how to use zotero for literature review

Literature Review Tips & Tools

• Tips & Examples

Get started with Zotero

Zotero videos.

A freely-available, open-source citation manager that the UMass Amherst Libraries offers support for is Zotero. 

Learn more about Zotero - and who to contact for help - on the Citation Managers at UMass guide.

• Zotero Documentation

1.  Download Zotero 6 for Windows or Mac AND the browser connector , and register for a free zotero.org account.

2. Open Zotero. In your browser, search for an article.

6. Zotero makes it easy to view the article for a citation that you have saved in your Zotero collection, but there is a setting that you can adjust to make it more reliable from off campus. To set the UMass Libraries as your favorite library, click on "Edit," "Preferences," then in "Advanced," enter:

http://silk.library.umass.edu/login?url=https://resolver.ebscohost.com/openurl? as resolver, version 1.0.

Click on an article title, then the drop-down menu  next to the search box, and choose Library Lookup to get to the article through the UMass Amherst Libraries.

Zotero support:  https://www.zotero.org/support/start

Here are a few videos to get you started with Zotero. These are borrowed from other libraries, so just remember to contact Ellen if you have questions!

The first video shows how to download Zotero and the Zotero Connector for your browser.

This video shows how to create an online Zotero account, then how to link it to your desktop Zotero and synch them.

This video shows how to save references to your Zotero library. 

This video shows how to create citations and reference lists in Zotero, and how to cite things while you are writing.

And this video shows how to set up shared group libraries in Zotero.

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• Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 4:46 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.umass.edu/litreviews

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Writing a Literature Review

• Researching Your Topic
• Search Strategies
• Zotero Support
• Interlibrary Loan

Schedule an Appointment

Meet with a librarian for one-on-one research assistance.

Syncing Your Online Account and Desktop App

Automatically sync your desktop app and online account to access all citations from both locations. In the Zotero desktop app, select Edit > Preferences > Sync . Enter your existing Zotero username and password, or "Create Account." 

Organizing Your Library

In Zotero, you can organize your citations by creating "collections," or folders. Right click on " My Library " in the left hand corner, and select " New Collection " to create a collection. To add citations to your collection, click and drag the record into the collection. You can also add sub-collections to a collection by right-clicking on a collection and selecting " New Sub-Collection ."

Add a Citation Manually 

To add a citation manually, select File > New Item  and select for type of source. A new record will appear in your library and a blank details window will appear on the right panel. The fields will correlate with the type of source selected. Select the field to input information. Or select the "New Item" icon at the top of the window (a small green plus-sign).

Exporting Citations

Using Browser Connectors

Once you have added a Zotero Connector to you browser, you should see the "Z" plug in at the top right of your window. 

When you are searching on the web or in a library database, the icon will change according to the source type detected. Here is an example of the extension icon for an academic journal article in EBSCO. 

Click on the plug-in icon, and the record will automatically save to your Zotero library. 

Exporting Citations from a library database (without a browser connector)

If you do not have a Zotero Connector for your browser, you can often export citations from a library database. Here is an example of the export feature in EBSCO. From a detailed item record, select Export under the Tools bar on the right side of the page. Then, select the Direct Export in RIS Format , which is the file type used for Zotero bibliographic citations. 

The downloaded RIS file may automatically open with Zotero and save to your library. Otherwise, you can manually go to File > Import  and select the RIS file from your downloads folder. 

Generating and Viewing Citations

1. Zotero Desktop App

In the Zotero desktop app, you cannot view a generated citation, but you can copy and paste the citation into a Word or text document in several ways.

a. Select and drag an item record into a Word document or Google doc.

b. Right click an item record, select " Create Bibliography from Item.. ." Select the citation style > "Output Mode: Bibliography" > "Output Method: Copy to Clipboard," and paste into your Word or Google document.  

c. You can also copy and paste an in-text citation by selecting "Create Bibliography from Item..." and choosing "Output Mode: Citations." 

2. Zotero Online (web-based library at zotero.org)

To generate a citation from your Zotero Online account, select the item you want to cite. In the right hand corner, there is a cite button: 

Select the citation style and the citation will generate in the box below. Copy and paste to add to your bibliography or text document. 

Connecting with Word and Generating Citations

Microsoft Word should automatically recognize if you've downloaded Zotero, and the add-in should appear in the tool bar at the top.

