No Stress, No Mess – Finding Peace of Mind with Reference Management

Academic work requires precision, particularly when it comes to managing sources and literature, which can quickly become overwhelming. To minimize errors and reduce time and effort, using a reference management program is recommended for the efficient organization of citations. Such programs can be employed during researching, reading, writing, and publishing. Depending on the software, there are various additional features available, so it’s worth selecting the one that best meets your individual needs.

In this workshop, we will introduce and compare the functionalities of two commonly used programs: Zotero (Open Source) and Citavi (Campus License). Afterwards, participants will have the opportunity to explore both basic and advanced features of Citavi and Zotero together, providing guidance for their own decision-making process. Participants should ensure that these programs are installed in advance if they plan to join with their own laptops.

The workshop will focus on the following topics, among others:

• Familiarizing with selected features
• Capturing different types of literature
• Organizing knowledge
• Sorting and searching within projects
• Integrating citations into academic work
• Collaborating with others

Slides from the workshop on 25 February 2026 as part of the series "Collect, Write, Publish" at TU Hamburg.
The workshop series is organised by the Graduate Academy and the University Library of TU Hamburg.