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Citation Managers

Info on what citation or bibliographic management tools are and how to use them.

Zotero: Organizing Sources

Organizing Sources in Your Library

Zotero allows plenty of customization to organize the sources in your library such as Collections, Tags, and column customization for your main Zotero library.

 

Using Collections

Collections, basically folders​, are an easy way to group and categorize your research. If you have not altered your view, they are always accessible and visible on the lefthand panel of your Zotero library. known as the Collections Pane. You can further categorize within a collection by creating subcollections (sub-folders). One example of use is creating one collection per course or assignment and sub-collections for weekly readings, assignments, or research components like "Week 1" or "Research Proposal."

  1. To create a collection: in your library, right-click "My Library" and select "New Collection..." in the dropdown menu. Enter a collection name.
  2. To create a sub-collection: right-click any collection in the Collection Pane and select "New subcollection..." Enter a name.
  3. To delete a collection: right-click a collection or subcollection in the Collection Pane and select "Delete collection..." in the dropdown menu. This will delete the collection folder but keep your files in your overall Zotero library. Zotero will prompt you to confirm the deletion as a precaution. You will be able to recover these from the Trash collection in case of a mistake.
    1. If you would like to delete the collection AND all files within, right-click the collection or subcollection and select "Delete Collection and Items..." in the dropdown menu.  Zotero will prompt you to confirm the deletion as a precaution. You will be able to recover these from the Trash collection in case of a mistake.

 

Using Tags

Similar to hashtags on social media or other searches, you can add keyword or phrase tags to the parent files in your library to connect sources across collections. For example, if my library is organized by courses "WRIT 101" and "INTS 111" and "Capstone," I might find research I want to use across my university coursework, such as when it comes time to write my Capstone and I remember a great article from my INTS last semester. If I tagged any parent files with "diplomatic communication" I can select the tag in my Tags Selector pane in my Library (located on the bottom left of the Zotero application) to see a list of all files with that tag no matter what collection they are categorized in.

To add a tag:
  1. Select a parent file. On the righthand side of your Zotero application where the bibliographic information about your source is, select "Tags."
  2. Click the "Add" button. Create a tag with a keyword or short phrase such as "diplomacy" or "diplomatic relations." Note: these are case sensitive; if you use "Diplomatic" with a capital D, it will act as a different tag than "diplomatic" with a lowercase D.
  3. Use as many tags as you need for your research organization.
  4. You can remove tags in the same pane by selecting the minus icon next to any tags. 
To search tags:
  1. To search for tags in your entire Zotero library (outside of any collections), make sure you have selected "My Library."
  2. In the bottom left corner, go to your Tags Selector pane. You will see all tags you have assigned. 
  3. Select a tag (or multiple to narrow your search) to generate a list of all sources.
  4. To exit, you will need to unselect any tags in the Tags Selector pane.

 

Using Columns

Your Zotero library can be customized using columns similar to in a spreadsheet. You are able to add or remove columns other than the default columns of Title, Creator, etc.

To add columns:
  1. In the upper right hand corner of the library, before the bibliographic information pane is a small columns icon. Select this icon to view a dropdown menu of Column options. Those with a checkmark are visible in your Library
  2. To add more, simply select any column header you would like to add. Conversely, select any that are already checked to remove them from your view.
  3. To add less popular columns, hover over "More Columns" in the dropdown menu to produce a second dropdown menu. Make your selections using the checkmarks.
Sorting with columns:
  1. Clicking the column header in any column (the title) will organize your sources by that column alphabetically. For example, selecting the Creator column will arrange all sources alphabetically A-Z by the creator's last name (or organization, etc.). Clicking the column head again will organize the column alphabetically Z-A.
  2. To sort with a secondary filter such as arranging chronologically in addition to alphabetically by title, select the columns icon In the upper right hand corner of the library to view the column options dropdown menu. 
    1. Hover over "Secondary Sort" then check the additional filter such as Date.

 

Deduping Your Library

Using source metadata, Zotero will automatically track files it believes are duplicates​ and store them in a pre-existing Collection called "Duplicate Items" in the Collections Pane.

  1. Select the "Duplicate Items" in the left-hand Collections Pane​

  2. The metadata pane will allow you to compare information for duplicate parent files as well as open them to see Child Files to ensure the sources are different ​

    1. To keep both: no action needed, recommend adding a child note to denote why​

    2. To merge duplicates as one, select the source to be the master (it will be greyed out) and click the "Merge 2 Items" button​

    3. To delete one: return to your library (search if applicable), right-click the parent file and choose "Move to trash" from the dropdown menu​