research and reference tools

Your personal research assistant

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS

Just need to create a quick bibliography? Try ZoteroBib .

Meet Zotero.

Collect with a click..

Zotero automatically senses research as you browse the web. Need an article from JSTOR or a preprint from arXiv.org? A news story from the New York Times or a book from a library? Zotero has you covered, everywhere.

Organize your way.

Zotero helps you organize your research any way you want. You can sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Or create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as you work.

Cite in style.

Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. With support for over 10,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication.

Stay in sync.

Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your files, notes, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date. If you decide to sync, you can also always access your research from any web browser.

Collaborate freely.

Zotero lets you co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. You can share a Zotero library with as many people you like, at no cost.

Zotero is open source and developed by an independent, nonprofit organization that has no financial interest in your private information. With Zotero, you always stay in control of your own data.

Still not sure which program to use for your research? See why we think you should choose Zotero .

Ready to try Zotero?

Scribbr APA Citation Generator

Accurate APA citations, verified by experts, trusted by millions.

Scribbr for Chrome: Your shortcut to APA citations

Cite any page or article with a single click right from your browser. The extension does the hard work for you by automatically grabbing the title, author(s), publication date, and everything else needed to whip up the perfect APA citation.

Add to Chrome. It's free!

Rely on accurate APA citations, verified by experts.

You don’t want points taken off for incorrect citations. That’s why our APA citation experts have invested countless hours perfecting our algorithms. As a result, we’re proud to be recommended by teachers worldwide.

Enjoy the APA Citation Generator with minimal distraction.

Staying focused is already challenging enough. You don’t need video pop-ups and flickering banner ads slowing you down. At Scribbr, we keep distractions to a minimum while also keeping the APA Citation Generator free for everyone.

Citation Generator features you'll love

Search for your source by title, URL, DOI, ISBN, and more to retrieve the relevant information automatically.

APA 6th & 7th edition

Scribbr's Citation Generator supports both APA 6 and APA 7 (as well as MLA and Harvard ). No matter what edition you're using, we’ve got you covered!

Export to Bib(La)TeX

Easily export in BibTeX format and continue working in your favorite LaTeX editor.

Export to Word

Reference list finished? Export to Word with perfect indentation and spacing set up for you.

Sorting, grouping, and filtering

Organize the reference list the way you want: from A to Z, new to old, or grouped by source type.

Save multiple lists

Stay organized by creating a separate reference list for each of your assignments.

Choose between Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, and more options to match your style.

Industry-standard technology

The Scribbr Citation Generator is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy.

Annotations

Create perfectly formatted annotated bibliographies with just a few clicks.

Explanatory tips help you get the details right to ensure accurate citations.

Citation guides

Getting to grips with citation is simple with the help of our highly rated APA citation guides and videos .

Secure backup

Your work is saved automatically after every change and stored securely in your Scribbr account.

• Introduction
• Parenthetical vs. narrative
• Multiple authors

Missing information

• Sources to include

Tools and resources

• Scroll to top

How to create APA citations

APA Style is widely used by students, researchers, and professionals in the social and behavioral sciences. Scribbr’s free citation generator automatically generates accurate references and in-text citations.

This citation guide outlines the most important citation guidelines from the 7th edition APA Publication Manual (2020).

• Cite a webpage
• Cite a book
• Cite a journal article
• Cite a YouTube video

APA in-text citations

APA in-text citations include the author’s last name, publication date, and, if relevant, a locator such as a page number or timestamp. For example, (Smith, 2021, p. 170) . See it as a shorter version of the entry in the reference list .

You should include in-text citations every time you’re quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas or words. In doing so, you give credit to the original author and avoid plagiarism .

Parenthetical vs. narrative citation

The in-text citation can take two forms: parenthetical and narrative. Both types are generated automatically when citing a source with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator.

• Parenthetical citation: According to new research … (Smith, 2020) .
• Narrative citation: Smith (2020) notes that …

Multiple authors and corporate authors

The in-text citation changes slightly when a source has multiple authors or an organization as an author. Pay attention to punctuation and the use of the ampersand (&) symbol.

When the author, publication date or locator is unknown, take the steps outlined below.

APA Citation Generator

Generate accurate APA citations in seconds

Get started

APA references

APA references generally include information about the author , publication date , title , and source . Depending on the type of source, you may have to include extra information that helps your reader locate the source.

It is not uncommon for certain information to be unknown or missing, especially with sources found online. In these cases, the reference is slightly adjusted.

Formatting the APA reference page

On the first line of the page, write the section label “References” (in bold and centered). On the second line, start listing your references in alphabetical order .

Apply these formatting guidelines to the APA reference page:

• Double spacing (within and between references)
• Hanging indent of ½ inch
• Legible font (e.g. Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11)
• Page number in the top right header

Which sources to include

On the reference page, you only include sources that you have cited in the text (with an in-text citation ). You should not include references to personal communications that your reader can’t access (e.g. emails, phone conversations or private online material).

In addition to the APA Citation Generator, Scribbr provides many more tools and resources that help millions of students and academics every month.

• Citation Generator : Generate flawless citations in APA, MLA , and Harvard style .
• Citation Checker : Upload your paper and have artificial intelligence check your citations for errors and inconsistencies.
• Free plagiarism checker : Detect plagiarism with unparalleled accuracy with Scribbr’s free plagiarism checker.
• AI Proofreader : Upload and improve unlimited documents and earn higher grades on your assignments. Try it for free!
• Paraphrasing tool: Avoid accidental plagiarism and make your text sound better.
• Grammar checker : Eliminate pesky spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Summarizer: Read more in less time. Distill lengthy and complex texts down to their key points.
• AI detector: Find out if your text was written with ChatGPT or any other AI writing tool. ChatGPT 2 & ChatGPT 3 supported.
• Proofreading services : Have a professional editor (or team of editors) improve your writing so you can submit your paper with pride and confidence. Scribbr offers admission essay editing , paper editing , and academic editing .
• Guides and videos : Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.

• Free Tools for Students
• APA Citation Generator

Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Scribbr Referencing Generator

Accurate Harvard, APA, MLA, and Chicago references, verified by experts, trusted by millions.

Reference sources in seconds with Autocite

Look up your source by its title, URL, ISBN, or DOI, and let Scribbr do the rest! The reference generator will automatically find all the necessary information to generate a perfect reference, including the author(s), publication date, and publisher.

Perfectly formatted references every time

Inaccurate references can cost you points on your assignments, so our seasoned referencing experts have invested countless hours in perfecting Scribbr’s reference generator algorithms. We’re proud to be recommended by teachers and universities across the UK.

Enjoy a referencing generator without flashy ads

Staying focused is already difficult enough, so unlike other reference generators, Scribbr won’t slow you down with flashing banner ads and video pop-ups. That’s a promise!

Citation Generator features you'll love

Look up your source by its title, URL, ISBN, or DOI, and let Scribbr find and fill in all the relevant information automatically.

Harvard, APA, MLA, Chicago

Generate flawless references according to the official Harvard , APA , MLA, or Chicago style rules. More referencing styles will be available soon!

Export to Word

When your reference list is complete, export it to Word. We’ll apply the official formatting guidelines automatically.

Lists and folders

Create separate reference lists for each of your assignments to stay organized. You can also group related lists into folders.

Export to Bib(La)TeX

Are you using a LaTex editor like Overleaf? If so, you can easily export your references in Bib(La)TeX format with a single click.

Custom fonts

Change the typeface used for your reference list to match the rest of your document. Options include Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri.

Industry-standard technology

Scribbr’s Referencing Generator is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy.

Annotations

Describe or evaluate your sources in annotations, and Scribbr will generate a perfectly formatted annotated bibliography.

Referencing guides

Scribbr’s popular guides and videos will help you understand everything related to finding, evaluating, and referencing sources.

Secure backup

Your work is saved automatically after every change and stored securely in your Scribbr account.

• Introduction
• Finding sources

Evaluating sources

• Integrating sources

Referencing sources

Tools and resources, a quick guide to working with sources.

Working with sources is an important skill that you’ll need throughout your academic career.

It includes knowing how to find relevant sources, assessing their authority and credibility, and understanding how to integrate sources into your work with proper referencing.

This quick guide will help you get started!

Finding relevant sources

Sources commonly used in academic writing include academic journals, scholarly books, websites, newspapers, and encyclopedias. There are three main places to look for such sources:

• Research databases: Databases can be general or subject-specific. To get started, check out this list of databases by academic discipline . Another good starting point is Google Scholar .
• Your institution’s library: Use your library’s database to narrow down your search using keywords to find relevant articles, books, and newspapers matching your topic.
• Other online resources: Consult popular online sources like websites, blogs, or Wikipedia to find background information. Be sure to carefully evaluate the credibility of those online sources.

When using academic databases or search engines, you can use Boolean operators to refine your results.

Generate Harvard, APA, MLA, and Chicago style references in seconds

Get started

In academic writing, your sources should be credible, up to date, and relevant to your research topic. Useful approaches to evaluating sources include the CRAAP test and lateral reading.

CRAAP is an abbreviation that reminds you of a set of questions to ask yourself when evaluating information.

• Currency: Does the source reflect recent research?
• Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?
• Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field?
• Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?
• Purpose: What is the author’s intention?

Lateral reading

Lateral reading means comparing your source to other sources. This allows you to:

• Verify evidence
• Contextualize information
• Find potential weaknesses

If a source is using methods or drawing conclusions that are incompatible with other research in its field, it may not be reliable.

Integrating sources into your work

Once you have found information that you want to include in your paper, signal phrases can help you to introduce it. Here are a few examples:

Following the signal phrase, you can choose to quote, paraphrase or summarize the source.

• Quoting : This means including the exact words of another source in your paper. The quoted text must be enclosed in quotation marks or (for longer quotes) presented as a block quote . Quote a source when the meaning is difficult to convey in different words or when you want to analyze the language itself.
• Paraphrasing: This means putting another person’s ideas into your own words. It allows you to integrate sources more smoothly into your text, maintaining a consistent voice. It also shows that you have understood the meaning of the source.
• Summarizing : This means giving an overview of the essential points of a source. Summaries should be much shorter than the original text. You should describe the key points in your own words and not quote from the original text.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source, you must include a citation crediting the original author.