If the Zotero Word add-in does not appear automatically, select "Edit" > "Preferences" > "Cite" > "Word Processors" and select "Install Microsoft Word Add-in."

Open Microsoft Word to access the Zotero Add-in. A Zotero tab will appear on the top tool bar. 

Use  "Add/Edit Citation"  to input an in-text citation from your Zotero library as you write your paper. First, select your citation style. A Zotero search bar will appear. Then, search for a citation by author or title to add the in-text citation. 

Use  "Add/Edit Bibliography"  to automatically generate a bibliography from your in-text citations. Use the same feature to edit your bibliography. A Zotero window will appear with one column of your library and another column with current citations in your document. Use the migration arrows to add or remove citations to your bibliography. 

Connecting with Google docs and generating citations

If you’re using Google Chrome and have already installed the plug-in for Google Chrome, a Zotero icon will appear in your Google docs toolbar (letter Z next to formatting options).

Either click on the Zotero icon , or navigate from the tool bar menu to Zotero > Add/edit citation . A Zotero search bar will appear. Then, search for a citation by author or title to add the in-text citation. 

Use the same feature to add to or edit your bibliography. In this case, select  Zotero > Add/edit bibliography . 

• Make sure to have your Zotero desktop app open and running. 
• Double-check that you’ve already set your Zotero citation style to the style of your choice ( Edit > Preferences > Cite )
• Double-check your citations for errors before importing them. Note that Zotero sometimes forgets to convert to “sentence case” in APA, and you can edit and save the title of an item before importing it. 

University of North Carolina Park Library

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• Last Updated: Jun 7, 2023 9:53 AM
• URL: https://library.spalding.edu/lit-review

Spalding University Home

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

Read on for an overview of Zotero's features and capabilities.

• How do I install Zotero?

See the installation instructions .

• How do I open Zotero?

Zotero can be opened from your operating system's dock or file manager like any other program.

• What does Zotero do?

Zotero is, at the most basic level, a reference manager. It is designed to store, manage, and cite bibliographic references, such as books and articles. In Zotero, each of these references constitutes an item. More broadly, Zotero is a powerful tool for collecting and organizing research information and sources.

• What kind of items are there?

Every item contains different metadata, depending on what type it is. Items can be everything from books, articles, and reports to web pages, artwork, films, letters, manuscripts, sound recordings, bills, cases, or statutes, among many others.

• What can I do with items?

Items appear in Zotero's center pane. The metadata for that item is shown in the right pane. This includes titles, creators, publishers, dates, page numbers, and any other data needed to cite the item.

• Collections

Items can be assigned tags . Tags are named by the user. An item can be assigned as many tags as is needed. Tags are added or removed with the tag selector at the bottom of the left pane or through the Tags tab of any item in the right-hand pane. Up to 6 tags can be assigned colors . Colored tags are readily visible in the item list and can be quickly added or removed using the number keys on your keyboard.

Quick searches show items whose metadata, tags, or fulltext content match the search terms and are performed from the Zotero toolbar. Clicking the spyglass icon to the left of the search box opens the Advanced Search window, allowing for more complex or narrow searches.

• Saved Searches

Advanced searches can be saved in the left pane They are similar to collections, but will update with new matching items automatically.

• Attachments

Items can have notes, files, and links attached to them. These attachments appear in the middle pane underneath their parent item. Attachments can be shown or hidden by clicking the arrow next to their parent item.

Any type of file can be attached to an item. Attach files with the Add Attachment (paperclip) button in the Zotero toolbar, by right-clicking on an existing item, or by drag-and-dropping. Files do not need to be attached to existing items. They can simply be added to your library. Files can also be downloaded automatically when you import items using the Zotero Connector in your browser .

• Links & Snapshots

Web pages can be attached to any item as a link or a snapshot. A link simply opens the website online. Zotero can also save a snapshot of a web page. A snapshot is a locally stored copy of a web page in the same state as it was when it was saved. Snapshots are available without an internet connection.

• Capturing Items

With the Zotero Connector for Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, it's simple to create new items from information available on the internet. With the click of a button, Zotero can automatically create an item of the appropriate type and populate the metadata fields, download a full-text PDF if available, and attach useful links (e.g., to the PubMed entry) or Supplemental Data files.

• Single or Multiple Captures

If the save icon is a book, article, image, or other single item, clicking on it will add the item to the current collection in Zotero. If the save icon is a folder, the webpage contains multiple items. Clicking it will open a dialog box from which items can be selected and saved to Zotero.

