Zotero and Citation Management

1. Download Zotero

Zotero can be downloaded here. Be sure to download both Zotero itself and the Zotero Connector extension for your web browser to make the most of the program.

After it is installed, the Zotero extension will appear either as a piece of paper (when Zotero can cite a web page) or a Z (when it cannot). The two icons are shown on the right.

2. Automatic Tags

Under the “General” Preferences tab, uncheck the box under “Miscellaneous” that says “Automatically tag items with keywords and subject headings.” Zotero’s automatically generated tags are not usually accurate, and they can make it more difficult to add your own tags later.

On the other hand, you can remove automatic tags later by following this documentation.

Create a Collection

Open Zotero. Underneath File, click “New Collection…”

Collections and sub-collections help you organize your citations. They act like playlists, organizing items held in the base Library. In other words, putting items in multiple collections or sub-collections does not create additional item records in the Library.

Create a Sub-Collection

Right click on the collection you want to add to. Click “New Subcollection…”

Sub-collections are useful when one collection has, or is expected to have, too many references to handle all at once.

How to Save a Book

Open Zotero and click on the collection you want to save the book in.

In OneSearch, click on the record of the book you’re interested in. The Zotero browser icon should change to that of a book. Click that icon, and the book will appear in the Zotero folder you selected.

For help using OneSearch, see this tutorial.

For help finding specific books in OneSearch, see this tutorial.

How to Save an Article

Open Zotero and click the folder you want to save articles in.

Articles can be saved from OneSearch records the same way books are.

Another, possibly more efficient, way to save articles is from journals themselves. From OneSearch, click the links in the Get It section to open the article’s record in a database or journal site. You can also use the library’s journal search to go to the database or journal site and browse until you find the article or articles you need. For help finding articles with the library’s journal list, see this tutorial.

The Zotero browser extension icon will appear either as a folder or a sheet of paper, depending on whether you are viewing a list of articles or a single article. If you are viewing one article, clicking the icon will save the reference and, if available, a full-text PDF, to Zotero.

If you’re viewing a list of articles, click the folder and select which article or articles you would like to save. Click “OK,” and the references and their full-text PDFs, if available, will save to Zotero.

PubMed:

You can save references for articles listed in PubMed the same way, but the full-text PDFs will not automatically download. To get the full-text PDFs for PubMed citations, follow the links in the PubMed citation record you want to save. You may need to download and add the attachment manually.

Google Scholar:

Zotero can save directly from Google Scholar’s results list, but for better metadata, you should click through to a publisher page or library database record for the article.

Articles on your computer:

If you already have a full-text PDF of an article you want to cite on your computer, you can import it to Zotero. Open the Zotero folder you want to save it to and drag the PDF into Zotero’s middle pane where the titles and creators of references are listed. The reference should import automatically. Note, however, that for older articles or journals that do not follow current PDF encoding practices, this method may be ineffective. In those cases, you are better off looking up the article in OneSearch and following the steps above.

How to Save a Web Page

Zotero can save citations for web pages, too. Open Zotero and click the folder you want the web page citation to save to. Then navigate to the web page you want to cite and click the Zotero browser extension icon. This will save the reference and a snapshot of the web page.

The metadata for most websites is not directly compatible with Zotero. For that reason, you will usually need to fill in fields such as “Author” manually.

It’s also possible to grab specific pieces of text from web pages and save them to Zotero. To do this, highlight the text you want to save, right click, hover over “Save to Zotero,” and click “Create Zotero Item and Note from Selection.” This will save a reference for the web page and create a note with the highlighted text.

How to Manually Add Citations

There are two ways to manually add citations in Zotero. Both icons for manual addition are found above the center pane in Zotero. Keep in mind that manually inserted citations will not automatically download the full text of references.

For completely manual entry:

Click the green circle icon with a plus sign in its center above Zotero’s center pane. Select the type of reference you wish to add from the drop-down menu. A blank form with the relevant fields to create a citation will appear on the right pane. Type the information.

If you have the ISBN, DOI, or PMID of a reference:

Click the magic wand icon with a plus at its bottom corner above Zotero’s center pane. Type or paste the ISBN, DOI, or PMID of the reference you want to add and hit enter. The reference will appear in your library.

How to Correct References

Sometimes, Zotero doesn’t save references entirely accurately. Double check the saved references. If you notice an error, click the field it occurs in on the right side pane and type the correct information.

1. Insert a Citation

In Microsoft Word, place your cursor where you want to insert the citation. Navigate to “Zotero” on the top bar and select “Add/Edit Citation.”

A list of options for citation styles will appear. Select which citation style you’d like to use and whether to display your citations as footnotes or endnotes.

A red bar will appear. Start typing the title or author of the citation or citations you want to insert. When it appears, select it and hit enter on your keyboard. The citation will be automatically inserted.

