Zotero for Citation Management

Table of Contents:

Getting Organized

Zotero has taken many steps to ensure that you have the best organization experience possible, but you will still need to organize your documents to your preferences. There are a few simple steps that you can take to make finding your saved references as simple as possible. 

1. Tagging References

• Tagging references in your library with keywords (e.g. title or article) can make reference navigation faster!
• Each tag is searchable and personalized by you.

A. Disable Auto-Tagging

B. Creating Tags

C. Color a Tag

2. Starting Collections

• There are many ways to group references together. One such way is the collection option. With this setting, you can easily pick and choose which articles you want to be grouped together and even create sub-collections to filter certain references.

3. Adding Notes

• Zotero's note feature allows the user to instantly create and save thoughts and comments about particular references.

A. Create Note Inside A Reference 

B. Add Notes From the Internet 

Tagging References

1. Disable Auto-Tagging

2. Creating Tags

3. Color a Tag

Every reference in your Zotero library is assigned a tag. By default, these tags are automatically generated by Zotero, but you can opt out of this feature and create tags yourself. One reason to choose this manual approach is to keep organized and make searching easier.

1. Disable Auto-Tagging

a. From the Zotero menu, click "Edit" in the top right-hand corner.

b. Select "Preferences."

c. Click the "General" tab and UNCHECK the "Automatically tag items..." box highlighted below.

2. Creating Tags

a. To create a new tag, click an item from your library.

b. A window will appear on the right-hand side of Zotero's homepage. 

• From this window, select the "Tags" tab and then click "Add"

c. Type the tag name you'd like to add to your selected item. Click "Add."

 d. To delete a tag, press the minus button next to it. 

e. Tags appear in the bottom left corner of Zotero. 

3. Color a Tag

a.To assign a tag color, right-click the desired tag in Zotero's bottom left corner and then select "Assign Color."

b. To choose a color, click on the colorful box in the "Choose a Tag Color and Position" window and then select from the drop-down menu. Once finished, click "Set Color."

c. The tag's color will appear beside its reference in your Zotero library.

Starting Collections

Collections are a great way to keep your references organized. They allow you to easily track and find related articles and topics, narrowing down your search.

1. Create a New Collection

a. Click on the file folder icon in the top left-hand corner of Zotero.

b. A window named "New Collection" will appear. Type the desired name of your new collection in the provided text box and select "OK." 

c. Your new collection will appear within "My Library" on the right-hand side of Zotero.

2. Create a Subcollection

a. Right-click a Collection

b. Select "New Subcollection..." from the resulting window.

Adding Notes

1. Create Note Inside A Reference 

2. Add Notes From the Internet 

1. Create Note Inside A Reference

a. From the right-hand panel of Zotero, click the "Notes" tab.

b. Click "Add."

c. Type your note within the text box provided. The note will automatically save.

2. Add Notes From the Internet 

a. From a webpage, highlight your desired text.

b. Right-click the highlighted text and scroll to "Save to Zotero." 

c. From this button, select "Create Zotero Item and Note from Selection." 

d. A new window will appear. Select from the "Saving to..." drop-down box to choose where your note will be saved in Zotero