Referencing your sources is important because it:

• Allows you to avoid plagiarism
• Establishes the credentials of your sources
• Backs up your arguments with evidence
• Allows your reader to verify the legitimacy of your conclusions

The most common citation styles in the UK are APA, MLA, Harvard, Vancouver, MHRA, and Oscola. Each citation style has specific rules for formatting citations.

Scribbr’s free Reference Generator can generate perfect references and in-text citations in both APA and MLA styles. More citation styles will be available soon!

Scribbr and partners offer tons of tools and resources to make working with sources easier and faster. Take a look at our top picks:

• Reference Generator: Automatically generate Harvard and APA references .
• Plagiarism Checker : Detect plagiarism in your paper using the most accurate Turnitin-powered plagiarism software available to students.
• Proofreading services : Have a human editor improve your writing.
• Knowledge Base : Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.

Good Reference Management Tools for Manuscripts and Theses

All scientists know that to get published, they must have novel data. Therefore, when a researcher designs experiments and writes manuscripts, information and use of previous studies are fundamental. Indeed, a scientist must know what is known before designing an experiment. To help manage all of the research articles and studies that scientists sift through daily, there are citation managers that help organize papers . Among the various citation management tools such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, and RefWorks, which citation tool is best suited for you?

Originally, reference managers helped researchers correctly format their citations . These tools have come a long way since then. However, with all the new options and features, deciding which citation tool works best requires background work and awareness. Among the various options available to the scientist, few common citation managers are RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote.

EndNote : A tool for managing and publishing bibliographies, citations, and references.

Mendeley : A tool for reference management and for collaborating and sharing your work.

Zotero : A tool for managing and organize different resources and for sharing research.

RefWorks : A tool for managing and organizing bibliographies.

Features of the Top Citation Management Tools

The basic features of the citation management tools are often similar; however, they offer distinct services.

How to Choose

With all of these features and options, a scientist needs to consider which features are most important to him/her as a researcher. A good first step is to know what is already in use in your lab. While a tool may not be your favorite, using a shared citation manager will facilitate collaboration with your colleagues.

Do you like to work on multiple computer systems or without the internet? Consider using Zotero, Mendeley, or Endnote. Do you want to archive web pages? Consider using Zotero. Do you want to work on a group project and network or share? Consider using Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote. Each citation manager comes with its advantages. EndNote can not only house a large number of citations but also can be customized to a great extent. Zotero is effective in housing a variety of formats and downloading resources from different databases. Mendeley, on the other hand, has the capability to manage PDFs effectively and helps in sharing documents or citations within your network.

As a scientist, you may have typed in your research topic into PubMed. A search for “cardiac stem cell” yielded 18,522 results in May 2017. While many of those articles can be filtered out, there are likely dozens, if not hundreds, of articles that you want to read as part of your research. Using a citation management tool, such as RefWorks, Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote, will help you organize your citations. It will facilitate your collaborative projects by sharing findings. It can help focus your research based upon trends spotted through organized citation data. You can also choose multiple citation platforms based on your requirements. Ultimately, you can conduct your research more efficiently and effectively by choosing the reference management tool that saves time, organizes your resources, helps in collaboration and builds and formats your citations.

Thanks for nice comparison. I use Mendeley for reference management and MS Word for making document.

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What should universities' stance be on AI tools in research and academic writing?

Research & reference organizational tools

When conducting research and working with multiple resources, students can utilize one of the following programs to organize, manage, and automatically generate citations and bibliographies in a preferred reference style. Applying proper documentation style (e.g. APA, MLA, CSE, etc.) is critical in college writing and these programs can help you ensure that your sources are cited properly. If you are unfamiliar with the functionality of these programs, we encourage you to read the   Knowledge Center Research Guides   to select one that is most applicable to your discipline and needs.  

Collect. Collaborate. Create. From Anywhere....   read more about EndNote  

• UNR Knowledge Center Guide: EndNote

Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others...   read more about Mendeley

• User guides from the Mendeley community

Zotero  

Zotero is the only research tool that automatically senses content in your web browser, allowing you to add it to your personal library...   read more about Zotero

• UNR Knowledge Center Guide: Zotero

Referencing Generator

Powered by chegg.

• Select style:
• Archive material
• Chapter of an edited book
• Conference proceedings
• Dictionary entry
• Dissertation
• DVD, video, or film
• E-book or PDF
• Edited book
• Encyclopedia article
• Government publication
• Music or recording
• Online image or video
• Presentation
• Press release
• Religious text

What Is Cite This For Me’s Reference Generator?

Cite This For Me’s open-access generator is an automated citation machine that turns any of your sources into references in just a click. Using a reference generator helps students to integrate referencing into their research and writing routine; turning a time-consuming ordeal into a simple task.

A referencing generator accesses information from across the web, drawing the relevant information into a fully-formatted bibliography that clearly presents all of the sources that have contributed to your work.

If you don’t know how to reference a website correctly, or have a fast-approaching deadline, Cite This For Me’s accurate and intuitive reference generator will lend you the confidence to realise your full academic potential. In order to get a grade that reflects all your hard work, your references must be accurate and complete. Using a citation machine not only saves you time but also ensures that you don’t lose valuable marks on your assignment.

Not sure how to format your citations, what citations are, or just want to find out more about Cite This For Me’s reference generator? This guide outlines everything you need to know to equip yourself with the know-how and confidence to research and cite a wide range of diverse sources in your work.

Why Do I Need To Reference?

Simply put, when another source contributes to your work, you have to give the original owner the appropriate credit. After all, you wouldn’t steal someone else’s possessions so why would you steal their ideas?

Regardless of whether you are referencing a website, an article or a podcast, any factual material or ideas you take from another source must be acknowledged in a citation unless it is common knowledge (e.g. Winston Churchill was English). Failing to credit all of your sources, even when you’ve paraphrased or completely reworded the information, is plagiarism. Plagiarising will result in disciplinary action, which can range from losing precious marks on your assignment to expulsion from your university.

What’s more, attributing your research infuses credibility and authority into your work, both by supporting your own ideas and by demonstrating the breadth of your research. For many students, crediting sources can be a confusing and tedious process, but it’s a surefire way to improve the quality of your work so it’s essential to get it right. Luckily for you, using Cite This For Me’s reference generator makes creating accurate references easier than ever, leaving more time for you to excel in your studies.

In summary, the citing process serves three main functions:

• To validate the statements and conclusions in your work by providing directions to other sound sources that support and verify them.
• To help your readers locate, read and check your sources, as well as establishing their contribution to your work.
• To give credit to the original author and hence avoid committing intellectual property theft (known as ‘plagiarism’ in academia).

How Do I Cite My Sources With The Cite This For Me Referencing Generator?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator is the most accurate citation machine available, so whether you’re not sure how to format in-text references or are looking for a foolproof solution to automate a fully-formatted bibliography, this referencing generator will solve all of your citing needs.

Crediting your source material doesn’t just prevent you from losing valuable marks for plagiarism, it also provides all of the information to help your reader find for themselves the book, article, or other item you are citing. The accessible interface of the reference generator makes it easy for you to identify the source you have used – simply enter its unique identifier into the citation machine search bar. If this information is not available you can search for the title or author instead, and then select from the search results that appear below the reference generator.

Don’t know how to reference a website? The good news is that by using tools such as Cite This For Me’s reference generator, which help you work smarter, you don’t need to limit your research to sources that are traditional to cite. In fact, there are no limits to what you can cite, whether you are referencing a website, a YouTube video or a tweet.

To use the reference generator, simply:

• Select your style from Harvard, APA, OSCOLA and many more*
• Choose the type of source you would like to cite (e.g. website, book, journal, video)
• Enter the URL , DOI , ISBN , title, or other unique source information to find your source
• Click the ‘Cite’ button on the reference generator
• Copy your new citation straight from the referencing generator into your bibliography
• Repeat for each source that has contributed to your work.

*If you require another style for your paper, essay or other academic work, you can select from over 1,000 styles by creating a free Cite This For Me account.

Once you have created your Cite This For Me account you will be able to use the reference generator to create multiple references and save them into a project. Use Cite This For Me’s highly-rated iOS or Android apps to generate references in a flash with your smartphone camera, export your complete bibliography in one go, and much more.

What Will The Reference Generator Create For Me?

Cite This For Me’s reference generator will create your citation in two parts: an in-text citation and a full citation to be copied straight into your work.

The reference generator will auto-generate the correct formatting for your bibliography depending on your chosen style. For instance, if you select a parenthetical style the reference generator will generate an in-text citation in parentheses, along with a full citation to slot into your bibliography. Likewise, if the reference generator is set to a footnote style then it will create a fully-formatted citation for your reference list and bibliography, as well as a corresponding footnote to insert at the bottom of the page containing the relevant source.

Parenthetical style examples:

In-text example: A nation has been defined as an imagined community (Anderson, 2006).* Alternative format: Anderson (2006) defined a nation as an imagined community.

*The reference generator will create your references in the first style, but this should be edited if the author’s name already appears in the text.

Bibliography / Works Cited list example: Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities. London: Verso.

What Are Citation Styles?

A citation style is a set of rules that you, as an academic writer, must follow to ensure the quality and relevance of your work. There are thousands of styles that are used in different academic institutions around the world, but in the UK the most common are Harvard, APA and Oscola.

The style you need to use will depend on the preference of your lecturer, discipline or academic institution – so if you’re unsure which style you should be using, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly, as this is what you’ll be evaluated on when it comes to marking. You can also find your university’s style by logging into your Cite This For Me account and setting your institution in ‘My Profile’.

Citing isn’t just there to guard against plagiarism – presenting your research in a clear and consistent way eases the reader’s comprehension. Each style has a different set of rules for formatting both the page and your references. Be sure to adhere to formatting rules such as font type, font size and line spacing to ensure that your work is easily legible. Furthermore, if your work is published as part of an anthology or collected works, each entry will need to be presented in the same style to maintain uniformity throughout. It is important to make sure that you don’t jump from one style to another, so follow the rules carefully to ensure your reference list and bibliography are both accurate and complete.

