> Research Guide - How to use Zotero (Citation Management Tool)

Zotero is a free, open-source citation management tool that assists users in collecting, organising, citing, and sharing research sources. It integrates with web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, automatically detecting web content for easy reference collecting.

Users can build and organise their citation database, generate bibliographies in various citation styles, and create in-text citations within Microsoft Word. Its collaborative features make it situable for team projects and use across multiple devices, with a consistent interface on both Windows and Mac OS.
 

 

Account Registration

1. Visit the Zotero website: https://www.zotero.org/

2. Click "Log In" at the top right-hand corner.

3. Click "Register for a free acount" to enter the registration page.

4. Enter your login credentials and email to register the Zotero account.

5. Activate your Zotero account using the activation link sent to your email.

 

Downloading & Installing Zotero 7 and the Connector

First-Time User

1. Synchronising your account allows you to access your Zotero library on any computer with internet access.

2. Open the Zotero desktop application. Click on the "Set up Syncing" text button.

 

3. Enter your login credentials and click "Set Up Syncing" to enable account synchronisation.

 

Existing User

1. Open the Zotero desktop application. Navigate to "Edit > Settings".

 

2. Enter your login credentials and click "Set Up Syncing" to enable account synchronisation.

 

Discover@ShueYan

1. Enter your keywords and search for resources.

2. Click on the title you would like to explore.

 

3. Click the "EXPORT RIS" button, then choose "UTF-8" encoding, and click the "DOWNLOAD" button. This will export the reference as a RIS file.

 

4. In the Zotero application, open the "File" menu, then select "Import...".

 

5. Click the "Next" button.

 

6. Find the "Primo_RIS Export.ris" file in the File Explorer and click "Open".

 

7. Click the "Next" button to proceed.

 

8. Click "Finish".

 

9. Check your reference library. The item will be successfully imported into a "Primo_Export_RIS" folder.

 

Online Databases

1. Access the resource through the online database platform.

 

2. Many online database platforms support the Zotero Connector. Click on the Zotero Connector icon located at the top right-hand corner of your browser. Wait until the resource title appears in the small pop-up window, indicating that the reference (and/or the full-text file) has been successfully added.

 

3. You may then check the Zotero application to access the reference and the full-text file.

 

Google Scholar

1. Visit the Google Scholar website: https://scholar.google.com/

2. Enter your keywords to search for resources.

 

3. To add the reference of the selected resources to your Zotero Library, click the Zotero Connector icon located at the top right-hand corner of your browser. Then, select the items you would like to add and click "OK".

 

4. Wait until your selected resources appear in the small window with the text "Available Version (via Google Scholar)" enabled, on the top right-hand corner, as shown below.

 

5. You may then check the Zotero application to access the reference and the full-text file.

 

Webpage

1. The Zotero Connector can help you to add references from the webpage with the snapshot together.

2. When you are browsing the webpage, click on the Zotero Connector icon located at the top right-hand corner of your browser and wait until the webpage title appears in the small pop-up window.

 

3. The webpage reference with the snapshot will be successfully added to your reference library.

 

PDF File

1. If you have a PDF file on your device, you can simply drag and drop the PDF file into Zotero to generate the reference.

 

2. Zotero will then attempt to retrieve the metadata to generate a reference for the PDF file.

 

3. The reference will be generated after a short period.

 

Identifiers: ISBNs, DOIs, or PMIDs

1. You can also directly create references in Zotero by using the ISBNs, DOIs or PMIDs of the resources.

2. Click on the magic-wand icon as shown below.

 

3. Enter the ISBN, DOI, PMID, arXiv ID, or ADS Bibcode of the resource in the field.

 

4. The reference of the resource will be added to your library.

 

5. The full-text document will not be added using this method. However, you can use the "Find Full Text" function in the right-click menu to attach the full-text document easily.

 

Add References Manually

1. You can add references manually for unique resources, such as legal cases, newspapers, films, etc.

2. Click the "Add" button in Zotero and select the appropriate resource type.

 

3. Input the information for the resource accordingly.

 

Changing the Item Type of the Reference Entry

While editing the reference entry, you may click the "Item Type" field to change the item type of reference.

 

Adjusting the Capitalisation of the Title

After entering the title, you can adjust it to "title case" or "sentence case" by clicking the "..." button beside the title field.

 

Changing the Relator of the Title

If the responsible person for the title is not an author, you can change the "Author" to another relator type, such as "Contributor," "Editor," "Translator," etc.

 

Group References by Folders

1. You may use folders to organise references effectively, such as by research project name, course code, assignment name, etc. References added to or deleted from a folder will not affect the master record in "My Library".

