Technology How To

What is Zotero?
Zotero is a free Firefox addon that gathers, manages, and can create a bibliography of sources. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies using MS Word. Most users find it easier to use than EndNote. Like all Firefox plugins, Zotero automatically updates itself periodically to work with new online sources and new bibliographic styles.

Getting Zotero

1. Go to http://www.zotero.org/

2. Click the red “Download” button

3. Click “Install Now” and follow the instructions.

4. Restart the Firefox web browser. (You’ll see a small Zotero button at the bottom of your Firefox window.)

Note: If you see the message “Firefox prevented this site from asking you to install software on your computer,” click “Edit Options,” then “Allow” and “Close.”Follow steps 1-3 again to download and install Zotero.

On the WFU Standard Software Load, Zotero files are stored in C:Userdata/Firefox/Zotero

Starting Zotero
Click on the Zotero button at the bottom of a Firefox browser window. This will open a Zotero window in the bottom half of the browser window.

Collecting References

From the ZSR Library Catalog

From Your Search Results Lists
Go to the library catalog at http://zsr.wfu.edu and conduct your search. From your list of results page you can save all titles on each page by simply clicking the folder icon next to the URL in your web browser.
When you click it a quick list of the titles on the page will pop up and you can choose the titles you want to download into Zotero or just select all titles.

When you click OK your titles will be downloaded into Zotero. To access them, just click the Zotero icon at the bottom of your browser. You may need to alter author formats, title, capitalization and other items in the record to be sure it works properly with the citation output manager.

From an individual record in the catalog:
You can bring in titles from our catalog one record at a time. From the catalog record click the blue book icon at the end of the URL. This will add just that single title into Zotero.

Library Databases
Many of our Library databases including Ebsco, Proquest, Web of Science, JSTOR and many others allow you to add items to Zotero directly from your results list.

After you conduct a search and are on a results page you will see the yellow folder icon after the URL. If you click on it you will be given the option to add all the titles on the page or select the ones you want. After you check off the boxes and click OK your titles will be added to Zotero. Again, you may need to double-check formats, etc. on individual records to be sure they are accurate.

Web Sites
There are some web sites where you can get articles directly into Zotero. When on an article from NYtimes.com, for example, you will see a small newspaper icon after your URL and if you click that - the article will be downloaded into Zotero. Other sites where this is possible include: washingtonpost.com and time.com.

On pages where you do not see the icon in the URL bar, you can click the Create New Item from Page icon in Zotero to get a quick start on adding that page to Zotero. You may then need to edit the Zotero record to add all of the relevant information.

Zotero can’t automatically capture citation info from some web pages, but you can still add them to your Zotero library.Click the Zotero button at the bottom of your browser to access Zotero’s controls. Click either the chain link button to save a link to the page, or the camera button to save a “snapshot.” A snapshot is a copy of the page saved to your local computer. It includes the page’s text and images, so if the page is removed later you’ll still be able to refer to it.

Creating a Bibliography from Selected Items

To export selected items in Zotero to a bibliography in MS Word:

1. Click on the items you want to export.

2. Hold the ctrl key to select multiple items.

3. Choose Create Bibliography from Selected Items

a. Select the desired citation style.

b. Select Save as RTF to create an MS Word file (or Save to Clipboard to paste
in an existing document.)

4. In the window that opens, select Save on Desktop and name the file.

Creating a Bibliography from a Collection

To export a collection in Zotero to bibliography in MS Word:

1. Right click on the collection you want to export.

2. Hold the ctrl key to select multiple items.

3. Choose Create Bibliography from Collection

a. Select the desired citation style.

b. Select Save as RTF to create an MS Word file (or Save to Clipboard to paste
in an existing document.)

4. In the window that opens, select Save on Desktop. The file will be named after the collection, or you can give the file a new name.

Getting the Microsoft Word Citation Plugin
Download and install the Microsoft Word citation plugin to facilitate citing items from a Zotero library in a paper.

1. The plugin can be found by clicking the link to:
Integration with Microsoft Word and OpenOffice on the Zotero homepage
Or by going directly to:
http://www.zotero.org/download/integration/Zotero-Word-Plugin-Installer-1.0b3.exe

Steps for adding and using the Zotero plugin.

1. Go to http://www.zotero.org/download/integration/Zotero-Word-Plugin-Installer-1.0b3.exe
2. Save the file to your desktop (should take just a few seconds).
3. Open the file and click through the installation.
4. Once it is finished you can delete the file from your desktop.

To make the extension work in Word, both Firefox and Word have to be open

1. Open your paper in Word.
2. In your paper, put the cursor where you want the parenthetical citation to go.
3. Click on the “Add-Ins” tab:
4. You should have a bar that looks like this:
(This is what you just installed!)
5. Click the “r.’z” box:
6. Then you can browse through your Zotero citations and pick the right one. This will enter the parenthetical citation at the right place.
7. After you are done citing everything, click on the “insert bibliography button”:
This should add the works cited for all the citations you have made.
8. As with any automated bibliography software, you should always look over your citations to make sure that they look accurate and aren’t missing anything. If you need a refresher for APA, you can find one on the library website here: http://zsr.wfu.edu/research/guides/apa.html

Moving citations between Zotero and EndNote
While Zotero can create bibliographies in 15-20 different citation styles, EndNote version X1 includes over 2900 styles. Zotero also lacks EndNote’s capacity to edit existing styles and create custom ones. Both programs can read and write a standard citation file format called RIS.

Zotero to EndNote
To save your Zotero library for importing into EndNote, click the Zotero button that looks like a gear and choose Export Library. Choose RIS as the file type and pick a filename. In EndNote, click File and then Import. Click the Choose File button and select the file you just exported from Zotero. Set Import Option to Reference Manager (RIS) and click Import.

EndNote to Zotero
To export your EndNote library for use in Zotero, click File and then Export. Set the output style to RefMan (RIS) Export and save it as a text file. In Zotero, click the button that looks like a gear and choose Import. Just double-click the file you exported from EndNote. The new references will be added to a collection named “Imported” followed by the date and time.

Using Both EndNote and Zotero
If you use Endnote and Zotero, you need to change the default settings in Zotero so that you are not prevented from doing a direct export to Endnote.
1. Open the Zoreto Window
2. Click on the gear icon in the Left Panel and choose Preferences.
3. Uncheck the box that says “Use Zotero for downloading Endnote Files”.

Troubleshooting
If you are having chronic problems getting Zotero to work across multiple sites, try disabling all Firefox add-ons except Zotero. To do this, open the Tools menu, click “Add-ons”, and click “Disable” for every add-on, and then restart Firefox. If this solves the problem, re-enable the add-ons one-by-one until you find the conflict, and then post the name of the add-on that was causing the issue to the forums.