If you need a hand with your citations then why not try Cite This For Me’s reference generator? It’s the quickest and easiest way to cite any source, in any style. The reference generator above will create your citations in the Harvard referencing style as standard, but it can generate fully-formatted references in over 1,000 styles – including university variations of each style. So, whether your lecturer has asked you to adopt APA referencing , or your subject requires you to use OSCOLA referencing , we’re sure to have the style you need. To access all of them, simply go to Cite This For Me’s website to create your free Cite This For Me account and search for your specific style such as MLA or Vancouver .

How Do I Format A Reference List Or Bibliography?

Drawing on a wide range of sources greatly enhances the quality of your work, and reading above and beyond your recommended reading list – and then using these sources to support your own thesis – is an excellent way to impress your reader. A clearly presented reference list or bibliography demonstrates the lengths you have gone to in researching your chosen topic.

Typically, a reference list starts on a new page at the end of the main body of text and includes a complete list of the sources you have actually cited in your paper. This list should contain all the information needed for the reader to locate the original source of the information, quote or statistic that directly contributed to your work. On the other hand, a bibliography is a comprehensive list of all the material you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process. Both provide the necessary information for readers to retrieve and check the sources cited in your work.

Each style’s guidelines will define the terminology of ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’, as well as providing formatting guidelines for font, line spacing and page indentations. In addition, it will instruct you on how to order each list – this will usually be either alphabetical or chronological (meaning the order that these sources appear in your work). Before submitting your work, be sure to check that you have formatted your whole paper according to your style’s formatting guidelines.

Sounds complicated? Citing has never been so easy; Cite This For Me’s reference generator will automatically generate fully-formatted citations for your reference list or bibliography in your chosen style. Sign in to your Cite This For Me account to save and export your bibliography.

How Do References Actually Work?

Although the reference generator will create your bibliography for you in record time, it is still useful to understand how this system works behind the scenes. As well as saving you time with its referencing generator, Cite This For Me provides the learning resources to help you fully understand the citing process and the benefits of adopting great citing standards.

The referencing process:

• Find a book, journal, website or other source that will contribute to your work
• Save the quote, image, data or other information that you will use in your work
• Save the source information that enables you to find it again (i.e. URL, ISBN, DOI etc.)
• Format the source information into a citation
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• Repeat for each source that contributes to your work.
• Export or copy and paste the fully-formatted citation into your bibliography.

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Citation and Research Management tools help you collect, organize and store your resources during the research process and then produce bibliographies in thousands of different citation styles. 

WHAT ARE CITATION AND RESEARCH MANAGEMENT TOOLS?

Citation tools, also called research management tools, are software programs that help you organize your research and keep track of your references. They also make it easy to add citations into the documents you're working on and automatically generate bibliographies in pretty much any citation style.

WHAT TOOLS ARE SUPPORTED AT HARVARD?

Harvard Library primarily supports the use of  Zotero ,  EndNote , and  Overleaf Pro + . Check the links for our guidance on each. Some science and medical librarians also support the use of  SciWheel  (formerly Faculty of 1000).

We offer classes on using  Zotero , generally during the first half of the fall and spring semesters; these are available via the tool guides above or on the  Harvard Library Events Calendar . For help at other times, submit a question via the  Citation Tools Help form .

We're also available to visit classes for citation tool instruction; just ask on the Help form above, submit a request via Ask a Librarian , or contact your favorite librarian.

Did you come here looking for information about Perma.cc (the site that creates permanent links for your cited sources?) Please check our Perma.cc FAQ .

Did you come here looking for information about Citation  styles ? We have a  Citation Styles Research Guide.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Research and Citation Resources

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

If you are having trouble locating a specific resource please visit the  search page  or the  Site Map . The Citation Chart  provides a detailed overview of MLA Style, APA Style, and Chicago Manual of Style source documentation by category.

Conducting Research

These OWL resources will help you conduct research using primary source methods, such as interviews and observations, and secondary source methods, such as books, journals, and the Internet. This area also includes materials on evaluating research sources.

Using Research

These OWL resources will help you use the research you have conducted in your documents. This area includes material on quoting and paraphrasing your research sources, as well as material on how to avoid plagiarism.

APA Style (7th Edition)

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the Works Cited page, as well as MLA sample papers, slide presentations, and the MLA classroom poster

Chicago Manual of Style

This section contains information on the Chicago Manual of Style method of document formatting and citation. These resources follow the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, which was issued in 2017.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Style

These resources describe how to structure papers, cite sources, format references, and handle the complexities of tables and figures according to the latest Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) guidelines.

American Medical Association (AMA) Style

These resources provide guidance on how to cite sources using American Medical Association (AMA) Style, 10th Ed., including examples for print and electronic sources.

Research Overview

We live in an age overflowing with sources of information. With so many information sources at our fingertips, knowing where to start, sorting through it all and finding what we want can be overwhelming! This handout provides answers to the following research-related questions: Where do I begin? Where should I look for information? What types of sources are available?

Conducting Primary Research

Primary research involves collecting data about a given subject directly from the real world. This section includes information on what primary research is, how to get started, ethics involved with primary research and different types of research you can do. It includes details about interviews, surveys, observations, and analysis.

Evaluating Sources of Information

Evaluating sources of information is an important step in any research activity. This section provides information on evaluating bibliographic citations, aspects of evaluation, reading evaluation, print vs. online sources, and evaluating Internet sources.

Searching Online

This section covers finding information online. It includes information about search engines, Boolean operators, Web directories, and the invisible Web. It also includes an extensive, annotated links section.

Internet References

This page contains links and short descriptions of writing resources including dictionaries, style manuals, grammar handbooks, and editing resources. It also contains a list of online reference sites, indexes for writers, online libraries, books and e-texts, as well as links to newspapers, news services, journals, and online magazines.

Archival Research

This resource discusses conducting research in a variety of archives. It also discusses a number of considerations and best practices for conducting archival research.

This resources was developed in consultation with Purdue University Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections staff.

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Top 21 must-have digital tools for researchers

Last updated

12 May 2023

Reviewed by

Jean Kaluza

Research drives many decisions across various industries, including:

Uncovering customer motivations and behaviors to design better products

Assessing whether a market exists for your product or service

Running clinical studies to develop a medical breakthrough

Conducting effective and shareable research can be a painstaking process. Manual processes are sluggish and archaic, and they can also be inaccurate. That’s where advanced online tools can help. 

The right tools can enable businesses to lean into research for better forecasting, planning, and more reliable decisions. 

• Why do researchers need research tools?

Research is challenging and time-consuming. Analyzing data, running focus groups , reading research papers , and looking for useful insights take plenty of heavy lifting. 

These days, researchers can’t just rely on manual processes. Instead, they’re using advanced tools that:

Speed up the research process

Enable new ways of reaching customers

Improve organization and accuracy

Allow better monitoring throughout the process

Enhance collaboration across key stakeholders

• The most important digital tools for researchers

Some tools can help at every stage, making researching simpler and faster.

They ensure accurate and efficient information collection, management, referencing, and analysis. 

Some of the most important digital tools for researchers include:

Research management tools

Research management can be a complex and challenging process. Some tools address the various challenges that arise when referencing and managing papers. 

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Coined as a personal research assistant, Zotero is a tool that brings efficiency to the research process. Zotero helps researchers collect, organize, annotate, and share research easily. 

Zotero integrates with internet browsers, so researchers can easily save an article, publication, or research study on the platform for later. 

The tool also has an advanced organizing system to allow users to label, tag, and categorize information for faster insights and a seamless analysis process. 

Messy paper stacks––digital or physical––are a thing of the past with Paperpile. This reference management tool integrates with Google Docs, saving users time with citations and paper management. 

Referencing, researching, and gaining insights is much cleaner and more productive, as all papers are in the same place. Plus, it’s easier to find a paper when you need it. 

Acting as a single source of truth (SSOT), Dovetail houses research from the entire organization in a simple-to-use place. Researchers can use the all-in-one platform to collate and store data from interviews , forms, surveys , focus groups, and more. 

Dovetail helps users quickly categorize and analyze data to uncover truly actionable insights . This helps organizations bring customer insights into every decision for better forecasting, planning, and decision-making. 

Dovetail integrates with other helpful tools like ​Slack, Atlassian, Notion, and Zapier for a truly efficient workflow.

Putting together papers and referencing sources can be a huge time consumer. EndNote claims that researchers waste 200,000 hours per year formatting citations. 

To address the issue, the tool formats citations automatically––simultaneously creating a bibliography while the user writes. 

EndNote is also a cloud-based system that allows remote working, multiple-user interaction and collaboration, and seamless working on different devices. 

Information survey tools

Surveys are a common way to gain data from customers. These tools can make the process simpler and more cost-effective. 

With ready-made survey templates––to collect NPS data, customer effort scores, five-star surveys, and more––getting going with Delighted is straightforward. 

Delighted helps teams collect and analyze survey feedback without needing any technical knowledge. The templates are customizable, so you can align the content with your brand. That way, the survey feels like it’s coming from your company, not a third party. 

SurveyMonkey

With millions of customers worldwide, SurveyMonkey is another leader in online surveys. SurveyMonkey offers hundreds of templates that researchers can use to set up and deploy surveys quickly. 

Whether your survey is about team performance, hotel feedback, post-event feedback, or an employee exit, SurveyMonkey has a ready-to-use template. 

Typeform offers free templates you can quickly embed, which comes with a point of difference: It designs forms and surveys with people in mind, focusing on customer enjoyment. 

Typeform employs the ‘one question at a time’ method to keep engagement rates and completions high. It focuses on surveys that feel more like conversations than a list of questions.

Web data analysis tools

Collecting data can take time––especially technical information. Some tools make that process simpler. 

For those conducting clinical research, data collection can be incredibly time-consuming. Teamscope provides an online platform to collect and manage data simply and easily. 

Researchers and medical professionals often collect clinical data through paper forms or digital means. Those are too easy to lose, tricky to manage, and challenging to collaborate on. 

With Teamscope, you can easily collect, store, and electronically analyze data like patient-reported outcomes and surveys. 

Heap is a digital insights platform providing context on the entire customer journey . This helps businesses improve customer feedback , conversion rates, and loyalty. 

Through Heap, you can seamlessly view and analyze the customer journey across all platforms and touchpoints, whether through the app or website. 

Another analytics tool, Smartlook, combines quantitative and qualitative analytics into one platform. This helps organizations understand user behavior and make crucial improvements. 

