs. For $55/year, you get 5GB of storage. If you need unlimited storage, you can upgrade to their Max plan for $165/year. Mendeley also offers a free plan with 2GB of storage.
Like EndNote, Mendeley supports collaboration. If you are working on a grant proposal with others, you can create a group space in Mendeley for the proposal where you and your colleagues can add references and notes. Additionally, as with EndNote, you can build a personal library in Mendeley to reference journal articles, web content, and imported PDFs. If you are writing your document in MS Word, Mendeley has an integration that allows you to add citations from your Mendeley library directly into your Word document.
Mendeley’s features include:
Automatically generating bibliographies
Collaborating easily with other researchers online
Importing papers from other research software
Finding relevant papers based on what you’re reading
Accessing your papers from anywhere online
Mendeley is available online or via the desktop app. Mendeley also offers the Mendeley Web Importer, which lets you import references into your Mendeley account as you browse the web.
Who is Mendeley for? Mendeley is a good option if you want a single platform to organize references, read and annotate PDFs, establish a shared library with colleagues, and import citations into Microsoft Word. Mendeley’s free plan is ideal for users who need basic functionality and limited storage. Although it doesn’t integrate with Google Docs, you can still use Mendeley to find and organize references and export a bibliography to add to your document.
Mendeley lets you access your library from anywhere: Windows, Mac, Linux, and all major browsers.
Zoterowas launched in 2006 by an independent non-profit organization. Zotero stores your data on your computer, making it a good option if you are concerned about data privacy. However, please note that you will need to share your data with Zotero to use its sync feature.
Zotero takes time to master. To help both new and more seasoned users, Zotero provides several resources, including a community forum where you can ask questions. Zotero also posts detailed user guides. Additionally, many university libraries have prepared Zotero resource manuals. Often, these resources are posted on public-facing web pages accessible to anyone.
Zotero offers several compelling reasons to use its software over similar tools like Mendeley, EndNote, and Paperpile. One is that other software programs are built on open-source code created by the Zotero community. Additionally, Zotero receives frequent updates, unlike other reference managers such as Mendeley.
Select Zotero features include:
It’s free and open source
Allows you to save data from websites, journal articles, newspapers, and more, including retrieving publication data for PDFs
Offers word processor integration with Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs to manage citations and bibliographies while you write
Has a built-in PDF reader that lets you mark up PDFs and extract cited quotations and comments directly into notes or word processor documents
Enables you to collaborate with others to build a bibliography
Will automatically redirect you through your institution’s proxy so that you can access a PDF that is behind a publisher’s paywall
If you don’t want to create an account with Zotero or only need a simple bibliography, you can use ZoteroBib, Zotero’s free web-based tool for creating bibliographies.
Zotero’s desktop version is free to use. However, you will need a paid account to use the sync feature and access more than 300 MB of storage.
Who is Zotero for? Zotero is a good choice for someone who wants full control over their references. Unlike Mendeley and Paperpile, Zotero lets users keep their data private by using the desktop version. Zotero is widely used in academia, so it is a good fit for students and faculty. Others may prefer Zotero because it receives frequent updates, is open-source, and is a product of a nonprofit organization. Last but not least, Zotero is feature-packed, so it’s also a good option if you want to go with a reference manager that offers high functionality and will keep up with your evolving needs as a writer and researcher.
Zotero works with Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS. Because it runs on your computer, you must install Zotero on each computer you want to sync with your online account.
Paperpile came out in 2012. It was developed by three computational biologists while they were at the European Bioinformatics Institute and MIT. We discovered Paperpile last year while working on a proposal for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in collaboration with academics from several U.S. universities. Not all proposal team members could use Microsoft Teams, which we were planning to use as the workspace for the proposal. As a result, we switched to Google Drive and used Google Docs to develop the proposal. After finalizing the proposal, we converted it to Word for editing before submitting it as a PDF. As the draft developed, we initially chose Zotero as our reference manager because several team members already used it and it offers Google Docs integration. When we couldn’t get the Zotero extension to work, we looked for another option. That’s when we found Paperpile. Paperpile worked perfectly for finding and managing references and inserting citations into Google Docs. It can also be used with MS Word, so we could use it for all phases of our proposal’s development. In addition to adding citations to MS Word or Google Docs, Paperpile also integrates with Google Scholar, making it easy to find and import references into your reference library (you can also import data from PubMed and other publisher sites). At $36/year for personal or academic use or $120/year for business use, Paperpile is very affordable. While it doesn’t have a free tier, it does offer a 30-day free trial.