• Translators

Zotero uses bits of code called translators to recognize information on webpages. There are generic translators which work with many sites and translators written for individual sites. If a site you're using does not have a translator, feel free to request one on the Zotero Forums .

• Saving a Web Page

If the Zotero Connector does not recognize data on the page, you can still click the save button in the browser toolbar to save the page as a Web Page item with an attached snapshot. While this will save basic metadata (title, URL, access date), you may need to fill in additional metadata from the page by hand.

• Add Item by Identifier

Subscribe to RSS feeds from your favorite journals or websites to keep up to date with the latest research. Go to the article web page or save items to your library with the click of a button.

• Manually Adding Items

• Citing Items

Zotero uses Citation Style Language (CSL) to properly format citations in many different bibliographic styles . Zotero supports all the major styles (Chicago, MLA, APA, Vancouver, etc.) as well as the specific styles for over 8,000 journals and publishers.

• Word Processor Integration

Zotero's Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs plugins allow users to insert citations directly from their word processing software. This makes citing multiple pages or sources or otherwise customizing citations a breeze. In-text citations, footnotes and endnotes are all supported. With community-developed plugins , Zotero can also be used with LaTeX, Scrivener, and numerous other writing programs.

• Automatic Bibliographies

Using the word processor plugins makes it possible to automatically generate a bibliography from the items cited and to switch citation styles for the entire document with the click of a button.

• Manual Bibliographies

Zotero can also insert citations and bibliographies into any text field or program. Simply drag-and-drop items, use Quick Copy to send citations to the clipboard, or export them directly to a file.

Collaborate

Use Zotero on multiple computers with Zotero syncing . Library items and notes are synced through the Zotero servers (unlimited storage), while attachment syncing can use the Zotero servers or your own WebDAV service to sync files such as PDFs, images, or audio/video.

• Zotero Servers

Items synced to the Zotero servers can be accessed online through your zotero.org account. Share your library with others or create a custom C.V. from selected items.

Make copies of your research readily available on zotero.org for readers, the public, and other researchers using My Publications .

Zotero users can create collaborative or interest groups . Shared group libraries make it possible to collaboratively manage research sources and materials, both online and through the Zotero client. Zotero.org can be the hub of all your project group's research, communication and organization.

Table of Contents

• Old revisions

• Healey Library
• Research Guides

Literature Reviews

• Researching Your Topic
• What is Zotero?

Get Started with Zotero

• Writing a Literature Review
• Reading List
• Citations This link opens in a new window

Healey Library Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The Healey Library is committed to taking action and making changes as we identify them in order to improve the working and studying environment.

• Anti-Racism Guide Information and resources for the UMass Boston community

Zotero is a set of tools designed to help you gather and organize PDFs, cite references accurately when you write, and share documents with groups.

• Set up your Zotero account  on the web, download the standalone desktop application (Windows, Mac, Linux) on any number of computers, and install the Zotero Bookmarklet on your mobile device(s). Sync your Zotero library between all your workspaces
• Install the word processor plugin for Word and/or LibreOffice
• Install the Connector for your web browser(s) (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera) to save citations from databases and websites

A free Zotero account provides:

• Personal Web Space with 300MB of storage at no cost
• No limit to how many groups you can create and/or join

The Zotero  Support  site,  Forums , and Zotero Blog are great places to look more information on all aspects of Zotero.

• UMB's ZOTERO Quick Start Guide
• Zotero User Guide - long version

Getting Stuff Into Zotero from zotero on Vimeo .

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• Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024 10:04 AM
• URL: https://umb.libguides.com/litreview

• Ask a Librarian

SURF Introduction to Literature Reviews

• Session Outline
• Database Search Tips
• Locating Information
• Citation Management Basics
• Zotero Basics

Subject Guide

Zotero Links

Zotero is only one option for managing your citations.  You may consider other programs such as EndNote and Medeley .

How to Install Zotero

Capturing citations is easy, organizing your research, adding citations to a document, managing your citations and research information with zotero.

Zotero is a free citation management program that helps you collect and easily organize your research information.  

Learning how to use citation management software can improve the efficiency of your research and save you hundreds of hours with papers that you'll write in the future!

You can install Zotero as a plug-in to the Firefox web browser. When you visit a web page that you'd like to use in your research, Zotero lets you take a snapshot of the web page, locate and download the full-text of the article that is represented by the web page, and capture a properly-formatted citation to its source. Zotero also includes a plug-in for Microsoft Word and OpenOffice that allows you to insert citations by dragging-and-dropping them into the document and create a bibliography at the end of the paper. For most sources, you can do this automatically by simply clicking a few buttons.