Smartlook is useful for analyzing web pages, purchasing flows, and optimizing conversion rates. 

Project management tools

Managing multiple research projects across many teams can be complex and challenging. Project management tools can ease the burden on researchers. 

Visual productivity tool Trello helps research teams manage their projects more efficiently. Trello makes product tracking easier with:

A range of workflow options

Unique project board layouts

Advanced descriptions

Integrations

Trello also works as an SSOT to stay on top of projects and collaborate effectively as a team. 

To connect research, workflows, and teams, Airtable provides a clean interactive interface. 

With Airtable, it’s simple to place research projects in a list view, workstream, or road map to synthesize information and quickly collaborate. The Sync feature makes it easy to link all your research data to one place for faster action. 

For product teams, Asana gathers development, copywriting, design, research teams, and product managers in one space. 

As a task management platform, Asana offers all the expected features and more, including time-tracking and Jira integration. The platform offers reporting alongside data collection methods, so it’s a favorite for product teams in the tech space.

Grammar checker tools

Grammar tools ensure your research projects are professional and proofed. 

No one’s perfect, especially when it comes to spelling, punctuation, and grammar. That’s where Grammarly can help. 

Grammarly’s AI-powered platform reviews your content and corrects any mistakes. Through helpful integrations with other platforms––such as Gmail, Google Docs, Twitter, and LinkedIn––it’s simple to spellcheck as you go. 

Another helpful grammar tool is Trinka AI. Trinka is specifically for technical and academic styles of writing. It doesn’t just correct mistakes in spelling, punctuation, and grammar; it also offers explanations and additional information when errors show. 

Researchers can also use Trinka to enhance their writing and:

Align it with technical and academic styles

Improve areas like syntax and word choice

Discover relevant suggestions based on the content topic

Plagiarism checker tools

Avoiding plagiarism is crucial for the integrity of research. Using checker tools can ensure your work is original. 

Plagiarism checker Quetext uses DeepSearch™ technology to quickly sort through online content to search for signs of plagiarism. 

With color coding, annotations, and an overall score, it’s easy to identify conflict areas and fix them accordingly. 

Duplichecker

Another helpful plagiarism tool is Duplichecker, which scans pieces of content for issues. The service is free for content up to 1000 words, with paid options available after that. 

If plagiarism occurs, a percentage identifies how much is duplicate content. However, the interface is relatively basic, offering little additional information.  

Journal finder tools

Finding the right journals for your project can be challenging––especially with the plethora of inaccurate or predatory content online. Journal finder tools can solve this issue. 

Enago Journal Finder

The Enago Open Access Journal Finder sorts through online journals to verify their legitimacy. Through Engao, you can discover pre-vetted, high-quality journals through a validated journal index. 

Enago’s search tool also helps users find relevant journals for their subject matter, speeding up the research process. 

JournalFinder

JournalFinder is another journal tool that’s popular with academics and researchers. It makes the process of discovering relevant journals fast by leaning into a machine-learning algorithm.

This is useful for discovering key information and finding the right journals to publish and share your work in. 

Social networking for researchers

Collaboration between researchers can improve the accuracy and sharing of information. Promoting research findings can also be essential for public health, safety, and more. 

While typical social networks exist, some are specifically designed for academics.

ResearchGate

Networking platform ResearchGate encourages researchers to connect, collaborate, and share within the scientific community. With 20 million researchers on the platform, it's a popular choice. 

ResearchGate is founded on an intention to advance research. The platform provides topic pages for easy connection within a field of expertise and access to millions of publications to help users stay up to date. 

Academia is another commonly used platform that connects 220 million academics and researchers within their specialties. 

The platform aims to accelerate research with discovery tools and grow a researcher’s audience to promote their ideas. 

On Academia, users can access 47 million PDFs for free. They cover topics from mechanical engineering to applied economics and child psychology. 

• Expedited research with the power of tools

For researchers, finding data and information can be time-consuming and complex to manage. That’s where the power of tools comes in. 

Manual processes are slow, outdated, and have a larger potential for inaccuracies. 

Leaning into tools can help researchers speed up their processes, conduct efficient research, boost their accuracy, and share their work effectively. 

With tools available for project and data management, web data collection, and journal finding, researchers have plenty of assistance at their disposal.

When it comes to connecting with customers, advanced tools boost customer connection while continually bringing their needs and wants into products and services.

What are primary research tools?

Primary research is data and information that you collect firsthand through surveys, customer interviews, or focus groups. 

Secondary research is data and information from other sources, such as journals, research bodies, or online content. 

Primary researcher tools use methods like surveys and customer interviews. You can use these tools to collect, store, or manage information effectively and uncover more accurate insights. 

What is the difference between tools and methods in research?

Research methods relate to how researchers gather information and data. 

For example, surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, and A/B testing are research methods that gather information. 

On the other hand, tools assist areas of research. Researchers may use tools to more efficiently gather data, store data securely, or uncover insights. 

Tools can improve research methods, ensuring efficiency and accuracy while reducing complexity.

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Top 15 Academic Research Tools For Scholars And Tutors

Using specialised tools has become more important in the ever changing field of academic research. These tools reference management, data visualisation, survey design, literature search, writing, and editing, are essential for improving the efficiency of the research process and the quality of scholarly output. Researchers can smoothly collect, assess, and share data using the top 15 academic research tools we are sharing, which will ultimately change the way research is carried out and done.

 We will examine the essential resources for successful research in this guide, offering insightful analyses of the top three resources in each category—all discussed in simple language for a general audience. So let us start this discussing the ultimate top 3 for all the categories we have today.

Top 3 Academic Research Tools For Reference Management

Table of Contents

Reference management tools, also known as citation managers, are programs or online services that help researchers collect, organise, and cite references. These tools offer features such as storing references in a searchable database, attaching PDFs and other files, and auto-generating citations and bibliographies in the preferred citation style. They also allow users to share collections of references with others and sync references across multiple devices. Some popular reference management tools include EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, and RefWorks.

Zotero is a free, open-source research management program that has been a game-changer for many researchers, including myself. Here are some benefits of using Zotero in academic research, drawn from personal experience:

• Time-saving : Zotero’s web browser plugins make it easy to save item information from the web, eliminating the need to manually copy and paste citations. It saves time and effort, especially while dealing with multiple sources.
• Automatic PDF downloading : Zotero is good at capturing and downloading full-text PDFs from databases, which can be particularly useful when working with limited access to certain resources.
• Built-in tools : Zotero has a built-in tool to extract source information from PDFs, making it easier to manage and organise your research materials.
• Citation style flexibility : Zotero supports virtually all citation styles, allowing you to format your citations consistently and according to your institution’s guidelines.
• Word processor integration : Zotero’s word processor plugins let you “cite as you write,” making it easier to insert citations directly into your paper without having to switch between different applications .

EndNote is a popular citation management tool used by researchers, faculty, and students to store, organise, and cite references. Here are some benefits of using EndNote in academic research:

• Organisation: EndNote allows you to organise your research materials by creating folders, adding notes, and tagging citations, making it easier to locate and manage your sources.
• Better Time Management: By using EndNote, you can manage your research more efficiently, making it easier to meet deadlines and stay organised throughout the research process.
• Full-text PDF downloading: EndNote enables you to automatically attach and download full-text PDFs to saved references, making it easier to read, review, and annotate articles without having to switch between different applications.
• Collaboration: EndNote allows you to share your research with others, facilitating collaboration on research projects and group assignments.
• Bibliography: When it comes time to create a bibliography, EndNote sprinkles some magic. It seamlessly integrates with Word, turning your list of references from a headache-inducing task into a point-and-click breeze.

For researchers and journal editors among all the reference management tools Mendley is very popular. Other than its feature of ease of use here are few other features of it:

• Free of Cost: Best of all, Mendeley doesn’t cost anything. It’s free and all of us love these free tools as they are budget friendly and do not cost anything. Library Superpower: Mendeley is like a superhero library for your computer. It keeps all your research papers and articles in one organised place.
• Teamwork Friendly: If you’re working on a project with friends, Mendeley makes it easy to share your library. Teamwork just got a whole lot simpler.
• Highlight and Scribble: If you find something cool in a paper, you can highlight it and write notes on your computer. It’s like doodling on your homework but way more useful.
• Discover New Things: Mendeley even helps you discover new articles based on what you like. It’s like a friend suggesting cool stuff to read.

Top 3 Academic Research Tools For Data Visualisation And Analysis

Data visualisation and analysis tools are software or online platforms that help users create visual representations of data, making it easier to understand and interpret complex information. These tools enable users to generate various types of visualisations, such as charts, graphs, and maps, from their data sets. By presenting data visually, these tools facilitate quicker and more effective decision-making, allowing users to examine trends and information that is not immediately apparent from the raw data. Also it offers features for customising and sharing visualisations, making them valuable for both individual analysis and collaborative work. Some of the popular tools are as:

In academic research, Tableau is a data visualisation and analysis application that is becoming more and more popular. Using Tableau in academic research has several advantages, which I have personally experienced:

• Easy to use: Tableau is simple to use and intuitive to understand, making it available to researchers of all experience levels.
• Data visualisation: Tableau makes complex data easier to understand and analyse by enabling you to build dynamic, eye-catching charts, graphs, and maps.
• Integration with different data sources: Tableau facilitates the work with a variety of data types by helping you to access a vast range of data sources.
• Real-time data analysis : With Tableau’s ability to analyse data in real-time, you can act quickly and decisively based on up-to-date knowledge.
• R (Programming Language)

R is a programming language and software database used for statistical computing and graphics. It’s like a super-smart tool for crunching numbers, making cool charts, and handling data in a way that even non-computer wizards can understand. Following are some of the features of it:

• Flexibility and Extensibility : R’s flexible nature allows researchers to create custom functions, tailor analyses to specific needs, and interface with other programming languages like C, Python, and Java, enhancing its extensibility.
• Community Support: The R community is basically my online superhero squad. Whenever I got stuck on some coding conundrum, forums and groups were there with advice and solutions. It’s like having a 24/7 coding help hotline.
• Advanced Visualisations and Quick Implementation : R offers advanced visualisations and allows for the quick implementation of new theoretical approaches, which can be highly beneficial for researchers working with complex data.
• Continuous Evolution: R is always evolving. New packages, updates, and features keep popping up. It’s like your favourite app that keeps getting better with each update.
• Cost-Free Awesomeness: R doesn’t cost a cent. In a world where software can drain your wallet, R is the ultimate budget-friendly genius. It’s like getting a high-end software package without the hefty price tag.
• Python (Having Libraries Like Matplotlib And Seaborn)

Python is an adaptable and user-friendly programming language. It’s like a friendly guide for beginners, helping them write code effortlessly. With a vast library ecosystem, Python is a go-to language for tasks ranging from simple scripts to complex machine learning projects. Here is a short list of features of Python:

• Coding Zen: Python is like the cool kid in coding class. It’s easy to learn, which is a big relief when you’re juggling research and a gazillion other things.
• Open-Source and Cost-Effective : Python is open-source, platform-independent, and does not require fees or licences, making it a low-risk and cost-effective option for academic research.
• Versatile Toolbox: Python has a toolbox full of libraries. If we need to do something specific there’s probably a library for it. It’s like having a Swiss Army knife for data tasks.
• Machine Learning Marvel: Python is the superhero of machine learning. With libraries like TensorFlow and scikit-learn, it’s like having Iron Man’s suit for training models and making predictions.
• Data Analysis Capabilities : Python offers a large range of statistical tests, models, and capabilities, and it is mainly opted for machine learning and data analysis.

