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Zotero Citation Management

This guide will help you in understanding how to use a citation management tool like Zotero. You can use this tool to keep track of all your resources in your own personal database and cite your sources.

How Items Work in Zotero

The way Zotero creates your citations and bibliographies is by using the metadata attached to a file to grab the citation information. Sometimes, this information isn't imported correctly or you might need to manually add a resource. This is why it is always worth checking the item record information for accuracy. If the item record is incorrect the citation will be incorrect as well.

Screenshot of Zotero's interface with arrows pointing out the edit fields for the item record and text that says 'put your cursor in any of these fields to be given the option to edit or add'

Adding PDFs

To add a PDF to Zotero you can:
  • Drag and drop a PDF directly into your Zotero Desktop display
  • Drag and drop a file of PDFs directly into your Zotero Desktop display
  • Add a PDF to an existing citation
    • Drag the PDF on top of the record you want to attach it to
      OR
    • Right click the record you wish to add the PDF to
    • In the Drop Down select Add Attachment
    • Browse, select the file, and double click to add

Tip: See the Organizing & Annotating page on this guide to better understand how to read and review PDFs in Zotero.

Adding Items from Databases or the Web

Zotero offers the functionality to add records, items, and citations from the web by utilizing the browser connector.

Note: Make sure you have downloaded the browser connector.

  • In your Zotero Library make sure you are in the collection you want to save your items to
  • In your browser click on the icon indicating the file type. This will save the item into your Library

Depending on what you are saving through the web importer the icon will look different. For instance, if you are saving an article or webpage the icon might look like a document. If you are saving a video the icon will look like a web camera.

image of the zotero plug in with Firefox on a Mac. There is a page icon for adding to Zotero

OR

image of the zotero plug in with Firefox on a Mac. There is a web recorder icon for adding to Zotero

Note: If you are importing a file, which is multiple items, you will be given the option to select and deselect what you need before importing. This will be true when importing from search results in databases such as Ebsco, PubMed, and more.

Tip: Zotero won't work with every webpage. Whether or not Zotero can recognize bibliographic information on a web page depends on the provider, not Zotero. If you don't see an icon to add a citation think about adding it manually or downloading the PDF.

Adding Items Manually

Screenshot of the Zotero interface with a manual option to add a book, book section, document, etc. To the right of the frame you can see the fields that Zotero asks you to fill in

If you can't easily get a resource into Zotero with the web connector, PDF, or otherwise you can quickly add it manually.

  • Click the green “New Item” (Image of the plus symbol icon in Zotero) button at the top of the center column
  • Select the desired item type from the drop-down menu 
  • You can now manually enter the item's bibliographic information via the right column

Add an Item Using PMID, DOI, or ISBN

Screenshot of Zotero's interface asking to enter an ISBN, DOI, or PMID

You can quickly add items to your library if you already know their ISBN, Digital Object Identifier (DOI), or PubMed ID (PMID).

  • Click the "Add Item by Identifier" button (Image of the Add Image by Identifier button in Zotero, a wand with a plus symbol.) at the top of the center column of the Zotero library
  • Type or paste in the identifier and press Enter.