Textual database programs deal primarily with untagged - or freeform tagged - segments of text. These programs allow you to search and retrieve text contained in documents (usually created with a word processing program). They can be quite useful in organizing and indexing reference documents and other materials used in academic research and instruction (e.g., field notes, lecture notes, lab notes).

Citation offers you some of the functionality associated with textual database programs. You can enter up to ten pages of text in these records, as well as keywords, and use the search features to retrieve text matching search criteria. The limitation is that all searchable text must be located in a single datafile.