Jack Dougherty Yesterday it happened again. Every time I teach a class or give a guest lecture about the research-to-writing process, I pose this question: Do you currently use a bibliography management tool to keep track of books and articles you’ve read, so that you can easily cite them in your writing? While of my undergraduates have never used these tools, I continue to be surprised by gatherings of graduate students in reading-intensive fields, such as history, where only half of the audience raise their hands. And when I talk further with the half who use these tools, many confide that they still don’t fully understand how to effectively utilize them. Probably because it’s still uncommon for scholars to openly teach, share, and learn ways of composing our written works, despite the fact that it’s the primary way we evaluate the quality of our students and faculty. This mismatch between the high value we place on writing, and the limited ways we teach about the process, never ceases to amaze me. To address this problem, I’ve blended a three-minute visual demonstration on why and how to use a bibliographic management tool into my broader presentations on the research-to-writing process. This demo is relevant to anyone working on long-form expository writing with source citations, including undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Incorporating a bibliographic management tool into your workflow may improve the quality of your scholarship, or at minimum, preserve your sanity.
Jul 13, 2015 Zotero now supports Office 2016 for Mac. Update your Word plugin in Firefox or your version of Zotero Standalone to start using it today. Click the Download Zotero for (Mac/Windows) button. This will start the download. Open/Run the downloaded file. Downloading Zotero - For Web Browser There are Zotero plug-ins available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. Choose which browser you'd like to download Zotero for.
While there are several applications on the market, my favorite is, a and open-source application from the at George Mason University. Many people describe Zotero as “iTunes for your books and articles.” But it does much more. And in case you missed this, let me repeat that it’s free.
In my three-minute presentation I briefly demonstrate basic ways to use Zotero, such as capturing sources from the web and citing them in the preferred format of your academic field (such as Chicago-style endnotes in history, or APA or MLA in-line citations and bibliographies in the social sciences and literature fields). If you’re an educator for students doing long-form expository writing, consider designing your own quick demo to show in class. Or invite a student to do it. Or point your class to my, which appears at the bottom of this page. Or assign them to read this essay. Zotero for Firefox (left) and Zotero Standalone icon (right) 3) Capture Sources from your Browser into your Zotero Library When browsing sources online, Zotero-friendly websites will display small icons in the search bar (such as a miniature book or article).
Click the icon to automatically capture the source metadata into your Zotero library, including any PDF files or web snapshots, if available. For example, try saving a book citation from or, or an article from or, or a news story from. In Zotero Standalone, right-click to save current page Also, you may manually enter Zotero entries for items not available on the web. For any Zotero item, type in your reading notes or tags, or sort into hierarchical folders (called collections) by topic. 4) Choose Your Academic Citation Style After creating your Zotero library items, you can easily insert them into your writing using any academic citation style. Three of the most common citation styles are:. Many historians use Chicago-style endnotes or footnotes — —.
Many social scientists use APA inline citations with works cited — —. Many literature scholars use MLA inline citations with a bibliography — — You can set your Zotero Preferences to any of these formats, plus many others. 5) Set Zotero Preferences to your Citation Style In Zotero, click the Gear Symbol Preferences Export to set your default output format.
My personal preference is “Chicago Manual of Style (full note),” rather than the shorter “(note)” version, because I prefer to display full citations in the notes, rather than forcing readers to search for this information in a separate bibliography. Choose a format and drag items to insert a bibliography – For more advanced users, connect Zotero directly to MS Word or Open Office by downloading and installing one of the Zotero. This option allows authors to insert dynamic citations that will automatically update if the Zotero source is modified. – See also the for a Quick Start Guide and other tutorials. – For more advanced tips and tools, see on the Chronicle of Higher Education site (including for more citation-friendly sites), and also (including this helpful post on ). My demonstrates how I install and use Zotero Standalone for Mac with the Chrome browser on my computer. © 2015 by Jack Dougherty, Tennyson O’Donnell, and chapter contributors Some rights reserved This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
To view a copy of this license, visit or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Published in the United States of America by University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper 2018 2017 2016 2015 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
DOI: ISBN 978-0-472-07282-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-0-472-05282-0 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-472-12135-9 (e-book) Pressbooks.com: Simple Book Production.
Getting Zotero: Installing Firefox extension. To install the Zotero extension in your Firefox browser, visit and click the big red Download button. If your pop-up blocker is enabled, you may see a yellow bar at the top of your browser telling you that Firefox has prevented the site from installing software.
Click Allow A software installation window will open. Click Install Now. You will need to restart your browser for the changes to take effect.
If your installation was successful, you will see the Zotero logo in the lower right hand corner of Firefox. Zotero Standalone is a separate software download that is not tied to the Firefox browser. Standalone has connectors that work with Safari and Chrome browsers as well as Firefox. You can not have Zotero in Firefox and Standalone open at the same time. You must have Zotero Standalone open to use the Chrome and Safari capture icons. If you don't you will just be redirected to Zotero's website. You do not have to install the word processor plugins with standalone.
The plugins are bundled with the software download. To install the Zotero Standalone software visit. You must have administrative privileges on your computer to download the software. Click on the link for the correct operating system and follow standard procedures for installing software on your computer.
Zotero Standalone comes with word processor plug ins, so you will not need to install these. Links to install the Chrome and Safari connectors are found just below the Standalone download links. Chrome Connector - A box will appear in the lower right hand corner of the browser asking if you want to continue. Click Continue. Then click Install when Chrome asks if you want to install.
You will now see Zotero capture icons in the address bar just like in Firefox. Safari Connector - Depending on your settings Safari may not automatically open the file. Use Control+ Click and select 'Download linked file to.' To save the file to your desktop or some other easy to remember location. Double click the file to open. Click Open, then click Install.
The Safari capture icon will show up as a little box to the left of the address bar. Getting Zotero: Word Processor Plug-in.
An additional word processor plug-in is needed to insert and format citations in Microsoft Word or Open Office documents when using the Firefox extension. Which plug-in you install depends on your operating system and word processing program. To find and install the right plug-in and extensions for your word processor, visit Once you have successfully installed the plug-in, you will see the Zotero citation tools right in your word processor.
Here is an example of what the Zotero plug-in looks like in Word 2007.