How does Zotero work?   The "Meet Zotero" series of short videos (credit: Luke Gaudreau) will walk you through how to download and use Zotero. Links to the videos, their timings, and learning outcomes are listed below.

• Part 1: Setup (1:14) - You will learn how to download Zotero, create an account at Zotero.org, and configure Zotero to use your account.
• Part 2: Saving Citations (2:42) - You will learn how to use Zotero to capture citations, links, web pages, and full-text files from an online library catalog and an online database. You will also learn how to create a new citation when one cannot be captured automatically.
• Part 3: Organize (1:06) - You will learn how to create folders in Zotero and organize citations in them. You will also learn how to add and search notes.
• Part 4: Citations and Bibliography (3:07) - You will learn how to download and install the word processor plug-in(s) and use it to insert citations into a Microsoft Word document and generate a bibliography.

Zotero supports hundreds of different style guides. Common style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style, APA, and MLA are build into Zotero. Can't find the style you need for your paper? Additional style guides can be downloaded from the Zotero Style Repository . You can also edit existing styles or create your own.

Do you want to share your citations or collaborate with others online? Create an account and log on to Zotero Groups , where you can create and share citations in three different types of groups:

• Public, Open Membership : Anyone can view, join, and edit the group's contents.
• Public, Closed Membership : Anyone can view the group, but only members can edit its contents. You can invite members to join by their Zotero username or their email address.
• Private Membership : Only members can view and edit the group's content.

You can create an account and save up to 100 megabytes online for free. If you need more file storage on Zotero's server, it is available for purchase. You can also import and export citations from Zotero to other programs such as EndNote in a variety of common formats (e.g., BibTex and RIS).

For more information use the list of links on the right ("Zotero Links") to download Zotero and its word processor plug-ins and access the official Zotero documentation and user forums.

Need help? This guide has only provided a quick overview of Zotero. Librarians are available to consult with faculty and give more in-depth instruction to students and researchers who are affiliated with Purdue.

Please contact your subject librarian to schedule a class or consultation.

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• Last Updated: Nov 10, 2023 3:51 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/SURFlit

Literature Reviews for Education: Zotero

• Getting Started
• Search Term Strategies
• Find Articles
• Find Background Information
• Citing This link opens in a new window

What is Zotero? Why use a citation manager?

Zotero is a free  citation manager , a research tool available to download for Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS. 

What is a citation manager or citation management software? It can help you track and organize your resources and generate in-text citations and bibliographies. You might find a citation manager helpful if you don't currently have a system to collect and organize the papers you read. 

For example, you can use a citation manager through your entire literature review process to: 

• Import and save citation + full-text file directly from your web browser
• Organize your resources into collections, folders, or using tags (for class readings, for papers you're writing)
• Annotate directly in that file and quickly export annotations into your paper for cited in-text quotations
• Cloud sync all of this citation information + associated files, for access across multiple devices
• ... or embed citations directly into your Word or Google Docs file as you write!

There are many citation managers available - a few free options are Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote. Which option will work best for you? Learn more about the features of each citation manager below. Some citation managers have a paid version that offers more storage or additional features. 

I recommend Zotero because it's free, has a large community of support online, and librarians here at CU have Zotero expertise, but Zotero may not be right for you. Choose the citation management software that works best for you, even if that's no citation management software. 

Comparing Citation Managers

Zotero tips and tricks, ask a librarian.

Make an appointment

Chat with a Librarian

Email [email protected]

Need help with Zotero?

For more help with setup, to troubleshoot issues, or to learn about the advanced features of Zotero, reach out!

Book an appointment or email me at [email protected]. 

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• University of Colorado Boulder Libraries
• Research Guides
• Literature Reviews for Education
• Last Updated: Apr 1, 2024 3:42 PM
• URL: https://libguides.colorado.edu/edlitreviews

Library Subject Guides

2. find & manage research literature: zotero.

• Google Scholar
• Keenious This link opens in a new window
• Find Theses
• Keeping Current
• Pirated Journal Content
• Systematic Reviews

Other Research Support Guides 1. Plan (Design and Discover) your Research >> 3. Doing the Research >> 4. Writing up your Research >> 5. Publish & Share >> 6. Measure Impact

What is Zotero ?

