Introduction to reference management with Zotero

1. Reference management with Zotero
Introduction
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2. Contents
About Zotero
Help
Installation
Organize your library
Collect references
Add references manually
Edit references
Tags
Search your library
Toolbar
Settings
Share references with others
Separate bibliography
Reports
Wordprocessor plugin
Insert in-text citation
Insert bibliography
Refresh document &
change reference style
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3. Zotero
• Free (open source) reference management
system
• An extension to the web browser Mozilla
Firefox – or standalone version
• Save references locally and online
• Insert references in a Word or Openoffice
document
• Create bibliographies
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4. Who is behind Zotero?
• Developed by Center for History and New
Media at George Mason University.
• Sponsored by The Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation,
and The Institute of Museum and Library
Services.
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5. Help
• At zotero.org you find tutorials and help to get
started
• This is a general introduction to Zotero with
examples from Mozilla Firefox
• If you use the university computers, make sure
that you save your references in a place where
you can access them. See slide 23
• You can add a link server from your university to
Zotero. This can help you find full text articles.
See slide 25
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6. Installation
Mozilla Firefox
• Install the latest version
www.mozilla.org
• Install Zotero
https://www.zotero.org
/download/
• Restart the browser
Other browsers
• Install Zotero
Standalone
• https://www.zotero.org
/download/
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7. Start up Zotero
• In Firefox, click the icon in the upper right
corner to open the Zotero control panel.
(Zotero Standalone is launched like any other program.)
• The three panes of Zotero will open
• The open control panel looks like this:
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8. Organize your library
• The left panel in Zotero contains a tree structure
with folders where your references are saved.
• You can create folders for different projects you
are working on, or for different types of media.
• N.B. All references are always saved in ”My
library”
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9. Create collections
• New collections are created by clicking the
folder icon at the top left corner:
• Subfolders are created by rightclicking a folder
and select New subcollection
• If a collection is marked when you collect
references, the references will be saved there.
• And remember that all references are saved in
My library
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10. Collect references 1
• If there are references which Zotero can
gather at a website, you see a symbol in the
address field in Mozilla Firefox.
• Several references on the same page:
• Click to select which should be harvested:
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11. Collect references 2
• One reference – a book:
• One reference – an article:
• One reference – a conference article:
• And so on…
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12. Add references manually
• You can add references manually.
1. Choose the type of work
2. Enter the information you have
1. 2.
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13. Get an overview of the references
• Mark a collection and the content will be
shown in the middle panel of Zotero:
• Mark a reference and it will show in the right
panel of Zotero
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14. Edit references
• You should always check the data of imported
items
• Edit the information if necessary
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15. Remove references
• To remove a reference, right-click and choose
if you want to Remove item from collection or
remove it completely, Move item to trash
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16. Tags
• Tags are subject words describing the
reference. Tags are searchable in Zotero
• Some references already have tags, but you
can add your own under the tab Tags in the
window to the right
16

17. Search your library
• Search box
Used to search among the references in your
Zotero library.
• Advanced search
Search function with more options
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18. Search your library cont.
• To be able to search within the PDF files
associated to the references, you have to
install two plugins, pdftotext and pdfinfo
• Choose Actions, then Preferences and finally
the tab Search ( ) and install the plugins
• Click Rebuild index to index your library (this
will make future seaches quicker)
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19. The toolbar
• On the toolbar there are a number of useful
tools:
• New item ( ) – creates a blank reference
which you fill out yourself.
• Create new item from current page ( ) –
creates a new reference from the web page
you’re currently on. Useful if you want to refer
to a web site.
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20. The toolbar cont.
• Add item by identifier ( ) – Enter ISBN, DOI or
PMID to find the document directly.
• New note ( ) – Add a note to the selected
reference.
• New child attachment ( ) – Associate a file
or link to the selected reference.
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21. Some important settings 1
• Click the Actions – icon.
• Choose Preferences in the menu
• You should now see this menu:
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22. Settings 2
• To be able to access your references from any
device, create an account under Sync ( )
• Then check the box Sync automatically
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23. Settings 3
• Under the tab Cite ( ) you can see the
installed reference styles. You can also get
additional styles.
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24. Settings 4
• Under Advanced ( ) you should choose
where you want Zotero to save the files
• N.B.! When using campus computers, make
sure that you save the files where you can
access them later and not on the computer
24

25. Settings 5
• Under General ( ) you should make sure
that the automatic attachment of pdf-files is
not marked. Instead you can download the
files separately.
25

26. Settings 6
• A link server helps you find the full text
version of documents
• You can get the address to the link server from
your library.
• Under Advanced you can set if you want to
use a link server, in the box OpenURL
• Enter the address in the box Resolver
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27. Groups
• Groups can be useful in project work and other
situations where you need to see and use each others
references.
• New groups are created using the icon at the top left
corner.
• The icon links to zotero.org where you login with your
account. Then you select which properties the group
should have and who should be members.
• If you add copyrighted material, make sure that your
group is marked Private
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28. Create a separate bibliography
• If you want to create a bibliography from
some of your references, you can use the
function Create bibliography from selected
references
• Mark the references, right click and create
your bibliography.
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29. Reports
• When you want to scan
through a big number of
articles (e.g. systematic
review) – you can
generate a report
• Mark the references you
want to include (works
best with articles) and
right click to get the
menu. Choose Generate
report from selected
items
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30. Word processor plugins
• With a plug-in, you can insert references
directly in a Word, LibreOffice or OpenOffice
document
• In Word, click Zotero to open the Zotero
toolbar
• Both in-text citations and bibliography can be
inserted
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31. Insert in-text citation
• Place the marker where you want the
reference and then click Add/Edit citation
• In the box that appears, you search for the
reference you want to insert (the first time
you also select reference style)
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32. Insert bibliography
• Place the marker where you want the
bibliography (e.g. after your text) and then
click Insert Bibliography
• You only need to do this once – if you insert
more references they automatically go into
the bibliography
32

33. Refresh document & change reference style
• The tool Refresh arranges your references
again if, for example, you have moved sections
of text with references within your document
• Via Document Preferences you can change
reference style
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34. zotero.org
• Many more functions are available, visit
http://www.zotero.org/ to find out more
about how you can use Zotero!
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35. An introduction to Zotero made by
the Library at BTH for the
Writingguide.se
E-mail: redaktionen@skrivguiden.se
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