CE students are recommended to use bibliographic citations designed by ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineering).
Citation management tools are useful for keeping track of and organizing the various materials (articles, books, etc.) you are considering using for a paper or project. They also help you quickly create citations for your resources in the style that you need (APA, MLA, Turabian, etc.).
Learning a citation managment tool can be an investment, but usually it is one that pays off. These tools are best for graduate students, or anyone who is conducting research projects that involve a large number of resources for reference.