educational technology center - widener university · 2015. 11. 11. · educational technology...

Educational Technology Center Zotero Citation Management

Prepared by Sarah Slinger. 1 Last Updated 11/10/2015.

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox, Chrome, or Safari extension to help you

collect, manage, and cite your research sources and keep track of references.

When to Use Zotero? Useful areas include:

Inserting references while writing scholarly papers

Inserting footnotes or citations in memos, or briefs

Including references in your class outlines

Keeping track of references while conducting online research

Inserting material such as PDFs, journal articles, case links, images, webpages, and

videos to your references

I. Getting Started

A. For Windows

1. Download Firefox web browser if you don't have it – www.mozilla.com

2. Install Zotero for Firefox – https://www.zotero.org/download/

3. Install Bluebook Law Review (I) & (II) and Bluebook Inline styles -

www.zotero.org/styles (click the downloaded style to install)

4. For Windows, Install the Word plugin –

www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_installation

B. For Mac

1. For Mac, make sure you have either Firefox, Chrome, or Safari web browsers

2. Install Zotero Standalone by clicking the appropriate browser icon, then

double-click the downloaded file to install*

*Word plugin is included in Zotero for Mac/Zotero Standalone.

3. Install Bluebook Law Review (I) & (II) and Bluebook Inline styles by

double-clicking the downloaded file – www.zotero.org/styles

C. For Additional Help

1. Peruse the Zotero Help Forums here

2. View the Zotero Quick Start Guide Video Tour here

http://www.mozilla.com/

https://www.zotero.org/download/

http://www.zotero.org/styles

http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_installation

http://www.zotero.org/styles

https://forums.zotero.org/categories/

https://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide

Educational Technology CenterZotero Citation Management


II. Quick Guide to the Zotero Toolbar

A. Using Zotero in Word is relatively easy thanks to the toolbar. Your toolbar

should have 7 different buttons that enable you to add content, references, and

change your citation preferences. Below is a brief overview of each function you

will need to use.

1. Insert Citation

All the references that were captured or saved online appear in your

Zotero documents library. These references can be added to your

document by clicking the Insert Citation button. A Zotero search bar will

appear and references can be typed in and selected from the search bar.

2. Edit Citation

Edit Citation enables you to revise your citations in a limited way. From

this window you may edit the page numbers of the reference.

3. Insert Bibliography, Edit Bibliography, Refresh

Insert Bibliography allows you to create a bibliographic list of your

citations. The Edit bibliography button allows you to change multiple

citations at once. Refresh allows you to reflect changes you have made.

** These features will not work with either the Bluebook Law

Review or Bluebook Inline styles.

4. Set Doc Prefs

Set Doc Prefs allows you to change the style of your citations (e.g.

Bluebook Law Review form to Bluebook Inline), the form of your

citations (e.g. endnotes to footnotes), store references, and change your

journal abbreviation preferences.



Fig. 4. Not Able to Capture Fig. 4a. Able to Capture

Fig. 1. Zotero Toolbar Symbol

Fig. 2. Document Capture Available

Fig. 3. Capture Button on Toolbar

Fig. 5. Manual Drop Down List

III. Saving References from the Internet

a. If Using Windows

1. Once Firefox is opened, a “Z” button will be available in your browser toolbar on

the right hand side of the screen.

2. If a capture icon (a document symbol) appears in the address bar, Zotero can

automatically create an item of the appropriate type and populate the metadata

fields. If a full-text PDF is available, it will automatically be attached to the item.

b. If Using Mac

1. To begin capturing citations on Firefox, click on the “Z” symbol in the upper left

hand corner of your browser, or use command+shift+z.

2. In Safari there will be a “Z” icon next to the address bar in your browser. When a

webpage is capture-able, the icon will change to a document symbol. Click the

document symbol to save the item.

3. Alternatively, you can right-click on your mouse (or CTRL+Click the touchpad if

using a Mac laptop). A drop down window will appear with the option to “Save

Zotero Snapshot”.

http://www.zotero.org/support/getting_stuff_into_your_library



Fig. 7. Citing a Book on Worldcat

Fig. 6. Select “RefMan”

c. Helpful Capture Workarounds

1. Unfortunately, Zotero cannot pull data to fill in all fields under a reference from

Westlaw or Lexis. One important workaround is to find the case using Google

Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.

a. Select the “Case Law” bubble and search the case. Then, on the

results page under your case, select “Cite”.

b. In the pop up window, select “RefMan”. This will import the case

data into Zotero.

