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Zotero for MLA, APA, Chicago, and more...: Start Here

Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a program that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free.

About Zotero

 

What Zotero DoesPhoto by Karin Dalziel

Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a Firefox addon that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use,  lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies. It automatically updates itself periodically to work with new online sources and new bibliographic styles.

Getting Started with Zotero

  • Start:

    • Watch the Video 1 on installing Zotero
    • Download the Zotero desktop application
    • On the same page, install the Zotero connector for your browser
    • Watch Video 2 on how to change the settings
    • Open Zotero, change settings, then create a yellow folder for your paper or project 

  • Next:

    • Go to your favorite library database
    • Have your Zotero desktop application running
    • Watch the Start to Finish Video 
    • Search within the database
      • as you find articles of interest, click on the Zotero icon in your browser 
      • This will capture the citation and full-text PDF

  • Next

    • Go back to the Zotero application 
    • Check your saved articles - Double-check the information and capitalization 
    • If PDFs were part of the database collection, you will be able to open the PDF from Zotero

Zotero Video Playlist

Check out the following videos from the Cannon Memorial Library at Saint Leo University.

Cannon Library SLU. (2020) Zotero: How to Download. [video]. https://youtu.be/Ub_Thb00heU?si=lTPnaf0XheUFgCuC

Step 2: Zotero: Setting it up

 

Cannon Library SLU. (2021). Zotero setup. [Video]. https://youtu.be/ktdmZwDnLd8?si=5SoWKo_UYmPpsY59

Note for Librarians at other Institutions

Dear Librarians:

The Creative Commons license below grants you permission to copy this guide, in part or in its entirety, as a template in your own LibGuides system as long as you credit me and Georgia State University Library on your copy.

There's no need to email me asking for permission: please just copy it!

This guide is created by Jason Puckett and licensed by Georgia State University Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.Creative Commons License

You may reproduce any part of it for noncommercial purposes as long as credit is included.  I encourage you to license your derivative works under Creative Commons as well to encourage sharing and reuse of educational materials