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Citing Sources at DKU

Zotero is a free citation management tool that can store content in any format, including PDFs, images, audio and video files, and snapshots of web pages. It works the best when you download both Zotero 6.0 (a standalone application) and Zotero Connector (a browser plug-in). Both are adapted to multiple platforms and can be found and downloaded at zotero.org/download.

Installation and Setup

1. Go to zotero.org/download/ and click Download under Zotero 6 for Mac or Zotero 6 for Windows.

2. If you are using a Mac: once the application is downloaded, drag the Zotero icon into the Applications folder.

If you are using a Windows PC: click through the setup steps.

3. Go back to zotero.org. Click Log In, then Register for a free account, to create a Zotero account.

4. If you are using a Mac: click the Zotero icon (which is now inside the Applications file and can be found on your launchpad). Once the application is open, click Preferences in the menu bar. 

If you are using a Windows PC: click open Zotero and select Preferences under Edit in the menu bar.

5. Go to Sync and enter your user information. 

6. Go to Cite and select the Work Processors tab. Check the box Use classic Add Citation dialog.

7. Go to Advanced. Make sure the language is set to English.

Go to zotero.org/download and click Install Chrome/Edge/Firefox/Safari Connector

Zotero Connector works better on Chrome and Firefox, although it is available on Safari and Edge as well.

Once the Connector is downloaded, the Zotero Word plug-in should also be available in Word.

Adding Sources to Zotero

Adding from Browser Using Zotero Connector 

Zotero Connector automatically detects the type of a source on the webpage and changes its icon accordingly. To save a source to Zotero, locate the Connector icon in the address bar and click it. 

Batch Downloading

1. If a list of sources is available to save from a database (such as ProQuest), Zotero Connector will change to a folder icon. 

2. Click the icon, and the item selector will pop up. Check the sources that you wish to add to Zotero. 

Adding by Identifiers 

If you already know the ISBN, DOI and/or PubMed ID of a source, you can click the magic wand icon and enter the identifier information. 

If you have a PDF file in your computer, you can simply drag it into Zotero.

1. For files that are encrypted with metadata, Zotero can automatically export its citation information.

2. If Zotero does not retrieve the metadata automatically, right-click the PDF and select Retrieve Metadata for PDF

3. If Zotero shows No matching references found, you can add citation information manually by building a parent item for the PDF.

Parent Item/metadata VS. Child item

Parent item/metadata is the bibliographic record, including the information of title, author, date, abstract and etc, to help index and track the resource; the child item is the attached materials under the parent item, such as a pdf file of full text, notes, snapshots of the website and etc. 

Export from PubMed

Step 1. Click “Send to” button on the upper section of result, and click “Citation manager”

Step 2: Select ”All results“ or the results on the page or other selection option  

Step 3: Save to the local folder

Export from Web of Science

Step 1: Click “Export” then select “RIS (other reference software)”

Step 2: Select “Records from 1 to…” and select either “Author, Title, Source, Abstract: or “Full Record” from Record Content

Step 3: Save the file to local folder

For print sources and electronic files not encrypted with metadata, you need to add their citation information manually. To do so,

1. Click the plus sign icon and select the type of source you wish to add. 

2. On the right hand side, click on each field to enter the corresponding citation information.

Organizing Collection

1. To create a new collection, click the folder icon in the top right corner.

2. To create a new subcollection, right-click an existing collection and select New Subcollection

For items without PDFs, you can right-click the selected items to Find Available PDFs.

Some full-text PDFs can be automatically detected and added to your Zotero, while some need to be added manually.

Tags are automatically detected when sources are imported in Zotero. They can be found in the bottom left corner of the Zotero application. You can sort your sources by clicking the tag.

You can also edit tags by yourself. To do so, select a source and click Tags on the right hand side

  • Click Add to add a new tag
  • Click the minus sign icon to delete an existing tag

To add notes to items in your Zotero library, click on the notes tab in the right pane.

You can highlight, add notes, and select areas; those notes will be listed in the left column of the reader and can also be searchable

You can also Add Note from Annotations, this function will create a single note file attached with the parent item

Zotfile is a Zotero plugin to manage PDFs or other files to items. With this extension, you can attach annotations to PDFs first, and then add notes from annotations. You can follow these steps to install Zotfile:

Step 1: Go to zotfile.com and click Download to save a .xpi file.

Step 2: Back to Zotero and click Tools -> Add-ons.

Step 3: In the pop-up Add-ons Manager window, click Tools for all Add-ons -> Install Add-on From File, and select the downloaded .xpi file.

Step 4: Click Install Now, and restart Zotero to use Zotfile extension. 

    

When using Zotero (or any other reference manager) for citing, you should always check items for accuracy after saving them to your library.

Title case vs. Sentence case

Publishers have different conventions for the casing of titles. No software can accurately and reliably convert title case to sentence case, so you should always store titles in sentence case and let Zotero convert them to title case as necessary.

Example:

Sentence case for titles (e.g., “Oxidation and reduction of iron by acidophilic bacteria”)

Title case (e.g., “Oxidation and Reduction of Iron by Acidophilic Bacteria”)

Exporting Citation and Bibliography

The Zotero Word plug-in is automatically added to Word when you download Zotero. It allows you to:

  • Add an in-text citation
  • Add a bibliography
  • Change citation styles

1. Click Add/Insert Citation.

2. Select the source you wish to cite, and add the page number. Check Suppress Author and add Prefix and/or Suffix if necessary.

Using Zotero Word Plug-in

Click Add/Edit Bibliography.

Note: you MUST add a citation first before inserting its corresponding bibliographic information.

Using Zotero 6

Go to the Zotero standalone application and select the source you wish to cite, you can select the common citation style through “Preference-Export”.

If you wish to select multiple sources, hold control on your keyboard and select the sources. Right-click, select Create Bibliography from Items, and then choose a citation style and output method.

     

1. Click Document Preferences.

2. Select the citation style you wish to use. 

Collaboration

1. Click the New Library icon and select New Group.

2. You will be re-directed to zotero.org and asked to log in using your Zotero account credentials. 

3. Choose a group name, select a group type and click Create Group.

  • Public, Open means anyone can see and join the group.
  • Public, Closed means anyone can see the group, but only those invited can join.
  • Private means only those invited can see or join the group.