• A citation management tool that allows you to save, annotate, and format citations in order to create a bibliography.

• Available for PC, Mac and Linux.

• View 3 minute intro video at . zotero.org

You can download and install Zotero from https://www.zotero.org

Reasons to use Zotero

It's easy to save your citations to Zotero. One click on your browser's address bar is all it takes. After saving citations you can quickly edit and organize using drag and drop.

You do a lot of your research on the web. You can archive webpages with Zotero, which you can't do with EndNote. Zotero allows you to mark up your files (such as webpages) that you save (highlight, create notes, etc.).

The Zotero toolbar is easy to use and works in both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer, letting you insert citations into your paper quickly. It also handles footnote styles better than EndNote 

Adding Web Pages to Zotero ..

Zotero is much better at saving web content than other bibliographic tools. 

• Search for your topic
• Click the "Save to Zotero (Web page)" icon in the browser toolbar
• Zotero will bring over some information about the page, and creates a snapshot that is stored on your local hard drive; a snapshot is a saved version of the page, not just a link to it.
• Once you've saved a page, Zotero will actually search the full text of that page for your keywords  

Zotero and EndNote

If you already have an EndNote Library but have decided you would like to switch to Zotero, you can easily transfer references from EndNote into Zotero.  AUT Library have an excellent guide to this process: Zotero and Endnote - Zotero - Library Guides at AUT University (libguides.com) . 

Improving your Library Search in Zotero

You can use a special library link as a 'resolver' to refind things online that you have added to your Zotero library.

In Zotero standalone (not the browser plugin) go to the menu Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced. 

You can select Custom -> Australia/New Zealand -> University of Canterbury and it will add the correct resolver URL for you.

Or you can add it manually:

Select a Custom resolver from the OpenURL dropdown list and copy and paste   :   https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/branding/s1165276/FullTextFinder.html  into the resolver text box.

Adding citations from different sources to Zotero

• Go to  library databases or catalogues or Amazon or Google Books or other freely available online publications such as NY Times ​
• Search for your topic and once you have found what you want...
• Click on the "Save to Zotero" icon (looks like a file folder in the browser URL bar)
• You will see a list of titles of the articles on the first page of your results.
• Click on one citation; save it to Zotero
• Go to citation, click on Locate, and note how it goes to the full text.

Who to Contact

Anton angelo, creating a bibliography / writing with zotero.

 Drag and Drop Quick Copy If you want to quickly add references to a paper, email, or blog post, then use Zotero's Drag and Drop Quick Copy Simply select references in the center column and drag them into any text field. Zotero will automatically create a numbered and alphabetized bibliography for you. To configure your quick copy preferences, click the Actions menu (the gear icon) and select Preferences. Within the Preferences pop-up window, select Export. From this tab you can • set your default export format • set up site specific export settings • choose whether you want Zotero to include HTML tags in your quick copy  Right Click to Create Bibliography To create a bibliography in Zotero, highlight one or more references and then right-click (or control click on Macs) to select "Create Bibliography from Selected Item(s)." Then select a citation style for your bibliography format  

Choose one of the following four ways to create your bibliography: • Save as RTF will allow you to save the bibliography as a rich text file. • Save as HTML will allow you to save the bibliography as a HTML file for viewing in a web browser. This format will also embed metadata allowing other Zotero users viewing the document to capture bibliographic information. • Save to Clipboard will allow you to save the bibliography to your clipboard to paste into any text field. • Print will send your bibliography straight to a printer.

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• Last Updated: Mar 20, 2024 4:14 PM
• URL: https://canterbury.libguides.com/research/findandmanageyourlit

Zotero @ the WSU Libraries

• Home/Upcoming Classes
• Setting Up Your Zotero Library Preferences
• The Zotero Tool Bar
• Moving to and from Zotero; Backing Zotero Up
• Using Online Zotero.org
• Using the Zotero Bookmarklet
• Lorena's Zotero FAQ
• Zotero and Search It
• Zotero and Images
• Searching and Annotating PDFs
• Citations and Word Integration
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Citations and Google Doc Integration
• Useful Writing Tools (DOIs and more)
• Zotero on Mobile Devices
• More on Zotero Mobile Apps
• Using Zotfile for Tablet Syncing and More
• Using Zotero with Dropbox and More
• Teaching with Zotero

Using Zotero for Systematic Reviews

Tools that may be useful, using other reference management tools for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, replication of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, disciplinary meta-analysis registration/database sites, examples of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