2. Create a Bibliography

To create a bibliography with your Zotero citations, place your cursor several lines below the end of your paper. Under the Zotero tab, select “Add/Edit Bibliography.” A bibliography will be inserted in the same style as your in-text citations and will automatically update each time you add another citation.

In Google Docs

Zotero can integrate with Google Docs. Inserting citations into a Google Doc works almost exactly like inserting citations into a Microsoft Word document does. To use Zotero with Google Docs, you’ll have to have Zotero open on your computer and allow the program to access your Google account. Find more information about Zotero and Google Docs here.

3. In Preferences, go to the “Sync” tab. Make sure the box next to “Sync automatically” is checked.

If you choose to “Sync full-text content”, your files will upload to Zotero.com. If you used your Rice email to create your account, then you have unlimited free file storage at Zotero.com. If you did not use your Rice email, see “Set up free Zotero.com storage” below.

4. In the main Zotero window, click the green circular arrow at the top right to complete syncing.

1. Click the brown folder icon at the top left of the Zotero window. Select “New Group…”

2. Name your group and select its Group Type.

Groups can be viewable online and joined by anybody, viewable online but joined only by approved individuals, or entirely private with membership by invitation only.

3. Choose settings.

Double-check your Group Type, then set who in the group is able to view the library, edit the library, and edit files. Shared file storage can be turned off here if you don’t need it.

4. Add members.

At the top of the page, click the “Groups” tab. This will take you to a list of your groups. Underneath your new group, click “Manage Members.” 

From there, click “Send More Invitations” to add new members, or click “Update Roles” to add or remove members’ abilities. Invitations can be sent with the new member’s email address or Zotero username.

If your group is private, you must send invitations to add members. If your group is viewable publicly, new members will be able to find your group on the Zotero website and either join themselves or apply to join, depending on the Group Type.

For more information see Zotero’s documentation for groups.

1. Search for groups.

On the Zotero groups page–the same page where your groups are listed–click “Search for Groups” beneath the page’s title. Groups can be searched by group name or by people.

2. Join a group.

On the right side of a group’s page, click the “Join” button. If the group does not have public membership, you will have to wait until a group admin approves your membership to join.

For more information see Zotero’s documentation for groups.

1. Under the “Edit” tab, open “Preferences” and navigate to the “Cite” tab. Click “Get additional styles…”

2. Find your style. You can search by name or use the tags at the right to browse styles by format and academic field. Once you find your style, click on it.

3. Your selected style will appear in the citation list in Preferences. Click “OK” to return to the main Zotero window.

To add a tag:

1. Click on the record you want to add a tag to. In the right pane, click the “Tags” tab.

2. Click “Add” and type the tag you wish to add.

3. Hit “Enter” on your keyboard.

To use tags:

On the bottom of the left-hand Zotero pane is the tag selector. Your most-used tags will be displayed in the box, and other tags can be found by typing in the box below. Click on a tag to filter the references displayed in the center pane to those with that tag.

To manage tags:

In the tag selector, right-click on a tag to rename, delete, or assign a color to it. Renaming a tag will rename it across all references it has been applied to, and assigning it a color will make tagged items easy to visually distinguish from others.

Notes on References (also called Child Notes) :

1. Click on the reference you want to add a note to. In the right-hand pane, click the “Notes” tab.

2. Type your note. It will automatically appear in the center pane below the reference it is attached to.

Standalone Notes:

1. In Zotero’s center pane, click on the sticky note icon with a green plus at the corner. Select “New Standalone Note.”

2. Type your note. It will automatically appear as a new item in the collection or sub-collection you’re working in.

One simple way to organize your references in Zotero is with the headings that appear above the references in Zotero’s central pane.

Click on a heading for your references to be sorted in alphabetical order (or, in the case of dates, from oldest to most recent).

Click on a heading one more time to see references in reverse alphabetical order, or from most recent to oldest for date fields. Fields that are blank are considered to come last alphabetically.

You can add (or remove) headings to Zotero’s central pane to help you better organize your references.

To do this, click the small window pane icon at the right of the center pane. Select the heading you wish to add or remove, and the change will happen automatically in the center pane.

To move a reference, click on it and drag it into the collection you want to move it to. This will not remove the reference from its original collection.

To remove a reference, right click on it. Select “Remove Item from Collection…” to remove the item from the collection but retain it in your library. Select “Move Item to Trash…” to completely delete the item from your Zotero library.

With an iPhone

If you have an iPhone or iPad running iOS12 or more recent, you can scan the barcodes of physical books to save the reference to Zotero. First, you’ll need to download the Apple Shortcuts app. Second, you’ll need to download the Scan Books to Zotero shortcut. Detailed instructions and links for scanning books into Zotero with an iPhone are available here.