ProfHacker 101: Getting started with Zotero

Here at ProfHacker, we’ve written quite a bit about organization. In addition to course materials and materials for our dossiers, we need to keep good track of our research materials and notes. A number of commercial tools exist for this purpose. EndNote is probably the best known of these tools, and is available in both Windows and Mac versions. Windows users might also choose ProCite, and Mac users have Sente and Bookends available to them. RefWorks is an online alternative.

I’ve had some experience with EndNote and Sente, and both work as advertised; others will have to chime in on the other options (and I’m sure there are tools I haven’t mentioned). A while back, though, I switched to exclusive use of Zotero.

Why? For a number of reasons:

It’s cross-platform.
It’s free, so I can recommend it to students without feeling the least bit guilty. (The other tools I’ve mentioned range from reasonable–with a student discount–to downright pricey.)
In my experience, it works as well as any of the paid options.
It makes the sharing of resources incredibly easy.

I’ll come back to that last point in Part 2 of this two-part series. For now, I’d like to show you how to get started with Zotero.

First, go to Zotero’s homepage. Check out the video that’s on the front page, and you’ll see just how powerful a reference manager Zotero is.

If you’re intrigued enough to try it, be sure you have the FireFox browser installed (if you don’t, you can get it from Mozilla).

Then, go back to the Zotero homepage, and install the FireFox extension. The 2.0 beta has some very nice features (including synchronization), and I highly recommend it. Don’t be afraid of the “beta” label. I’ve been using it for months, and in my experience it’s been very stable.

FireFox may prevent the extension from installing the first time you click on it. If that happens, just click the “allow” button at the top right.

That will bring up a dialog box. When the extension is ready to install, just click on the “install” button (it’s grayed out in this image). FireFox will then give you an option to restart.

When it restarts, you’ll have a “zotero” button in the lower right corner of your browser, as in the image below:

Clicking on that button will open the Zotero window.

Above you see a small portion of my library.

Once you’ve added some references to your library and installed whatever word processor plugin you need, you’re ready to start using Zotero in conjunction with your wordprocessor. There are too many options for me to cover here, but you can find detailed instructions at Zotero’s page on installing word processor plugins.

Integration with your word processor will look a little bit different depending on your computing platform and your wordprocessor of choice. The two examples to the left are both Microsoft Word. In Word for Mac 2008, you’ll find Zotero under the AppleScript menu, as in the top image. In Word for Windows 2007, you’ll find it under the Add-Ins ribbon. Bringing up that ribbon will show that a new set of Zotero icons has appeared in the toolbar, as in the lower image.

Zotero also works with OpenOffice, so Linux users are in luck.

In next week’s post I’ll talk about how to automagically sync your Zotero library across multiple computers, and how to use group libraries. In the meantime, observations and comments about Zotero are welcome. If you’ve used it, what are your impressions? How does it stack up against other reference managers you’ve used?

The image at the top of this post was created by Flickr user karindalziel and carries a Creative Commons license.

Comments

1. Nels - November 13, 2009 at 11:17 am

Thanks, Amy. I'm looking forward to future posts. I can't imagine not taking notes with note cards because I tend to spread dozens out in front of me and organize that way, but this does sound like a good way to bring texts together.

Do you know if I can incorporate Delicious bookmarks easily? Save the answer for a future post if it's possible.

2. The History Enthusiast - November 13, 2009 at 11:31 am

Hi Amy! Great post! I will have to refer my students to this since you've given a very easy to understand introduction. I have been using Zotero for a few years now, and it is just wonderful. When I switched to a Mac this summer I had trouble getting the AppleScript to work, but now things are going more smoothly.

Anywho...I have a really stupid question. In Word under the AppleScript menu it lists the keyboard shortcuts for how to insert a bibliography, insert a citation, etc. I haven't been able to figure out what the middle symbol is, though! I think the first one is the shift key (maybe), and then of course the last symbol is a letter. I've tried several different combinations to no avail, and being a new Mac user I'm feeling at a loss.

3. Amy Cavender - November 13, 2009 at 11:42 am

The key combination is control-option+letter.

Not a stupid question at all. I usually use the menu, so I had to try a few key combinations myself before I figured it out. :-)

4. The History Enthusiast - November 13, 2009 at 11:58 am

Thanks so much! I appreciate it.

5. Michael Dwyer - November 13, 2009 at 01:22 pm

I only discovered zotero 2 years ago--now I can't imagine writing anything without it. I've integrated it into all my classes, as well, and students love it. The group libraries function is not only great for group projects--but creating an atmosphere of shared knowledge and inquiry among graduate cohorts, or faculty. The fact that it works across platforms and open-source software is a plus, as well.

6. Scott Walters - November 13, 2009 at 07:00 pm

I am a big fan of Zotero, and have introduced my students to it, who are crazy about it. I hear that Endnote has brought a suit against Zotero -- any info about that?

7. George H. Williams - November 13, 2009 at 07:20 pm

The lawsuit, filed in late 2008, was dismissed in June of this year.

I haven't heard anything else on the subject since the dismissal.

8. Seth - November 16, 2009 at 09:18 am

I use Endnote for my bibliographic references, but I currently use the Mac-only Yojimbo program to keep my dissertation research - specifically my notes from the archives. I wonder what others use for that? It seems like Zotero is best to store bibliographic material, not research notes. I am curious primarily because I am going to need a new computer soon and just can't justify spending the extra $600 to buy a Mac, and so I am going to need a Windows friendly program to store my notes. Any suggestions?

9. Amy Cavender - November 16, 2009 at 10:26 am

Actually, Zotero provides good note-taking space. If I had notes not directly connected to a bibliographic source, I'd probably just start a new record with a name I could easily remember, and attach my notes to it. That might not work well for everyone, though. I'm afraid I don't have any good suggestions for Windows--other than to wonder whether the cross-platform Evernote app might fit the bill. I'm not familiar enough with Yojimbo to know whether the two are sufficiently similar.

10. Amy Cavender - November 16, 2009 at 10:30 am

As far as I know, there isn't any easy way to do this--at least, not yet. All I was able to find on the topic was this and this.

11. Mr. Gunn - November 18, 2009 at 08:43 pm

Amy, may I suggest Mendeley as a good alternative for Windows? With Mendeley you can store notes attached to each paper and also annotations within the PDF itself. It's free and cross-platform so it's easy to keep notes together and share them with colelagues, even if they use a different OS.

12. Amy Cavender - November 19, 2009 at 01:58 pm

Thanks for the suggestion! I'd heard about Mendeley a while back, but hadn't thought about it in a while. According to their FAQ, it looks like it even plays nicely with Zotero, so theoretically someone could use both, if there were a need.

13. Jana U - November 22, 2009 at 06:28 pm

I used End Note for much of the class work for my doctoral dissertation. I was never satisfied with the constant tweaking needed to make references conform to style guide (APA in my case). I switched to Zotero when I started my dissertation and like it much better. References still are not perfect, but at least I don't get hit up for upgrades every few months. Too, the open-source supporting community is very open to questions and suggestions. I would recommend it, but urge all users to make sure to take the time to learn the software as early mistakes can be costly in terms of time to correct.