• Additional information about other reference management software
• More Do-It-Yourself Resources for Learning Zotero
• Meta-Analysis (xkcd)

"In the context of systematic reviews, reference management programs facilitate the capture and organization of studies identified through electronic database searching, the identification and elimination of duplicate records from multiple database searches, the transfer of references to Cochrane RevMan and other systematic reviews software, and the accurate citing of references within manuscripts [8,9]. Thus, an author’s decision to use, or not use, this software may impact on the accurate reporting of the number of studies reviewed for inclusion and exclusion in a systematic review." (Lorenzetti & Ghali, 2013)

Alt text joke to comic: ""Life goal #29 is to get enough of them rejected that I can publish a comparative analysis of the rejection letters."

• Reference management software for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: an exploration of usage and usability.(Research article)(Report) (Lorenzetti & Ghali)
• Using bibliographic software to appraise and code data in educational systematic review research
• Choosing the right citation management tool: EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, or Zotero Ivey, C., & Crum, J (2018). Choosing the right citation management tool: EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, or Zotero. Journal of the Medical Library Association , 106(3), 399-403. 10.5195/jmla.2018.468 Note: this is somewhat outdated, i.e. Zotero now works with Google Docs. Actually, all these artcles are outdated :-(
• 20-minute screencast on using Zotero for systematic reviews. Updated 9/2018 Note: this does not include a discussion about using Zotero Notes to create tag lists with scope notes (i.e. tags for coding article inclusion and exclusion, with explanations; Notes for saving your exact processes, etc.) Also, if you are working with Zotero records in batches rather than all at once, you will probably want to create a separate Excel sheet for each batch, make sure you set each up the same way exactly (especially if you delete columns), and then merge them all together. Please note also the importance of knowing the maximum number of tags you will have per entry for all items and make sure you have open Excel columns so nothing is overwritten (this screencast includes a cool trick that will make this easy!). 2019 Correction - in the screencast I say that the key field doesn't map to Zotero. It does now - if you search by the key (Item Key) in your Zotero library you will get the citation (this only works in the desktop app, not in your online library. In your online library you have to look at the item URL to locate the item key). 2020 Correction - In the video I use 001-empty as an example of an empty field. Don't do that! Make it something unique, just in case at some point you need to do a search-and-replace to get rid of it. Try something like 001-NILXYG and 002-NILXYG, etc.

Just a reminder: It is *very* important that you keep careful record of your searches to make sure they can be duplicated, and include them in your SR/MA - this includes what database (and vendor platform) you found them on! . But - keep in mind that searches can't always be duplicated because

•  Different institutions may have different access to databases, i.e. go back further in Web of Science, or have access to some specific collections in JSTOR and not to others
• Databases may add new articles, etc. or (rarely) take some away. They may also fill in missing issues. Here's a great example from JStor on monthly updates.
• The same content may search differently on different vendor platforms, i.e. if an article database is available from EBSCO and ProQuest, the same search may give you different results - that's one reason why you need to record what database and platform you found something in. Example: Education Full-Text (ProQuest). Another reason is that your SR/M-A may want to include a table of how may records from each database - its not enough to say, Education Full-Text, or EBSCOhost (in the case of databases available on multiple platforms - you need to specifically indicate both . The database for each record should go in the Zotero record itself (you will often have to manually add it in the Library Catalog field), but you can keep track of the vendor/platforms elsewhere ))  If you do choose to do federated searching (i.e. multiple ProQuest databases at once, or EBSCO databases at once, this is very important! (But I don't recommend federated searching!)
• Zotero Groups You can use Zotero Groups to organize who codes what. Group creator pays any storage costs incurred. Alternative method: Use Export Items to capture all items to be coded by each person and send to them as email attachment to be opened in each person's individual Zotero Library (You may want to add reviewer codes so you know who (blind or not) got what, or use a Note.)
• Zotero Plug-Ins Mostly third-party tools that add functionality to Zotero and your Zotero Library.
• EndNote for Systematic Reviews (University of Southampton) (guide includes other valuable resources/links)
• EndNote @ WSU
• EndNote training videos on YouTube
• Note:Since 2020 WSU has had access to *all* JSTOR journal modules. This is now permanent.
• Consider dates. Databases generally add new content periodically, so you need to know what day(s) you searched.  How far back do they go (i.e. Web of Science)? If you are searching full-text via a database platform, how far does the libraries' backfiles go as of the date(s) you search?
• Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) Includes Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences and Science Citation indexes, Journal Citation Reports, BIOSIS Previews, BIOSIS Citation Index, Derwent Innovations patent searching, MEDLINE, and Zoological Record. Updated weekly.

