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I have used HOMESTYLER online beta software to draw a room plan to be used in a research. I am not sure if it has to be referred to in the bibliography or not. What do you think?

Macit
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Imagine you are someone trying to replicate the results of your research. Would they be able to do so without knowing about the software? No? You should cite it. If the software is generic enough that similar or identical results could be produced using a different option, you're probably fine just to mention it in the text (in some cases e.g. using Microsoft Word, the software is so common and well-known that mentioning it is unnecessary).

astronat supports the strike
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  • Specifying the tool used is not the same as citing it in the bibliography. The answer could benefit from some information on which tools should be cited instead of just mentioned in the text. – Pere Jul 17 '17 at 18:13
  • @Pere if you've mentioned the tool, why wouldn't you cite it in the bibliography? – astronat supports the strike Jul 17 '17 at 18:26
  • I have read an article about How to cite and describe software. it says that you should ask yourself two questions "did the software play a critical part in my research?" or "did the software provide something novel?". Actually the software that I have used does not play a critical role in the research, so I did not want to cite it. At the same time, I was wondering if the software has a license or not, which I could not find. For this reason, I preferred to ask you guys, since you may have more experience regarding this subject. – Macit Jul 17 '17 at 18:45
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    @astronat I don't know, and hence I'd like to learn it from an answer. If you use an R package that plays a critical role in your research, do you cite it? If you say you make a diagram with Homestlyler, do you cite it? If you make a diagram with Autocad or Photoshop, do you cite its author? If you mention you used a ruler and a pencil do you cite Staedtler? I'm rather sure about the answer to the first and last questions, but those in between are not clear to me. That makes me think that the answer would be better if it expanded on it. – Pere Jul 17 '17 at 19:19
  • I think the answer is pretty good as it stands, if a bit glib. Software does not need to be cited if it provides a generic function. You don't cite Microsoft Word for allowing you to create documents for your research. You don't cite MATLAB for allowing you to plot data. These are generic functions that can be accomplished by many programs and your specific choice of program does not influence the work. – David Jul 17 '17 at 20:38