Top 3 Academic Research Tools For Survey Design And Data Collection

Survey design and data collection tools are software or online platforms that help researchers gather information from a specific group of people about their views, interests, or understandings. These tools offer various methods for creating surveys, such as questionnaires, e-surveys, telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, focus groups, and electronic (e-mail or website) surveys. These tools offer features like customizable templates, question types, and data analysis capabilities, making them essential for conducting effective surveys and collecting valuable data for research purposes. Top 3 survey design and data collections tools are as:

Qualtrics is an online survey platform that helps you create and analyse surveys. It’s like a digital survey wizard, making it easy to collect and understand data. With user-friendly features, Qualtrics simplifies the survey process for everyone.

• Super Easy Surveys: Qualtrics turns survey-making into a piece of cake. You drag, drop, and boom – your survey is ready. No need for a PhD in tech.
• Data Heaven: When the replies start coming in, Qualtrics is a data wizard. It handles calculations and organisation like an expert. No more getting lost in a pile of info.
• Real-Time Feedback : Qualtrics allows researchers to listen to real-time feedback from students, faculty, and staff, making it easier to understand and improve the educational experience
• Student Budget Friendly: Qualtrics won’t cost you a lot. It’s like getting a premium   survey experience without losing some weight of your wallet. 
• Surveymonkey

SurveyMonkey is an online platform that creates and analyses surveys. It’s like having a survey guru in your pocket, simplifying the process with a user-friendly interface and tools for gathering insights. Some of the main features are as:

• User Friendly: SurveyMonkey takes the headache out of making surveys. It’s so user-friendly that even a middle school child could create a survey without asking for tech support.
• Mobile Friendly: In a world glued to phones, SurveyMonkey is mobile-friendly. Respondents can tap away on any device, making my surveys accessible and cool.
• Confidentiality: SurveyMonkey provides high-security features and ensures that it is in the right hands and there is no breach of security. SurveyMonkey is like the superhero security guard, ensuring your data stays locked and safe.
• Feedback Buffet: SurveyMonkey isn’t just for surveys; it’s a feedback buffet. From opinions to reviews, it gathers feedback like a pro, turning me into a feedback platter.
• Data Playground: SurveyMonkey transforms data into a playground once the responses start rolling in. Spreadsheet making is a thing of the past; insights are the rollercoaster of a data carnival.
• Redcap (Research Electronic Data Capture)

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a user-friendly, secure, and web-based application for data collection and management in research. It’s like having a digital assistant that simplifies the process of gathering and organising research data efficiently and safely. Some of the attractive features of Redcap are as:

• User-Friendly Interface : REDCap offers a user-friendly web-based interface that puts researchers in total control of their work, allowing them to manage their own projects whenever and however they wish, through any browser on any device.
• Cost-Effective : REDCap is a cost-effective choice for academic research because it is a free, safe, web-based application that allows data capture for research studies.
• Wide Range of Forms: REDCap offers a versatile solution for creating surveys, whether they are straightforward or intricate. It’s akin to having a variety of forms at your disposal, allowing you to select and customise according to your specific needs, just like choosing items from a buffet.
• Customizable Surveys : REDCap allows researchers to customise their surveys to meet their local security policies and personalise features/functionality to address user needs.
• Secure Data Collection : REDCap provides a secure data collection tool that meets HIPAA compliance standards, making it a reliable and safe option for data collection.

Top 3 Academic Research Tools For Literature Search

Literature search tools are software or online platforms that help researchers find, organise, and analyse relevant information via different sources, such as educational articles, books, and other journals. These tools offer features like search engines for research papers, literature review software based on citation networks, tools for locating open access scientific papers, and more. Some of the best literature search tools are as:

PubMed is a free, easy-to-use search engine that lets you find and read articles on life sciences and biomedical topics. It has more than 35 million citations and abstracts, with links to full-text articles when available. It is managed by the National Library of Medicine and is a reliable source for researchers and students. Some of its main features are as:

• Free Access : PubMed is freely accessible, making it a cost-effective option for academic research.PubMed is like a scholarship for information, supporting my academic journey without draining my student budget. 
• Abstract Summaries: Reading full articles can be time-consuming, but PubMed spoils me with abstracts. It’s like having a trailer before committing to the whole movie – efficient and smart.
• Historical Journey: PubMed is a time machine for research. It’s like flipping through the pages of history, seeing how studies evolved over time. Each article tells a story.
• Integration with Other Sources : PubMed can integrate data from other sources, making it easier to analyse and interpret data ensuring that different data sets will react collectively.
• Ease of Use : PubMed offers a user-friendly interface that allows researchers to search for articles using keywords or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), making it easy to find relevant information.
• Google Scholar

Users can locate academic resources and scholarly literature, such as books, articles, theses, abstracts, and court opinions, using the free Google Scholar search engine. It searches many different sources, such as websites from universities, professional associations, academic publishers, and online repositories. Google Scholar attempts to organise papers according to researcher rankings. Some of its main features are as:

• No Membership Fee: Best of all, it’s free. Google Scholar is like a gift that keeps on giving, supporting my academic journey. It is freely accessible, making it a cost-effective option for academic research.
• Diverse Resource Hub: It’s not just articles; Google Scholar is a hub of diverse resources. It’s like a buffet of knowledge, offering books, theses, and conference papers on my research plate.
• Advanced Search Capabilities : Google Scholar offers advanced search capabilities, including filters and limiters, allowing researchers to refine their search results.
• My Virtual Bookshelf: Google Scholar is my digital bookshelf. It’s like having a tidy shelf where I can collect and revisit my favourite studies. No more going through piles of papers.

Scopus allows users to search both forward and backward in time for scientific, technical, and medical journal articles and the references included in those articles. Authors, researchers, students, librarians, universities, and others use the database to find, locate, and evaluate research output from around the world. Some of its main features are as: 

• Global Coverage : Scopus covers journals from multiple disciplines, like science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities, offering a broad spectrum of research fields and topics.
• Keyword Treasure Hunt: Searching Scopus for particular keywords is similar to going on a scavenger hunt. Similar to looking for hidden treasures, each keyword reveals a wealth of useful information.
• Graphical Journey: Visualizing research connections is like a graphical journey on Scopus. It’s like having a map that shows the academic world’s complex web of ideas and influences.
• Academic Evaluation : Scopus Indexed Journals are often considered in academic evaluation processes, such as tenure and promotion decisions, as a measure of a researcher’s scholarly output and impact.

Top 3 Academic Research Tools For Writing And Editing

Writing and editing tools are software applications that help writers and content creators improve the quality of their work. It offers different features such as grammar and spell-check, style and readability analysis, and plagiarism detection. It can also help you with real-time feedback and suggestions to increase the overall quality of the content. Writing and editing tools are widely used to streamline the writing process, ensure accuracy, and maintain high standards of professionalism in written work. Some popular examples of these tools include Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and Latex

LaTeX is a document generation system with high-quality and it is commonly used for technical and scientific documents. It is free software and is distributed under the LaTeX Project Public License. LaTeX is not a word processor; instead, it encourages authors to focus on the content of their documents, leaving the typesetting to the system. Some of its main highlights are as:

• Elegant Formatting: LaTeX produces high-quality typesetting, making documents look professional and polished. LaTeX is the fashion designer of documents. It’s like dressing up your research in a sleek suit, making it look elegant and professional .
• Mathematical Expertise: If you are Dealing with equations then LaTeX is like a maths wizard. It weaves equations into your text seamlessly, so your formulas look as good as your arguments.
• Easy Management of References and Citations : LaTeX allows researchers to label any piece of information they would like to use later for citations or as a reference, only requiring them to remember the label, and LaTeX handles everything.
• Portable and Platform-Independent : LaTeX files can be opened and altered with any text editor, and its formatting is consistent and automatically employed once set.
• Hemingway Editor

The Hemingway Editor is a user-friendly online tool that helps improve writing by highlighting and correcting common errors. It focuses on enhancing readability by identifying and simplifying complex sentences, passive voice , and adverbs. The tool offers both writing and editing modes, making it easy to create and refine content. Some of its main features are as:

• Simple & Powerful: In the world of writing tools, Hemingway Editor is simple yet powerful. It’s like the minimalist ninja, cutting through complexity and leaving my research polished and potent.
• Active Voice Enthusiast: Hemingway Editor is an active voice cheerleader. It’s like a coach nudging me to ditch passive constructions, making my writing punchier and more engaging.
• Readability Whisperer: Ensuring readability is Hemingway Editor’s secret weapon. It’s like having a readability whisperer, making sure my research doesn’t sound like an ancient manuscript but flows effortlessly.
• Formatting Friend: Hemingway Editor is also a formatting friend. It’s like a design consultant, making sure my text isn’t just clear but visually inviting, making my research a pleasure to read.