2. Right-click on "My Library" and select "New Collection...".

 

3. Name the group and click "Create Collection".

 

4. To create a sub-folder, right-click on the main folder and select "New Subcollection...".

 

5. Name the sub-group and click "Create Collection".

 

6. Drag and drop references into the desired folders and subfolders.

 

Find Full Text

For journal articles with a DOI in the reference entry, you can use the "Find Full Text" function to search for the full-text PDF document.

 

Find Duplicate References

You can find all the duplicate references in the "Duplicate items" folder.

 

Add Tag(s) to a Reference Item

To add a tag to a reference item, select the "tag" icon, click the "+" button, and name the tag.

 

Add Note(s) to a Reference Item

1. Right-click on a selected reference item, then select "Add Note".

 

2. Type your note in the field as shown below:

 

Attach PDF(s) to a Reference Item

1. To attach a full-text document or a PDF file, right-click on the selected reference item. Select "Add Attachment" and then click "File."

 

2. Choose the full-text document you would like to attach and click "Open."

 

Sort References

You can sort references by clicking the corresponding column headings.

 

Highlighting and Underlining in PDF

1. Double-click the selected reference item with an attached PDF or full-text file.

 

2. Highlight the sentence and select a colour for the highlighted sentence. You may also use the "A" function to underline the sentence instead.

 

3. The selected will be highlighted in your selected colour.

 

Annotating in PDF

1. Select a highlighted sentence. Then, you may enter an annotation for the highlighted sentence.

 

2. You may also use other functions located in the function bar, including "Add Text," "Select Area," and "Draw" in the PDF.

 

Citing Sources in Microsoft Word

1. To cite a source, place the cursor at the end of the sentence to add an in-text citation. Click the "Zotero" tab, then click "Add/Edit Citation."

For the first time, select the appropriate citation style (such as APA 7th or Chicago) and language (English [UK] or English [US]). Then, click "OK" to save your preferences.

 

2. Search for and select the citation.

 

 

3. You can also add a page number in the in-text citation.

To do so, select the citation in the search bar, then enter the page number in the field.

If you would like to express the in-text citation in narrative form (e.g., Fesenmaier and Wӧber (2023) stated that ...), you can enable the "Omit Author" option.

Press "Enter" to confirm the citation.

 

4. Finally, press the "Enter" key again to insert the citation.

 

5. The in-text citation will be inserted.

In case you need to edit or correct the in-text citation again, you may click "Add/Edit Citation" at the top left-hand corner.

 

Building a Reference List in Microsoft Word

1. To build a reference list after you complete your assignment or research paper, simply click "Add/Edit Bibliograpgy".

 

2. All citations which had been used in your paper will be added as shown below which match the citation style:

 

Editing the Reference List in Microsoft Word

1. If you found errors in the reference list, click "Add/Edit Bibliography" and select the reference entry you would like to edit.

Edit the entry below and click "OK" to save.

 

 

Removing Field Codes in the document

1. Your in-text citations and references are full of field codes which dynamically linked to your Zotero Library. Therefore, you will need to remove the field codes before submitting the document.

To remove the field codes, simply click "Unlink Citations".

 

2. Click "OK" to confirm the warning message.

 

3. Your document will now become a clean version.

From the "File" tab, select "Save As..." to save the new version of the document.

It is recommended to create copy of the document: one version remains connected to the Zotero application (with field codes in the document), while another version you submit does not (without field codes in the document). This approach allows you to make corrections and modifications to the original document if needed.

 

Creating a Group

1. Creating a Group provides a way to share references with other partners. The number of group members is not limited.

To create a group, open the "File" menu, select "New Library" and click "New Group...".

 

2. Log in to your Zotero account.

 

3. Name your group, select the group type, and click "Create Group".

Group Types:

Public, Open Membership - Anyone can view and join the group instantly.

Public, Closed Membership - Anyone can view the group, but must ask to join.

Private Membership - Only members can view the group, and new members must be invited to join.

 

4. The group is created. You can always change the group setting on the settings page, then click "Save Settings".

 

5. The Group Library is also created. You can view it in the Zotero application. You may drag and drop selected citations to share them among group members.

Please note that the storage capacity of your attached files is shared between your Main Library and the Group Library.

 

Inviting Members

1. To invite members, visit the link https://www.zotero.org/groups/ and log in.

 

2. Select "Manage Members" in your created group.

 

3. Click "Send More Invitations".

 

4. Enter the member's email address or Zotero username in the field. Sperate each email or username by commas. Then, click "Invite Members".