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Interdisciplinary Engineering

A Guide to Interdisciplinary Engineering

What is a Citation Manager?

Citation managers such as Zotero and Paperpile are programs that allow the users to collect, organize, and cite sources. They also allow for collaboration and some provide the ability to store and annotate PDFs within the system.

Why should you use a citation manager?

  • Organize sources using folders, tags, and even group libraries for collaboration with people across the world. 

  • Many have browser extensions or integration with library software to make it easy to collect items when you research so you don't forget about the paper you saw 10 pages ago. 

  • Many integrate with Google Docs and/or Microsoft Word to make it easy to cite sources while writing. 

Getting Started

Paperpile is a web-based reference citation management system, with emphasis on integration with Google apps and Google Chrome.

Getting Started
1. Select the Start Free Trial option. You will need to login with your SJSU email address.
2. Next,  go to Settings > Account info  and click on "Activate site license"
3. Enter your SJSU email address, and then click the activation link you will receive via email.

Installing the Chrome Extension

When starting Paperpile, it will prompt you to install the browser extension that helps save citations to your library. If the pop-up does not show up, click here to install the extension. 

Citation Styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE), Plagiarism, DOI

Help With the APA Citation Style


The American Psychological Association (APA) created the citation style you will be using for all of your research papers. You can buy the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition from Amazon.com or check the sites below for advice.