Select Paperpile features
Uses the Google ecosystem
Collect references using the Chrome extension
Organize your PDFs in Google Drive
Cite references in Google Docs
Import data directly from Google Scholar
Has a smart, intuitive interface
Organize papers with folders, labels, and stars
Look up papers online or search your library (Paperpile automatically imports the PDFs of the references you’ve added to your library)
Fix references with incomplete data and clean up duplicates
Offers the ability to share and collaborate with anyone (even those without a Paperpile account)
Cite references in MS Word
Share copies of papers with colleagues
Annotate PDFs
Paperpile differs from other reference managers in that it doesn’t offer a direct sync through its service. Instead, if you want to sync your research and access it across multiple devices, Paperpile uses your Google Drive account. If you currently use Google Drive for Cloud storage and have adequate space in your account, Paperpile may be ideal. If you don’t want to use Google Drive as your storage hub, or your account doesn't have enough space to store the data (this might be unusual, but it can be an issue for some), Paperpile won’t be a good fit. Another connection to Google is that Paperpile uses your Google login, so you don’t need to create a new username or password when setting up your account.
Who is Paperpile for? Paperpile is an obvious choice for those who use Google Docs for most of their writing. It’s also good for group efforts that require an easily accessible, Cloud-based workspace. While not everyone has a Microsoft 365, Dropbox, or Box account—all popular options for sharing files—most people do have Google accounts, making Paperpile a potentially faster, easier way to manage and share data for a collaborative writing effort. Paperpile also makes it easy to access your research. If you download PDFs through Paperpile and choose to sync your Paperpile account with Google Drive, you can access your research directly through Google Drive without having to log into Paperpile first. Lastly, Paperpile has an intuitive interface, making it a good choice for those who want to jump in and use a reference manager without extensive training. Finally, another advantage of Paperpile is that it doesn’t require those collaborating with you to have a Paperpile account.
Paperpile is a web-based tool. It is fully supported on Chrome for macOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, and has been known to work with Microsoft Edge and the open-source Chromium browser. It works with Google Docs, MS Word, iOS, and Android.
All three reference managers are great options. Which reference manager is best for you depends on factors such as how much data you need to store, whether you’ll be working with others, and whether you need a specific feature, such as compatibility with Google Docs. Mendeley is a well-rounded tool that works in most contexts, including proposals. However, Mendeley doesn’t have a Google Docs integration. In Google Docs, Paperpile is the leader. Paperpile has a well-designed interface, is one of the easiest reference managers to use, and is perfect for those working predominantly in Google’s ecosystem. If you work with people who use EndNote and want a free (or less expensive) option that has a similar look and feel, either Mendeley or Zotero would be suitable.
Although feature-rich, popular, and free—and developed by a nonprofit organization sensitive to data privacy issues—Zotero is the reference manager least suited for occasional users, including most proposal writers. This is because Zotero takes time to learn, and its interface is less intuitive than those of Mendeley or Paperpile. However, it is a robust reference manager, and its free plan will meet most proposal writers' needs. If you frequently collaborate with university students or faculty, you should be familiar with Zotero and understand how it works. If you work in an academic setting, we recommend creating a Zotero account and completing a few tutorials to ensure you’re ready to use it.
Reference managers serve several functions. They can act as search engines to find relevant journal articles, books, and web-based content; serve as PDF readers; and store and organize your references and import citations into your documents.
There are many reference managers to choose from besides those profiled in this post. The key to finding one that will work for you is knowing the context where you will be using it the most (e.g., research papers vs. proposals, if proposals, which types of funders), and whether you will be collaborating with anyone. You’ll also want to review the list of citation styles each reference manager supports before you make your decision. This is particularly important if the documents you tend to work on require a citation style other than mainstream ones like the American Psychological Association or the Chicago Manual of Style.
If you want to use Google Docs, Paperpile is ideal. If you wish to annotate PDFs and import web-based content such as blog posts into your library, Mendeley, Zotero, or Paperpile will all work. If you are working collaboratively on a document, ideally, everyone on the team should use the same reference manager, so you may also want to consider your colleagues’ preferred tool. In an academic setting, you should be prepared to use Zotero, which is widely used by faculty and students.
Workarounds are available if writing team members prefer different reference managers. If team members can’t agree on which tool to use for a particular research project or proposal, one solution is to periodically import project-related references from other reference managers into the tool preferred by the lead writer (or editor). If cost is a significant issue for you and your colleagues, several reference managers offer free plans, including EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero.
Lastly, keep in mind that regardless of which reference manager you choose, you are not limited to using just one, and you don’t have to stick with your first choice. You can use multiple reference managers to see which one you prefer, or choose one and switch later. Although it can be a hassle with large datasets, all the reference managers we’ve reviewed let you export your data, which you can then import into a new tool.
Additional information:
This post covers only a few of the reference managers on the market. Other reference managers include Citationsy as well as one offered by SciSpace (formerly Typeset). To see a comparison of reference managers, including the ones profiled in this post, check out this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software.