Zotero Citation Manager

Zotero has three columns with the toolbar on the top

• Left column: Organization - My Library, along with folders you create - by subject, item type, project name etc.
• Center column: The list of items in My Library (all references) or the references in the folders you created
• Right column: Detailed information about a specific reference you selected in the center column, including notes you have inputted about the item. 

Make sure to double check that Zotero is collecting the correct information as you work through each of these collection processes. 

Collecting through the Zotero Browser Connector:

Collecting items through the Zotero Connector is one of the best features of Zotero because it is the communicator between the Zotero program and your browser. The Zotero program must be open. The connector will change from the Z to a different icon to match the type of item you are viewing at the top of your page. 

When Zotero detects that you're looking at a book, article, or other scholarly material on a library catalog or database, or a site like Amazon.com or a magazine like the New York Times, you'll see a book or page icon appear in the address bar of your browser. Just click the icon and Zotero will automatically save the citation. You'll have to go in and specify where you want it to appear in your library. If there was a PDF on the page, Zotero will also collect it and save it in your library. 

This works very well in library databases and in PubMed, but very badly in Google Scholar. If you try this in Google Scholar, the records will import, but they will be missing a lot of information that is needed to format your bibliography. It's better to click through to something like a PubMed record or the exact article web page before clicking on the Zotero browser add-on.

Add items by identifier: 

You can add items to your library if you know the standard numbers, which are unique to each item, such as: 

• ISBN - book identifier (10 or 13 digits)
• Digital Object Identifier (DOI) - many scholarly articles have this number, and they all start with 10.
• PubMed ID - health/medical-related articles in the PubMed database 

1. Select Add Item by Identifier  button 
2. Enter the standard number (or paste in from a webpage/word document/etc.)
3. Press the Enter key on keyboard
4. If the item is found a new reference is created in Zotero with the bibliographic information

Finally, to create a reference manually: 

1. Open the Zotero program
2. Select the green New Item () button at the top of the center column.
3. Select the item type from the drop-down menu (e.g. book, book chapter, article, etc)
4. An empty space (place holder) for the item type will now appear
5. Enter the bibliographic information in the right panel
6. The empty space will change with the new information.

How to add a PDF from your files to a reference in Zotero

1. Open Zotero. 
2. Find the PDF on your computer.
3. Drag PDF as an item in Zotero.
4. Zotero will look for the metadata to create a citation reference automatically within the file. 
5. It should appear under the title of reference. Make sure Zotero imported it correctly and used the correct title. There are often errors, which you'll need to correct. If too much information is incorrect or missing, consider using one of the methods above to get a better record.

You can also: 

1. Open Zotero
2. Right-click on an already existing reference 
3. Select Add Attachment 
4. Select the PDF you want to attach to the existing reference
5. It should now appear under the title. Make sure Zotero imported it correctly and used the correct title.