Grammarly is a digital writing tool that acts like a friendly grammar coach. It’s your online proofreader, catching typos, suggesting better words, and ensuring your sentences are clear and error-free. It helps you in making sure that there is no plagiarism in your content. Some its key highlights are as:

• Error Detective: Grammarly is my error detective. It spots typos, punctuation crimes, and grammatical slip-ups like detectives, saving me from embarrassing blunders.
• Plagiarism Protector: If you are worried about your accidental plagiarism then Grammarly is my protector. It’s like a shield, scanning my text to ensure it’s authentically mine and saving me from citation threats.
• Customizable Settings : Grammarly offers customizable settings, allowing researchers to adjust the tool according to their objectives and preferences like type of audience, knowledge level and other.
• Improving Writing Skills : Grammarly helps improve writing skills by providing suggestions and explanations for errors, helping researchers learn from their mistakes.

In conclusion, the top 15 academic research tools offer valuable support for various aspects of the research process. For reference management, tools like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote provide efficient organisation and citation capabilities.

 In the realm of data visualisation and analysis, Tableau, Power BI, and Google Data Studio offer powerful solutions for interpreting and presenting research findings. Survey design and data collection are facilitated by Qualtrics, REDCap, and SurveyMonkey, which streamline the process of gathering and analysing data. 

When it comes to literature search, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus stand out as comprehensive and reliable resources for accessing scholarly literature. Finally, for writing and editing, Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, and LaTex offer indispensable support in enhancing the quality, clarity, and professionalism of academic writing. These tools collectively contribute to the efficiency, accuracy, and impact of academic research endeavours.

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Give us your feedback in the 2024  C&RL News   reader survey ! The survey asks a series of questions today to gather your thoughts on the contents and presentation of the magazine and should only take approximately 5-7 minutes to complete. Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback and suggestions for  C&RL News , we greatly appreciate and value your input.

Charmaine Henriques is International Studies Librarian at Indiana University-Bloomington Libraries, email: [email protected] .

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Charmaine Henriques

Story Telling, Learning Objects, and Scalar

Hidden Tools in Asynchronous Educational Models

©2024 Charmaine Henriques

P rior to the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries in the higher education arena had already implemented a combined virtual/real-world service model. Books could be checked out and read in print or online; research assistance could be sought at the reference desk or via instant messaging, email, or phone; and both in-person and remote instruction existed for onsite and offsite classes. However, the pandemic forced the 2020 shutdown, and libraries had to move to a completely online environment. In the public services realm, there was an emphasis on online learning, especially asynchronous learning. The range of knowledge librarians had of online education ran from considerable experience to truly little or none.

The greater focus on asynchronous learning during this time uncovered a potential skill gap in the profession, requiring librarians to develop their expertise in online education best practices and have access to instinctive, readily available tools. One option is to use existing resources to support asynchronous learning. Although these sources could be well-known products, they could also be lesser-known ones from outside of or other areas of librarianship. This article will focus on the author’s use of Scalar, a free open-source publishing platform, to create a learning module for a high-level undergraduate seminar at Indiana University (IU).

What Is Scalar?

In 2005, a quintet of close collaborators (co-editors Steve Anderson and Tara McPherson, Creative Directors Raegan Kelley and Erik Loyer, and Information Designer Craig Dietrich) developed and launched a journal name Vectors . 1 Vectors was created to experiment with and challenge the notion of traditional academic publishing by bringing together scholars, designers, and technologists to publish scholarly content that could not exist in print. 2 Based on the collective’s own research and their continuing work with Vectors , they formulated a new goal to cultivate fresh ways of interacting with digitized archival materials in the humanities and to continue developing evolving techniques for digital scholarly publishing. In support of this new mission, the team secured funds from the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and built a new tool named Scalar that was released in beta in 2013. 3

Scalar was developed to be “a free, open-source authoring and publishing platform that is designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born digital scholarship online.” 4 It is known for key features such as its ability to add and display multimedia content by integrating it from both popular and academically orientated digital archives (e.g., YouTube and the Critical Commons archive) and then allow extensive annotating to said content regardless of format (e.g., film, audio, and/or textual). 5

Introductory Screen for Finding Information: Books and Articles.

Pros and Cons of Scalar

Scalar is considered a great resource for classroom use because it is free, user-friendly, and only requires access to a computer and the Internet. The platform has a built-in editor that is handy but does not accept formatted text. Also, images and videos over 2 megabytes cannot be embedded in Scalar. Because online media files are hosted on Scalar’s server instead of uploaded, it is important to use objects from a reliable archive so content will not go missing from pages within a book (projects in Scalar are referred to as “books”). 6

In July 2021, I attended the USC Scalar Summer Institute. The institute was a “free five-day workshop designed for librarians and others who wish to support the use of Scalar for born-digital scholarship and cutting-edge collections-based digital pedagogy.” 7 Participants were given an overview of the history of Scalar, went over selected Scalar projects to see its capabilities, and were instructed on some of the platform’s more basic features like editing pages, importing/annotating media, and creating tags, paths, galleries, and timelines.

Implementing Scalar

After attending the institute, I worked to integrate Scalar into my instruction. I chose the INTL-I 434 International Climate Governance course, a three-credit travel seminar that enrolls up to 15 students, as my first Scalar experiment. The course focuses on how the climate policies and actions of global governance institutions and NGOs affect climate issues. Those enrolled in the seminar learn about the historical origins, interpretation, and implementation of the Paris Agreement and attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 8 IU is one of the few universities in the world that sends student observers to the UNFCC Conference of Parties (known as COP). In 2021, COP 26 was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, where 13 students from INTL-I 434 made up the IU delegation. 9 The students followed a specific issue of their choice throughout the conference. Afterword, they were required to draft a white paper using scholarly and popular sources in addition to information they garnered from the conference.

Screenshot of the How to Research a Topic Page from Finding Information: Books and Articles Learning module.

The learning module created for the 2021 International Climate Governance was simply titled “Finding Information: Books and Articles” ( https://scalar.usc.edu/works/finding-information-books-and-articles/index ).

It included narrative, links, videos, and images and was made up of six pages. Two of the pages were the introduction and conclusion, and the other four pages focused on research-related suggestions and actions. For example, the “How to Research a Topic” page gave advice on how to start the research process, such as using reference sources to obtain background information and incorporating lesser-used resources like government information, grey literature, dissertations, and newspapers into a research paper.

Much of the class did use the learning module, engaging with it on average for 16 minutes and 39 seconds, and all the users were from the United States, which was not surprising because that is the country where IU is located. The learning module was largely accessed by direct link, and the most popular pages were LibGuides, Introduction, Articles, IUCAT (IU’s library catalog), and, of course, the title screen.

The biggest roadblock with using Scalar in the course was the level of prewriting and project management needed to compose a book and the frustration with producing a project that can incorporate advanced design elements. The article “Assessing Digital Humanities Tools: Use of a Scalar at a Research University,” a case study that assessed the use of Scalar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, reported that those who were the most frustrated with Scalar were pupils who had problems with the arranging and writing processes needed to meet the content development conditions. 10 Librarians new to constructing learning modules may have similar feelings as students who struggled with the organizing and writing component of Scalar. But librarians are a part of a profession where they must plan information literacy sessions, evaluate collections, present at conferences, and author articles, thereby having the skills to develop learning objects.

Screenshot of the Finding Information: The Quest for Scholarly Articles learning module.

Previous to working with Scalar, I had some basic comprehension of storyboarding but had never built a learning module or filmed/edited a video tutorial. I did some preparative work before the first day of the USC Scalar Summer Institute by gathering images, writing out instructions, and running searches that would be used in the learning module. Because I was not familiar with Scalar before the Institute and was unaware of the type of writing that was crucial when working with it, I struggled with bringing all the images, instructions, and searches together in an easily understandable and logical manner, but soon I detected that the best technique to exercise was storytelling.

“The Finding Information: Books and Articles” module highlighted an undergraduate who had to take a social science course to complete her general education requirements to ensure she graduated on time. The learning module shows the steps the central character took to choose keywords, search the library’s catalog, select relevant databases, and conduct a variety of other research-related activities. The audience learns how to find information for a research paper by reading about and taking the same steps as the protagonist.

Scalar was crafted to have a low learning curve, but as users master the platform and move from their first work to their second, there is frustration with not being able to produce pieces with more intricate design like the sophisticated examples on Scalar’s webpage or in Vectors . Unfortunately, to make more dazzling projects a stronger knowledge of Scalar’s Application Programing Interface (API) is required, and interested individuals would need significant outside support to create comparable oeuvres. 11

When I completed my first Scalar project and went on to assemble another learning module titled “Finding Information: The Quest for Scholarly Articles” ( https://scalar.usc.edu/works/finding-information-the-quest-for-scholarly-articles/index ), I was able to generate a new learning module with a stronger and extensive narrative in a shorter amount of time, but I similarly became irritated with not being able to use more sophisticated style options that would deliver a fanciful aesthetic. Nonetheless, an advanced knowledge of Scalar is not needed to manufacture a great learning module.

The global pandemic created a situation where online education was pushed to the forefront, and the interest from faculty, students, and librarians in this mode of instruction has not waned with the official lifting of the COVID-19 national emergency and related restrictions in the United States by President Biden in May 2023. Now that online instruction is no longer solely under the jurisdiction of distance education and teaching and learning staff and librarians, institutions will have to invest in low-cost intuitive resources to assist librarians new to the virtual teaching environment to create practical learning objects.

Scalar is a publishing platform that was built to enable the creation of multimedia digital scholarship and as such is well-known in the Digital Humanities circles. It is free, easy to use, needs no specific hardware or software, and saves organization’s server space because projects created using the platform are hosted on Scalar’s website and server. As previously noted, Scalar does have some drawbacks. However, librarianship is a profession where its workers are required to do a significant amount of idea organizing, critical thinking, and project mapping. Therefore, the elevated level of preparatory work needed to create any learning object would not be surprising for most public services librarians. Also, while it is human nature for people to want to advance their skill level after mastering the fundamentals of a new task, advanced knowledge of Scalar is not needed to create a remarkably effective learning module. Scalar is a cost-effective and user-friendly instrument that can help support librarians new to asynchronous learning on their path to creating valuable learning devices as higher education moves into a more digital environment.

