Engineering 156: Technical & Professional Writing for Science & Engineers

Welcome!

This session will focus on Zotero, a citation management tool that will be helpful to use with your papers. Zotero can create references, let you keep an organized collection of references, and can even help you embed references directly into your paper.

Outcomes

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

1. Create and use a Zotero account
2. Download citations into Zotero
3. Use Zotero to create a bibliography

There is a new version of Zotero, as of August 2024. Some of the images in this guide may be out-dated. Here is more information about the latest version (Zotero 7).

Zotero is a free, open source citation management tool. You can use it to collect, organize, and cite your research. It can also synchronize your data across devices.

ZoteroBib is a new Zotero tool that helps you make quick bibliographies.

Why Zotero?

• Zotero is free, and features an online community that can often help with questions.
• Zotero saves your citation library locally. While it will let you sync your citations through the cloud, you'll need to adjust your settings on every computer. If you mostly use one computer, Zotero is a great option.
• You don't need to be online to use Zotero.
• Zotero is easy to use.

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

1. To install Zotero, click "Download." Make sure to click the Operating System that matches your computer's.
2. You will also need to install and connect the Zotero Connector, which allows you to save to Zotero from your browser. Zotero will automatically ask if you want to install the connector for the browser you are currently in. Connectors are available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari (see note below). Click on the name of the browser you want the Connector for and follow your computer's instructions.
3. Install the Word Processor plugin for each supported word processor on your computer. These should be installed automatically when you first start Zotero -- if not, consult these troubleshooting suggestions. You may need to restart your word processor.

Note: There is a Zotero Connector for Safari bundled with Zotero which can be enabled from the Extensions pane in the Safari settings. If you are unable to install an extension in your browser, you can save webpages or identifiers to your library using the magic want tool or a search in Zotero. Safari does not support extensions distributed directly.

On the left, you'll see a listing of folders contained in your Library. You can create new folders for different projects. This is called a Collection.

In the center is a list of articles and other materials you have added. These are Items.

On the right are details about the items in your collections. Author names and other tags you have created (e.g., read, to be read, etc) are here.