Has anyone tried the References Cited function built into MS Word or perhaps other popular services like End Note, Mendeley, or Ref Works? Which of these do you prefer?
I have used both End Note and RefWorks. End Note is great because it allows you to easily insert your reference in-text and then builds your reference list as you go. RefWorks doesn't seem to work like that (unless you buy a personal copy; we access it through our university library) and only allows you to build the reference list based on works added from the library that you select, but you still have to add the in-text citations manually whereas End Note formats them for you. RefWorks has limited styles available as well, whereas End Note offers almost an exhaustive selection of editing styles. In both programs, you sometimes have to tweak the formatting, though, especially if something is entered into a library or e-database with all caps, for example, you would have to go and change that manually. My personal recommendation would be End Note, but I haven't used the feature in Word and don't know if it's comparable.
Great free options are Zotero and Colwiz. Both have online and desktop versions. Colwiz gives 4 Gb of drive space to store pdf files or others. Zotero has the ability to cite from MS Word and to sync the library with webdav or your own server.
All of the reference managers you listed are solid choices.
I personally use and recommend Mendeley, for a variety of reasons (stability, versatility, free). You can check it out at
https://www.mendeley.com
That said, I think there are some strong competitors to Word when it comes to text editors for researchers now.
One of these is SciFlow, a free online text editor that we made specifically for researchers in order to help them write, format and publish their work.
You can write and format your document in SciFlow for free at: https://www.sciflow.net.
If you'd like to know about how SciFlow integrated Mendeley so users of both can optimize their workflow, you can go to: https://www.sciflow.net/mendeley