• Tara McPherson, “Scaling Vectors: Thoughts on the Future of Scholarly Communication,” The Journal of Electronic Publishing , 13 no. 2 (2010), https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0013.208 .
• Tara McPherson, “Designing for Difference,” Differences , 25 no. 1 (2014): 177–88, https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-2420039 .
• McPherson, “Designing for Difference.”
• “About Scalar,” Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, accessed August 30, 2023, https://scalar.me/anvc/scalar/ .
• Anita Say Chan and Harriet Green, “Practicing Collaborative Digital Pedagogy to Foster Digital Literacies in Humanities Classrooms,” EDUCAUSE Review , October 13, 2014, https://er.educause.edu/articles/2014/10/practicing-collaborative-digital-pedagogy-to-foster-digital-literacies-in-humanities-classrooms .
• Marcela Y. Isuster, “From Students to Authors: Fostering Student Content Creation with Scalar,” College and Undergraduate Libraries 27, no. 2–4 (2020): 133–48.
• “Ahmanson Lab Scalar Summer Institute July 12–16, 2021,” Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, accessed August 30, 2023, https://scalar.me/anvc/ .
• Indiana University International Studies Department, “INTL-I 434 International Climate Governance,” 2023, https://intlstudies.indiana.edu/courses/class/iub-fall-2023-intl-i434 .
• Pamela Whitten, “IU Responds to Climate Change Challenges,” Written by Whitten: The Blog of Pamela Whitten, President, Indiana University , November 2, 2021, https://www.iu.edu/president/communications/written-by-whitten/2021/11-2-iu-responds-to-climate-change-challenges.html .
• Daniel D. Tracy, “Assessing Digital Humanities Tools: Use of Scalar at a Research University,” Portal: Libraries and the Academy , 16 no. 1 (2016): 163–89, https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2016.0004 .
• Chan and Green, “Practicing Collaborative Digital Pedagogy.”

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: realm: reference resolution as language modeling.

Abstract: Reference resolution is an important problem, one that is essential to understand and successfully handle context of different kinds. This context includes both previous turns and context that pertains to non-conversational entities, such as entities on the user's screen or those running in the background. While LLMs have been shown to be extremely powerful for a variety of tasks, their use in reference resolution, particularly for non-conversational entities, remains underutilized. This paper demonstrates how LLMs can be used to create an extremely effective system to resolve references of various types, by showing how reference resolution can be converted into a language modeling problem, despite involving forms of entities like those on screen that are not traditionally conducive to being reduced to a text-only modality. We demonstrate large improvements over an existing system with similar functionality across different types of references, with our smallest model obtaining absolute gains of over 5% for on-screen references. We also benchmark against GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, with our smallest model achieving performance comparable to that of GPT-4, and our larger models substantially outperforming it.

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News Release

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

New atlas of human kidney cells to help unlock kidney disease research

NIH-funded effort provides interactive resource for global research community.

In a major breakthrough toward understanding and treating kidney disease, a nationwide research team funded by the National Institutes of Health has created the most comprehensive atlas of the human kidney. Data from the Kidney Tissue Atlas will allow the comparison of healthy kidney cells to those injured by kidney disease, helping investigators understand the factors that contribute to the progression of kidney disease and kidney failure or recovery from injury. The atlas, part of the Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP), was supported by NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), as published in Nature .

Due to the complexity of the kidney, scientists have struggled to develop kidney models that accurately represent human kidney structures and function. The lack of human kidney models has limited the ability to develop new drugs to treat or prevent kidney disease.

The Kidney Tissue Atlas comprises maps of 51 main kidney cell types that include rare and novel cell populations, 28 kidney cellular states that represent injury or disease, a repository of raw gene data, and interactive 3D models of cells and microenvironment relationships created from 45 healthy donor kidneys and 48 kidney disease biopsies. The atlas thus establishes a critical foundation for KPMP’s overall goal to help discover new treatments for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney injury (AKI), medical conditions that present a significant global health burden. The publicly available data created by KPMP, including all 3D renderings and analytical tools, can be accessed at atlas.kpmp.org .

“KPMP’s new atlas represents open, public science at its best,” said Dr. Eric Brunskill, KPMP program director in NIDDK’s Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases. “With the atlas, we’ve created an interactive, hypothesis-generating resource for kidney disease investigators and clinicians around the world.”

While CKD and AKI have historically been described as single, uniform diseases, KPMP builds on growing consensus that kidney disease can have several different root causes and disease pathways leading to subgroups of CKD and AKI. Instead of a “one size fits all” approach to treating kidney disease, precision medicine explores more personalized treatments. KPMP’s kidney atlas is intended to help identify disease subgroups within CKD and AKI, leading to the discovery of new, and possibly individualized, ways to treat CKD and AKI.

The study also received support from the Human Cell Atlas initiative, an international research effort to gather information on at least 10 billion human cells, and NIH’s Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP). HuBMAP’s goal is to develop an open and global platform to map healthy cells in the human body; the KPMP and HuBMAP teams worked closely to align the outputs of this molecular atlas as an example of cross-consortia collaborations.

“KPMP brings together the best of new technology, patient engagement, and partnership, and represents an evolution in the way we think about kidney disease,” said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. “We’re confident the Kidney Tissue Atlas will help us discover new ways to get the right kidney disease treatment to the right patient at the right time.”

Data related to this research are available for request at the NIDDK Central Repository .

Research reported in this study was funded by NIDDK (grants U2C DK114886, UH3 DK114861, UH3 DK114866, UH3 DK114870, UH3 DK114908, UH3 DK114915, UH3 DK114926, UH3 DK114907, UH3 DK114923 and UH3 DK114933). The research was also supported by National Institute of Health (S10 OD026929), National Cancer Institute (P30 CA91842), and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR002345). HuBMAP is supported by NIH (OT2 D033760), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U54 HL145608), and NIDDK (U54 DK134301). Additional NIH support was provided by NIDDK (K08 DK107864, R01 DK111651, P01 DK056788, U2C DK114886, U54 DK083912, P30 DK081943, K23 DK125529, and U54 DK083912), National Institute of Mental Health (U01 MH114828), and National Cancer Institute (UH3 CA246632).

About the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): The NIDDK, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see www.niddk.nih.gov .

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health ®

Lake BB, et al. An atlas of healthy and injured cell states and niches in the human kidney . Nature. 2023.

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Exploring generative ai at harvard.

Jessica McCann

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Leaders weigh in on where we are and what’s next

The explosion of generative AI technology over the past year and a half is raising big questions about how these tools will impact higher education. Across Harvard, members of the community have been exploring how GenAI will change the ways we teach, learn, research, and work.

As part of this effort, the Office of the Provost has convened three working groups . They will discuss questions, share innovations, and evolve guidance and community resources. They are:

• The Teaching and Learning Group , chaired by Bharat Anand , vice provost for advances in learning and the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. This group seeks to share resources, identify emerging best practices, guide policies, and support the development of tools to address common challenges among faculty and students.
• The Research and Scholarship Group , chaired by John Shaw , vice provost for research, Harry C. Dudley Professor of Structural and Economic Geology in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, and professor of environmental science and engineering in the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science. It focuses on how to enable, and support the integrity of, scholarly activities with generative AI tools.
• T he Administration and Operations Group , chaired by Klara Jelinkova , vice president and University chief information officer. It is charged with addressing information security, data privacy, procurement, and administration and organizational efficiencies.

Klara Jelinkova, Bharat Anand, and John Shaw.

Photos by Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer; Evgenia Eliseeva; and courtesy of John Shaw

The Gazette spoke with Anand, Shaw, and Jelinkova to understand more about the work of these groups and what’s next in generative AI at Harvard.

When generative AI tools first emerged, we saw universities respond in a variety of ways — from encouraging experimentation to prohibiting their use. What was Harvard’s overall approach?

Shaw: From the outset, Harvard has embraced the prospective benefits that GenAI offers to teaching, research, and administration across the University, while being mindful of the potential pitfalls. As a University, our mission is to help enable discovery and innovation, so we had a mandate to actively engage. We set some initial, broad policies that helped guide us, and have worked directly with groups across the institution to provide tools and resources to inspire exploration.

Jelinkova: The rapid emergence of these tools meant the University needed to react quickly, to provide both tools for innovation and experimentation and guidelines to ensure their responsible use. We rapidly built an AI Sandbox to enable faculty, students, and staff to experiment with multiple large language models in a secure environment. We also worked with external vendors to acquire enterprise licenses for a variety of tools to meet many different use cases. Through working groups, we were able to learn, aggregate and collate use cases for AI in teaching, learning, administration, and research. This coordinated, collective, and strategic approach has put Harvard ahead of many peers in higher education.

Anand: Teaching and learning are fundamentally decentralized activities. So our approach was to ask: First, how can we ensure that local experimentation by faculty and staff is enabled as much as possible; and second, how can we ensure that it’s consistent with University policies on IP, copyright, and security? We also wanted to ensure that novel emerging practices were shared across Schools, rather than remaining siloed.

What do these tools mean for faculty, in terms of the challenges they pose or the opportunities they offer? Is there anything you’re particularly excited about?

Anand: Let’s start with some salient challenges. How do we first sift through the hype that’s accompanied GenAI? How can we make it easy for faculty to use GenAI tools in their classrooms without overburdening them with yet another technology? How can one address real concerns about GenAI’s impact?

While we’re still early in this journey, many compelling opportunities — and more importantly, some systematic ways of thinking about them — are emerging. Various Harvard faculty have leaned into experimenting with LLMs in their classrooms. Our team has now interviewed over 30 colleagues across Harvard and curated short videos that capture their learnings. I encourage everyone to view these materials on the new GenAI site; they are remarkable in their depth and breadth of insight.

Here’s a sample: While LLMs are commonly used for Q&A, our faculty have creatively used them for a broader variety of tasks, such as simulating tutors that guide learning by asking questions, simulating instructional designers to provide active learning tips, and simulating student voices to predict how a class discussion might flow, thus aiding in lesson preparation. Others demonstrate how more sophisticated prompts or “prompt engineering” are often necessary to yield more sophisticated LLM responses, and how LLMs can extend well beyond text-based responses to visuals, simulations, coding, and games. And several faculty show how LLMs can help overcome subtle yet important learning frictions like skill gaps in coding, language literacy, or math.

Do these tools offer students an opportunity to support or expand upon their learning?

