1  Overview

1.1 What is Zotero?

Zotero is a free and open-source citation manager designed to collect, store, share, organize and cite references.

Zotero works with various operating systems or or and allows you to download references into a personalized library and then create properly formatted in-text citations and bibliographies.

Zotero also enables you to store all your PDFs, notes, and citation meta-data (i.e., information you include in the formatted citation) in the same centralized location (or synced across all your devices using a free online account).

1.2 Why use Zotero?

Any time we use information from an article, report, or other source, it is important to:

  • give credit to others work
  • add credibility to your work
  • provide context for your work
  • direct audience to other work

Live reenactment of a student trying to keep track of their references by hand

In other words, properly citing our sources plays an important role in the scientific writing process. But it also results in one of the most tedious tasks that is a part of writing: creating those citations and a reference page.

Psychology, as well as a number of other fields, have largely adopted a very specific format for references called APA format. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of different kinds of sources, and each has a specific way to cite that source. It can be a nightmare to even find the right formatting for the source you have.

Fortunately, there are software packages that can assist us with this task!

Zotero is one such program (collectively referred to as reference managers). Zotero is not the first program of its kind; nor will it likely be the last. But as of the writing of this guide it is the most attractive (and free) option for academics and students to use.

Zotero is widely used. It is also free, open-source, and easy to use. Even better, there is a plugin for Microsoft Word and other word processers that makes creating citations and entire reference pages as easy as clicking a few buttons!

In this lab, we will use Zotero to learn about APA 7 formatting for our final project; but the program is versatile and can also be used in other classes!

1.3 What does Zotero do?

Most other citation managers require you to purchase licenses to use their features effectively. But Zotero is built and maintained by a community of people who believe in the value of open-source software. There are multiple benefits to this approach including:

  • All the source code is available on Github
  • You do not need institutional credentials to access your account or export your library
  • Harnesses the power of the open-internet and an active world-wide user community that has created a range of plugins and add-ons to extend its functionality
  • Provides license-free integration with word processes like LibreOffice, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and RStudio

Meme of an elderly woman with a walker saying I used to do all my citations by hand while a younger woman replies Sure thing professor, let's get you that emeritus

Zotero also enables you to store all your PDFs, notes, and citation meta-data (i.e., information you include in the formatted APA or Bluebook citation) in the same centralized location (or synced across all your devices using a free online account).

This guide walks you through how to set up Zotero and take advantage of its many features.