These are the content modules WSU subscribes to via JSTOR:

• JSTOR Arts & Sciences I ; Arts & Sciences II ;Arts & Sciences III ;Arts & Sciences IV ;Arts & Sciences V ;Arts & Sciences VII ; Business II ; Life Sciences.
• Note:Since 2020 WSU has had access to *all* JSTOR journal modules as a pandemic thing. This is now permanent!!!
• Internatinal Database of Education Systematic Reviews "IDESR is a database of published systematic reviews in Education and a clearinghouse for protocol registration of ongoing and planned systematic reviews"
• Journal: Systematic Reviews Mostly medical /health
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• Last Updated: Mar 20, 2024 9:53 AM
• URL: https://libguides.libraries.wsu.edu/zotero

How I Use Zotero to Organize My Research

How I use Zotero to Organize My Research

By Marcy, a Writing Coach

When I started graduate school, one of the most common pieces of advice I received was to pick a citation management software and stick to it.

It took me four years before I finally followed this advice.

The truth is, I had tried to use Zotero before, but frankly, I didn’t understand the hype. Now, I’ve been using Zotero for a year and a half, and I wish I had started sooner. What made me do such a big 180 on using Zotero? Mostly, discovering that it does so much more than just generate citations . Specifically, there are three main features in Zotero that turned me into a convert: its ability to store all of my research in a singular location, its tagging feature, and its notetaking and integrated PDF software.

Storing my research in a central repository

Before I started using Zotero, whenever I downloaded a new text, I had to create a new folder, download the relevant PDF, and move the PDF to the correct folder. It also created issues when I used a text for different topics. For example, if I originally read a text for my English 666 class, I would store it in my English 666 folder. Afterwards, if I wanted to use it again, I’d have to remember where I’d originally read the text or move it to the appropriate place.

With Zotero, my system is a lot more streamlined. Today, I started working on the section of my dissertation introduction that discusses archives in Latin America. After searching through the UNC libraries, I found a source that looked useful to me, so I used my Firefox Zotero Plugin to download the article I needed directly to Zotero.

Within Firefox, I can choose which of my Zotero folders I want to save to. Since this article is for my introduction, I selected the “Introduction” option from the dropdown bar.

My newly-downloaded article now appears automatically in my Zotero desktop app, and it also includes all of the bibliographic information I need.

But what happens if I decide to cite the same article later in my fourth dissertation chapter? The good news is, it’s easy to reuse a source and still stay organized.

I haven’t created a folder for my fourth dissertation chapter, so I’ll start there by clicking the “Add collection” button in the top left-hand corner and giving the collection the name “Chapter 4 research.”

Now that I have my new folder, I can either drag and drop my article into my newly-made “Chapter 4 Research” folder, or I can right-click the source, click “Add to Collection,” and then select “Chapter 4 Research.”

Now, this source appears in both folders (with the PDF), so I can easily access the same source from two different locations.

Now that I have all of my sources in the same place, I use Zotero to help me wade through my research. I’m currently writing the introduction to my dissertation, and I already have over 50 sources in Zotero!

To help me stay organized, I like to give each source I download a tag that tells me what subsection of my research it relates to. For example, I know that one of the major sections of my dissertation introduction is about archives, so I tag all of those sources as “archive.”

To create a tag, I click on my source and then click the “tags” tab in the right-hand side of the page. Then, I click “add” and I write whatever word or phrase I want–in this case, archive.

Once I tag my articles, I can easily filter my sources by typing in the tag in the bottom-left corner and selecting the relevant term. Now, instead of having to wade through 50+ sources, I have around 10 sources.

I also use tags to help me remember which articles I need to include in my Works Cited. While I’ve downloaded every article that might be of interest to me, I won’t end up using all of them in my Introduction. So, whenever I use a source for the first time in my writing, I go back to Zotero and add the tag “include in works cited.” I’ll even use tags to help me filter through which articles I’ve already read and which articles I still need to read!

Note-taking

Once I’ve tagged my sources, I’m ready to start reading and taking notes on my source. To read my source, all I need to do is double click on the source and the PDF appears in a new window in Zotero.

