Reference management software: Zotero

Organising your Zotero library

Folders

In addition to creating new folders for searches and for organising your items, you can also clear folders, for instance in order to remove duplicate items from your library.

  1. Try to find and import an item that you already have in your library.
  2. Identify the item in the file Duplicate items and type some additional metadata in the two versions. For instance, you can change the year of publication or the spelling of the author's name.
  3. Try to merge the versions. Pick the metadata that you want to save and explore how it works.
  4. Look in the file Unfiled items. Here are files that are not yet sorted. Try to drag some of the items into already existing folders or create new ones to organise them.

Notes and tags

Notes and tags are a good way to mark your items in order to be able to find them again later or to summarise what they are about.

  1. Add a child note to one of the items in your library.
  2. Also add some new tags. Name one of the tags "To read" and add it to several items.
  3. Choose the colour red for your tag.
  4. Explore how you can find your tag "To read" in the Tag selector in the bottom left window and see all items tagged with it.

Searching your library

  1. Try searching by advanced search functions in your library.
  2. Try searching by tags.
  3. If you have any PDF-files in your library, index them and try free text search in PDF-files.

Working with the references

  1. Open a document and add a citation in a parenthetic style, e.g. Harvard, via Add/Edit Citation.
  2. Modify the citation using the citation dialogue, which opens when you insert or edit a citation:
  • Try writing the author's name in the text before the citation and hiding it in the citation by using the option Suppress author.
  • Try writing the citation as "(cf. [item], pp. 22-24)". Use the fields in the dialogue!
  • Use the html tags (<i>, </i>) to italicise "cf.".
  • Try writing the citation as "[item] supports this argument". Work with the fields in the dialogue!
  • What happens if you instead write "cf." in the word processor and update the citations?
  • Click in the same citation and add two more items directly after the first. Note the order in which they appear in the document: Does Zotero sort the items in any specific order? Try moving the items in the citation dialogue box in order to change the order.

1. Add footnotes in Zotero

  1. Open a document and add a citation in a footnote style, e.g. Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (full note), via Add/Edit Citation.
  2. Modify the citation using the citation dialogue, which opens when you insert or edit a citation:
  • Try writing the author's name in the text before the citation and hiding it in the citation by using the option Suppress author.
  • Try writing the citation as "Cf. [item], pp. 22-24". Use the fields in the dialogue!
  • Use the html tags (<i>, </i>) to italicise "cf.".
  • Try writing the citation as "[item] supports this argument". Work with the fields in the dialogue!
  • What happens if you instead write "cf." in the word processor and update the citations?
  • Click in the same citation and add two more items directly after the first. Note the order in which they appear in the document: Does Zotero sort the items in any specific order? Try moving the items in the citation dialogue box to change the order.

2. Add footnotes in the word processor

  1. Add a footnote using the footnote function in the word processor and then add a citation in the footnote using Zotero.
  2. Modify the citation using the citation dialogue, which opens when you insert or edit a citation. Use the exercises above.
  3. Unlike when you have added the entire footnote in Zotero, you can now also add text and additional footnotes directly in the document, before and after the citation. Try adding items and typing the text "[Item A] and [item B]. This is also argued by [item C]." in a footnote. (Always avoid writinng in the citation itself, i..e., in the grey field!)
  • See if you can construct the same text by using only the citation dialogue. Depending on the reference style, this may be difficult or impossible. Note the differences in how it works.

Import and export

  1. Export some references in any format (e.g. RIS, Zotero RDF, CSV).
  2. Mark some references and create a reference list using Zotero.

Plugins for Zotero

Download any plugin that suits your need and try using it.

Finding new styles or creating your own

There are countless reference styles for Zotero except for those already preinstalled. There are several ways to find new styles to install.

Installing new styles

  1. Either go through Zotero.org/styles or through Preferences > Cite > Get additional styles in Zotero and find a style that is not already installed. For instance, try finding the style "Glossa" for the journal with that name. Also try finding a footnote style.
  2. Download the file to your computer and install it by going back to Cite click the plus sign (+).
  3. Open a new document and try adding some citations using the new style.

Finding a style by appearance

  1. Go to http://editor.citationstyles.org > Search by example.
  2. Try finding a style that is similar to the following example:

In-text citation: Magiru and Magiru, "Legal language and criminal conversation in medieval society and legends".

Bibliographic entry: Magiru, Anca and Ionel Magiru. "Legal language and criminal conversation in medieval society and legends." Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice 4, no. 1 (2012): 618-26.

  • Note that the bibliographic information (e.g., author) must be exchanged from the example above to the example on the webpage.
  • Be careful to search the right type of source by using Previous and Next. The example above is an article in a scientific journal.
  • Facit: If you have typed in the information correctly, Chicago Manual of Style should be among the top styles you find.

3. Install the file by downloading it to your computer and finding it from the Zotero Cite pane.

4. Continue to explore, using examples of your own from journals that you often read – can you find a style that corresponds to the one used in the journal?