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Manage Your Sources: Zotero

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The library offers a range of helpful services.  All of our appointments are free of charge and confidential.

What is Zotero?

  • A free, open-source bibliographic management tool that collects, stores, and organizes citations you've found for journal articles, books, web sites and other sources.
  • A desktop application and browser plugin that work together to save citations right to your desktop with optional web-based syncing between computers.

What can Zotero do?

  • Read content from your web browser to add to your personal library. 
  • Store 300 MB of attachments (ie. PDFs) in the cloud.
  • Insert formatted citations into your writing by installing a Zotero plugin in your word processor.
  • Import records from traditional and non-traditional references, like wikis and websites. 
  • Import references using a browser plugin.
  • Retrieve PDF metadata.
  • Organize and annotate your citations.

How do I get started?

  • Visit the Zotero website
    1. Download the Zotero desktop application
    2. Download a Zotero browser extension (Zotero Connector) for each browser you wish to use with Zotero (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari)

Always check your citations

Citation managers don't always format citations perfectly. Remember to check your citations for missing or inaccurate information and formatting.

Resources to help with citations

Guide: Cite Your SourcesGuide: Manage Your Sources Video: Is this a Scholarly Journal Article

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