2. Another helpful workaround for use with print books, is to find the book using

Worldcat: http://worldcat.org. From here you can import the data into Zotero

without having to do it manually by reading the information off your physical

copy of the book.

a. Search the book in the Worldcat search bar. Click on the book on the

results page. Then select “Cite/Export” on the top right of the book’s

webpage, just under the search bar.

b. Again, select export to “Reference Manager”. This will import the

data into your Zotero library.

https://scholar.google.com/

http://worldcat.org/



Fig. 8. Click the Capture Icon to Save the Source

Fig. 9. View of the Saved Reference Entry in the Zotero Application

IV. Making Use of Your Saved References

a. Once your references are saved into the Zotero application, you can now pull them

directly into your Word document. For example, suppose I am writing an intellectual

property law review article on Patent Trolls. While researching, I want to save a relevant

article and use it as a footnote:

i. The article that I would like to cite in my law review article is “Do Patent Trolls Have a

Future” in the Federal Lawyer on HeinOnline. I can click the Zotero capture button in

my browser, which will save the article and snapshot into the Zotero application.

ii. Now I need to check that my reference was saved in Zotero in the proper format.

Once the Zotero application is open, I can see the reference I saved. In this example,

the document saved properly as a journal article.

iii. If my reference saved incorrectly, I can edit the reference by selecting the proper

“Item Type” from the drop down list, and adding the correct information into the

categories below.



Fig. 11. Selecting a Citation Style

Fig. 12. Selecting the Correct Place for a Reference

Fig. 10. Changing the Item Type

For example if my journal article saved as a case:

iv. To cite this article, I now need to open my Word document. If I want to insert the

reference as a footnote to my article, I need to select the Bluebook Law Review style

I or II. On the Zotero toolbar select “Set Doc Prefs”. Then select “Bluebook Law

Review I or II” from the list.

v. To add the footnote in the proper place, I should select the line in my document

where I want the footnote number to appear. For example, in this article I want the

footnote to be in the second paragraph, first sentence, so I will move my cursor there.



Fig. 13. Typing the Reference Name in Word

Fig. 14. Reference Inserted into Document

Fig. 15. Selecting a Different Style

vi. Using the Zotero toolbar, select “Insert Citation”. A search bar will appear. In the

search bar, type an identifier (i.e. the name, author etc.) of the article reference to be

inserted.

vii. Select enter once the reference appears in the drop down list under the search bar.

The reference should appear in the footnotes of your article in Bluebook form.

b. Now I want to add a different reference, a case, as an in text citation.

i. I must select the “Set Doc Prefs” button again, and select “Bluebook Inline” from

the list.



Fig. 16. Manually Saving a Reference

Fig. 17. Checking the Item Type of a Saved Reference

Fig. 18. Inserting Information in the Item’s Fields

ii. To insert a reference found on Google Scholar e.g.: Overstock.com, Inc. v.

Furnace Brook, LLC, I should save the reference into Zotero using the Zotero

capture button in my browser, or by using the workaround using RefMan.

iii. Next, open the Zotero application and ensure that the reference was saved as the

proper item type. In this instance, the item was saved incorrectly as a web page

instead of a case.

iv. To change the item type, select the “Item Type” line and select “case” from the

drop down list. Then, insert the appropriate citation information in the categories

below (i.e. reporter, volume, etc.)



Fig. 19. Inserting a Reference into the Word Document

Fig. 20. The Inserted Reference in the Word Document

v. Now I should return to my Word document and place my cursor at the end of the

sentence where I want my citation to be. Then select “Insert Citation” from my

Zotero toolbar. In the search bar, type an identifier of the case to be added.

vi. Once my reference appears in the drop down list, I can select it. The reference

will then be added to my document in Bluebook form.

For more help see the Zotero website: www.zotero.org or contact Maggie Adams-

[email protected] x-2039

http://www.zotero.org/

mailto:[email protected]

educational technology center - widener university · 2015. 11. 11. · educational technology...

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