Citation Management: Using Zotero
Brought to you by: Research Commons
[Dana C., Mehdi P., Sarah E.]
September 26, 2012
Learning Objectives
 Come away with a basic understanding of how to use Zotero:
Including features such as:
Collect
Grab your research with a single click.
Organize
You’re never more than a click away from a bibliography
Cite
It has never been easier to sort your research
Sync
Your data is always where you need it
Collaborate
Work together and share with the world.
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The Most Common Tools
 Zotero (Free)
 Mendeley (Free)
 EndNote (Paid)
 RefWorks (Free while you are a UBC student)
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Overview
 Zotero functionality
 Creating your Zotero library
 Adding references to your Zotero library
 Managing your documents and references
 Creating bibliographies
 Using Zotero with MS Word
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Typical Researcher Writing a Paper…
Source: flickr/toennessen
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Zotero Works with
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Zotero Structure
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Firefox Addons
Folders
(My Library)
Reference List
(In selected folder)
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Reference Inforamtion
(in selected reference)
Toolbar in the Word Processor
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Insert Citation
Edit Citation
Insert Bibliography
Edit Bibliography
Refresh
Set Doc Preferences
Remove Codes
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Citation Windows
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Zotero Online Library
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Four Commons Problems in Zotero
 Incompatible plugin
 Zotero toolbar doesn't appear
 Communication error or non-responsive plugin buttons
 Debugging broken documents
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Incompatible plugin
The Zotero word processor plugin will only work if you install
the correct version.
If you try to use an incompatible version of the plugin, you will
receive an error message similar to:
“This version of the Zotero Word Plugin is incompatible with the currently
installed version of the Zotero Firefox extension. Please ensure that you
are using the latest versions of both components.”
After upgrading Zotero you will also need to upgrade your
plugin.
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Zotero toolbar doesn't appear
If the Zotero toolbar does not appear, follow these steps:
1. Close Word or LibreOffice.
2. In Firefox or Zotero Standalone, go to Tools→Addons→Extensions.
3. Click the “Preferences”/“Options” button next to “Zotero Word
for Windows Integration,” depending on your operating
system and word processor.
4. Click “Reinstall Extension” and then restart your word
processor.
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Debugging broken documents
If you can insert citations into new documents but receive an
error in an existing document, follow these steps:
1.Make sure the Track Changes feature in Word is disabled,
as it is known to cause problems with Zotero integration.
2.Check for citations in image captions. Zotero won't let you
insert them, but if you copied a citation to a caption that's
most likely the source of the problem. Delete it.
3.Try copying and pasting the document content into a new
document to see if the problem goes away.
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Debugging broken documents
4.Make a copy of your document—by duplicating the file itself,
not by copying and pasting the content—to use for debugging.
5.Open the copied file and check if you get the error after
switching to a different bibliography style.
6. If the document has a bibliography, delete it and check if you
still get the error.
7. Check if “Report Errors…” in the Zotero Actions menu is
active and if new errors appear after attempting to insert a
citation. If so, send in an error report and post the provided
Report ID to the forums.
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Formatting issues
Citations and bibliographies generated by the word processor
plugins might appear in a different style (font, font-size, etc)
than the surrounding text. The appearance of the generated
text can be changed by changing the default style.
Bibliography formatting is controlled in the style file, and should
conform to the requirements of the style in use. The formatting
of the bibliography can be modified by editing the
“Bibliography” (Word)
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Zotero Is NOT Perfect
Remember, Zotero is helpful but not perfect, so ultimately it's
up to you to make sure your citations are formatted correctly!
Double check your bibliography! Make sure relevant and
correct information about the sources have been entered
properly.
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Remember
Make sure you have already added to Zotero all the sources
that you’re going to use for your paper (Keep open Zotero
window while you are adding a reference)
Make sure you have filled in all the relevant information
for each of your sources (double-check)
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Zotero Support
• On the Support page on the Zotero website
(http://www.zotero.org/support/), which is available in
several languages, you can find documentation on
additional features of Zotero as well as FAQ and a
number of screencast tutorials.
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References
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The Firefox web browser can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
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To download and install Zotero go to: http://www.zotero.org
•
A Beginner’s Guide to Using Zotero - UBC Biomedical Branch Library.
Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/giustinid/beginners-guide-to-zotero.
•
Zotero Quick Start Guide. Available at:
http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide.
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