Welcome! Use this guide to learn how to use Zotero - a free, open source tool for creating bibliographies, storing, and managing your sources. This guide uses screenshots and text to walk you through how to use Zotero. The tabs on the left side of the page guide you through a variety of Zotero topics.
Zotero is a free tool that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use and lives in your web browser where you do your work. Zotero can be downloaded as a StandAlone version that works with the Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge browsers. In this tutorial I will be using images from an installation of StandAlone Chrome, but other browser versions are very similar.
Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes, and images to your citations, organize them into easily searchable collections for different projects, and create bibliographies using Word (for Mac or Windows) or OpenOffice using any of over 10,000 citation styles.
References can be added to a Zotero library in many different ways: directly from databases, journal websites, Google Scholar, or a library's catalog, by reference file import (for example from an EndNote library), by dragging in PDFs from your hard drive, and by entering them manually.
“Zotero” by Oregon State University Libraries & Press, used under CC BY-NC 4.0. Information adapted for USMA Library.
