Installing Zotero

Adding Items to Zotero

Once you have items saved in Zotero, you can create a bibliography from your items by selecting the items you want to include, right clicking, and choosing "Create Bibliography from Selected Items."

This will open a dialog window that will ask you what style you want to use and what you want to do with the bibliography.  If you choose "Save as RTF," you can then paste the bibliography into a Word document.

Shortcut: If you are dealing with a small number of references, you can just drag-and-drop citations from Zotero into your word processing program. If you use this method, make sure you check the formatting. Italics and hanging indents may not come through.

Changing Styles

In-Text Citations

Zotero on Multiple Computers

Since Zotero is installed software, it lives on a particular machine.  If you routinely use multiple computers, you will probably want to sign up for a Zotero account. This will allow you to sync your Zotero library across computers, or to view your library directly on the Zotero website. You can set your Zotero client to sync automatically in the preferences panel under "Sync".

Getting Help

Zotero does far more than is described in this brief summary. Abundant documentation is available at the Zotero website. This includes a number of screen cast tutorials and information on how to:

1. Organize your Zotero library using folders and tags
2. Integrate Zotero with your word processing software
3. Search within your library
4. Add notes and attachments to your references