Anand: Yes. GenAI represents a unique area of innovation where students and faculty are working together. Many colleagues are incorporating student feedback into the GenAI portions of their curriculum or making their own GenAI tools available to students. Since GenAI is new, the pedagogical path is not yet well defined; students have an opportunity to make their voices heard, as co-creators, on what they think the future of their learning should look like.

Beyond this, we’re starting to see other learning benefits. Importantly, GenAI can reach beyond a lecture hall. Thoughtful prompt engineering can turn even publicly available GenAI tools into tutorbots that generate interactive practice problems, act as expert conversational aids for material review, or increase TA teams’ capacity. That means both that the classroom is expanding and that more of it is in students’ hands. There’s also evidence that these bots field more questions than teaching teams can normally address and can be more comfortable and accessible for some students.

Of course, we need to identify and counter harmful patterns. There is a risk, in this early and enthusiastic period, of sparking over-reliance on GenAI. Students must critically evaluate how and where they use it, given its possibility of inaccurate or inappropriate responses, and should heed the areas where their style of cognition outperforms AI. One other thing to watch out for is user divide: Some students will graduate with vastly better prompt engineering skills than others, an inequality that will only magnify in the workforce.

What are the main questions your group has been tackling?

Anand: Our group divided its work into three subgroups focused on policy, tools, and resources. We’ve helped guide initial policies to ensure safe and responsible use; begun curating resources for faculty in a One Harvard repository ; and are exploring which tools the University should invest in or develop to ensure that educators and researchers can continue to advance their work.

In the fall, we focused on supporting and guiding HUIT’s development of the AI Sandbox. The Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching’s annual conference , which focused exclusively on GenAI, had its highest participation in 10 years. Recently, we’ve been working with the research group to inform the development of tools that promise broad, generalizable use for faculty (e.g., tutorbots).

What has your group focused on in discussions so far about generative AI tools’ use in research?

Shaw: Our group has some incredible strength in researchers who are at the cutting edge of GenAI development and applications, but also includes voices that help us understand the real barriers to faculty and students starting to use these tools in their own research and scholarship. Working with the other teams, we have focused on supporting development and use of the GenAI sandbox, examining IP and security issues, and learning from different groups across campus how they are using these tools to innovate.

Are there key areas of focus for your group in the coming months?

Shaw: We are focused on establishing programs — such as the new GenAI Milton Fund track — to help support innovation in the application of these tools across the wide range of scholarship on our campus. We are also working with the College to develop new programs to help support students who wish to engage with faculty on GenAI-enabled projects. We aim to find ways to convene students and scholars to share their experiences and build a stronger community of practitioners across campus.

What types of administration and operations questions are your group is exploring, and what type of opportunities do you see in this space?

Jelinkova: By using the group to share learnings from across Schools and units, we can better provide technologies to meet the community’s needs while ensuring the most responsible and sustainable use of the University’s financial resources. The connections within this group also inform the guidelines that we provide; by learning how generative AI is being used in different contexts, we can develop best practices and stay alert to emerging risks. There are new tools becoming available almost every day, and many exciting experiments and pilots happening across Harvard, so it’s important to regularly review and update the guidance we provide to our community.

Can you talk a bit about what has come out of these discussions, or other exciting things to come?

Jelinkova: Because this technology is rapidly evolving, we are continually tracking the release of new tools and working with our vendors as well as open-source efforts to ensure we are best supporting the University’s needs. We’re developing more guidance and hosting information sessions on helping people to understand the AI landscape and how to choose the right tool for their task. Beyond tools, we’re also working to build connections across Harvard to support collaboration, including a recently launched AI community of practice . We are capturing valuable findings from emerging technology pilot programs in HUIT , the EVP area , and across Schools. And we are now thinking about how those findings can inform guiding principles and best practices to better support staff.

While the GenAI groups are investigating these questions, Harvard faculty and scholars are also on the forefront of research in this space. Can you talk a bit about some of the interesting research happening across the University in AI more broadly ?

Shaw: Harvard has made deep investments in the development and application of AI across our campus, in our Schools, initiatives, and institutes — such as the Kempner Institute and Harvard Data Science Initiative. In addition, there is a critical role for us to play in examining and guiding the ethics of AI applications — and our strengths in the Safra and Berkman Klein centers, as examples, can be leading voices in this area.

What would be your advice for members of our community who are interested in learning more about generative AI tools?

Anand: I’d encourage our community to view the resources available on the new Generative AI @ Harvard website , to better understand how GenAI tools might benefit you.

There’s also no substitute for experimentation with these tools to learn what works, what does not, and how to tailor them for maximal benefit for your particular needs. And of course, please know and respect University policies around copyright and security.

We’re in the early stages of this journey at Harvard, but it’s exciting.

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XZ Utils Backdoor — Everything You Need to Know, and What You Can Do

Akamai Security Intelligence Group

April 01, 2024

Executive summary

CVE-2024-3094 is a vulnerability discovered in the open-source library XZ Utils that stems from malicious code that was pushed into the library by one of its maintainers.

It was originally reported as an SSH authentication bypass backdoor, but further analysis indicates that the backdoor actually enables remote code execution (RCE).

The threat actor started contributing to the XZ project almost two years ago, slowly building credibility until they were given maintainer responsibilities. Such long-term operations are usually the realm of state-sponsored threat actors, but specific attribution does not currently exist.

Since the backdoor affects the latest XZ Utils releases, the recommended course of action is to downgrade to an uncompromised release. In this blog post, we offer other potential mitigations to limit the blast radius of the attack.

XZ Utils,, and its underlying library liblzma, are open-source projects that implement the lzma compression and decompression. They are included in many Linux distributions out of the box, are very popular with developers, and are used extensively throughout the Linux ecosystem.

Almost two years ago, a developer under the name of Jia Tan joined the project and started opening pull requests for various bug fixes or improvements. So far, nothing is out of the ordinary; this is how things work in the open-source world. Eventually, after building trust and credibility, Jia Tan began to receive permissions for the repository — first, commit permissions and, eventually, release manager rights.

It seems that as part of the effort to gain these permissions, Jia Tan used an interesting form of social engineering : They used fake accounts to send myriad feature requests and complaints about bugs to pressure the original maintainer, eventually causing the need to add another maintainer to the repository.

After contributing to the code for approximately two years, in 2023 Jia Tan introduced a few changes to XZ that were included as part of release 5.6.0. Among these changes was a sophisticated backdoor.

The backdoor

The backdoor is quite complex. For starters, you won’t find it in the xz GitHub repository (which is currently disabled, but that’s besides the point). In what seems like an attempt to avoid detection, instead of pushing parts of the backdoor to the public git repository, the malicious maintainer only included it in source code tarball releases. This caused parts of the backdoor to remain relatively hidden, while still being used during the build process of dependent projects .

The backdoor is composed of many parts introduced over multiple commits:

Using IFUNCs in the build process, which will be used to hijack the symbol resolve functions by the malware

Including an obfuscated shared object hidden in test files

Running a script set during the build process of the library that extracts the shared object (not included in the repository, only in releases, but added to .gitignore )

Disabling landlocking , which is a security feature to restrict process privileges

The execution chain also consists of multiple stages:

The malicious script build-to-host.m4 is run during the library’s build process and decodes the “test” file bad-3-corrupt_lzma2.xz into a bash script

The bash script then performs a more complicated decode process on another “test” file, good-large_compressed.lzma , decoding it into another script

That script then extracts a shared object liblzma_la-crc64-fast.o , which is added to the compilation process of liblzma

This process is admittedly hard to follow. We recommend Thomas Roccia ’s infographic for a great visual reference and in-depth analysis.

The shared object itself is compiled into liblzma, and replaces the regular function name resolution process. During (any) process loading, function names are resolved into actual pointers to the process memory, pointing at the binary code. The malicious library interferes with the function resolving process, so it could replace the function pointer for the OpenSSH function RSA_public_decrypt (Figure 1).

It then points that function to a malicious one of its own, which according to research published by Filippo Valsorda , extracts a command from the authenticating client’s certificate (after verifying that it is the threat actor) and passes it on to the system() function for execution, thereby achieving RCE prior to authentication.

For a more detailed explanation of the backdoor parts, you can read Andres Freund 's post on openwall .

Potential impact

Currently, it appears as though the backdoor is added to the SSH daemon on the vulnerable machine, enabling a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code . This means that any machine with the vulnerable package that exposes SSH to the internet is potentially vulnerable.

This backdoor almost became one of the most significant intrusion enablers ever — one that would’ve dwarfed the SolarWinds backdoor. The attackers were almost able to gain immediate access to any Linux machine running an infected distro, which includes Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. Almost.

There was only one thing that stopped that from happening — Andres Freund. After investigating a 500 ms latency issue that was introduced after a software update, Andres was able to trace the issue back to the xz package and ultimately identify the backdoor.

This obviously raises a lot of concerns. We got lucky. If this backdoor was not detected by a curious engineer, how long would it have remained active?

And perhaps even more concerning: What if this has happened before?

Detection and mitigation

Version control.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommended course of action is to downgrade to an uncompromised version, such as 5.4.6.

To know which version of XZ Utils or liblzma you currently have on your systems, you can run the following query in Akamai Guardicore Segmentation Insight that will look for loaded instances of the liblzma library (Figure 2).

Alternatively, you can run the following query to find the package manager for the installed version.

Of course, you can also filter to show only vulnerable assets.

Threat hunting

Since the backdoor actually executes system commands, and isn’t just allowing authentication, it might be possible to detect this behavior via process tracking.

Usually, during logon, a new shell is created for the logging user, and runs the default shell process (like bash). However, with this backdoor, the malicious command is actually executed by the SSH daemon process, sshd , which could trigger an anomaly.

Our threat hunting service, Akamai Hunt , has methods in place to detect such anomalies; for example, by constantly tracking a baseline of process activity and their child processes.

Kill switch

According to some analyses of the backdoor , it appears to have an environment variable kill switch. Adding the key yolAbejyiejuvnup=Evjtgvsh5okmkAvj to the system’s environment variables may disable the backdoor.

Backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma leading to ssh server compromise

FAQ on the xz-utils backdoor

Filippo Valsorda on X

CISA advisory

• Cyber Security
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