From the first glance, Citation appears to be ideal for the beginner or intermediate user who simply wants a way to manage her sources for an article or book project. An author can immediately begin entering source data and then easily insert that data into a Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word document. Once the user understands the concept of the Access Phrase, she can move fairly quickly to inserting the citations into her text. The interface lacks some amenities such as a toolbar, but the beginner will find the one-solution menu bar to be sufficient and perhaps even more comfortable. The program adds a nice touch in that an author can preview a citation or bibliography in various formats by using the Preview Pane.
Record management is facilitated by the various document formats available.
They are inclusive enough for most projects with 'forms' such as book, journal article, monograph, dissertation, review, archival record and internet journal. Although the user can add custom formats, it requires learning the Citation codes. The search capability of Citation is not a strength. The user is limited to a simple keyword search on one or two fields. In addition, the records are stored in a text file, possibly resulting in problems for searches of extremely large collections.