As you collect PDFs and links that you’ll eventually find yourself needing to look up, review, and possibly cite, it’s never too early to get a citation manager in order. Don’t be me—I waited too long to do this and as a result I’m still knee-deep in citations I need to sort through.
I’ve been using Mendeley for a while because it comes with both a citation generator, automatic file naming system (I prefer Author – Year – Title) if you set a Watched Folder, and you can highlight and annotate directly within the Mendeley client. It’s a desktop, Android, and iOS app so you can sync your readings and notes across multiple devices. Great if you’re on the go (or, rather, for the days that we are back on the go).
There’s also Zotero, a fantastic citation manager that requires separate PDF annotation software. It’s ability to organize by tags and collections is stellar, and it can import citation information as well.
I don’t recommend learning any citation rules by heart. The fact is that citation systems change and update, and sometimes you’ll specialize in one system but find yourself needing to write/cite or publish in another. Instead, just look up the rules in guidebooks like The MLA Handbook or Purdue OWL.