Within Zotero’s PDF editor, I take notes by highlighting and adding sticky notes in the PDF. To highlight or add a sticky note, I just use the bar at the top of the PDF.

While I can take notes within the PDF by adding a sticky note, I can also add notes that appear in the main window. When writing my Introduction, I’ve mostly relied on my PDF annotations and I haven’t taken as many notes. However, for my second chapter, I used the notes feature extensively, typically writing brief summaries and to record my reaction to a source.

What I like about keeping notes this way is that it shows up in the main interface of Zotero. So I can quickly click on different sources to read my notes and jog my memory. This comes in handy when I’m writing and I remember an argument that I’ve read, but I can’t remember which source made the argument. Rather than opening 50 PDFs manually, I use the tags to narrow my search down to a subset of articles. Once I’ve narrowed it down, I can quickly browse through my notes without ever having to leave Zotero’s main screen.

Zotero has been a lifesaver by helping me work more efficiently and strategically. Now, all that’s left for me to do is actually write my introduction…

Systematic Reviews: Zotero

• Record Keeping
• Developing Searches
• Deduplication
• Screening Sources
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• Data Extraction
• Useful Links
• Compiled Resources

Primary User Base

Zotero is a free resource that can be accessed by anyone with a computer and a desire for a good reference manager. While it is hard to track how many users Zotero has and exactly who uses Zotero, it is definitely a popular resource, boasting hundreds of thousands of user account registrations.

Upload and Annotate

To quickly upload documents into Zotero, users can add the Zotero Connector “Save to Zotero” button to their web browser. With the “Save to Zotero” button, Zotero will extract bibliographic information from the desired page and send it to the user’s Zotero library. In addition, citation files saved as BibTeX, RIS, and Zotero RDF can be uploaded straight into Zotero. Along with saving the metadata to items like books, articles, films, webpages, artwork, etc., Zotero allows users to add notes, files, and links to these items. These notes and links include, among other things, PDFs, snapshots of/links to webpages, and tags to make categorizing and finding articles easier. 

Word Processor Integration

Zotero offers a word processing plug-in for Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs that allows for easy citing while writing. As the user inserts in-text citations, the Zotero plug-in will simultaneously create the needed bibliography at the end of the document. With the Zotero plugin users can easily reformat their entire document into a different citation style.

Installation Required?

For full functionality, users should download Zotero 5.0. This download is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Zotero is primarily a program that runs on a personal computer, but when using other computers, users can go to zotero.org to access their Zotero library and upload metadata for their research. Their research will then sync with Zotero 5.0 installed on their personal computer. Along with Zotero’s word processing plugins, mentioned previously, there are many other Zotero plugins that can be added to increase functionality, software compatibility, and productivity based on user preferences. A few examples include Zotfile, which can extract highlighted and annotated portions of a PDF and save it in Zotero, and Zotero Storage Scanner, which can scan your Zotero storage for duplicates or missing attachments. 

Collaboration Features

With Zotero, users are able to co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, and build collaborative bibliographies. Users can also share their Zotero library with an unlimited number of colleagues at no cost.

Price to Students

Zotero’s basic software which includes 300 MB of storage is free, but students can pay for extra storage. 2 GB of storage costs $20/year, 6 GB costs $60/year, and unlimited storage costs $120/year.

Access After Graduation?

Because Zotero is available to the public and free for all users, students will be able to access it after graduation. 

• << Previous: Mendeley
• Next: Useful Links >>
• Last Updated: Jan 19, 2023 3:10 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.byu.edu/systematicreviews

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Researching the Literature Review

• 1. Get Started
• 2. Find Articles
• 3. Read & Take Notes
• 4. Keep Current

Why Use Citation Managers?

Citation manager comparison, current library workshop schedule, how do you keep track of your sources.

• 6. Done Yet?
• 7. Get Help

Citation management software makes it easy for you to:

• Keep all your citations in one place
• Search the papers you collect by author, title, journal, subject headings or your own keywords
• Insert footnotes or endnotes directly into your documents
• Automatically generate bibliographies or works cited lists in particular style formats
• Take searchable notes that are all stored in one place
• Share group libraries of articles with collaborators (depending on your software)

Zotero is a free tool you can use with almost any browser that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use and lives in your web browser where you do your work. Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections (or groups you can share with collaborators) for different projects, and create bibliographies using Word (for Mac or Windows), Google Docs, or OpenOffice.

Learn more about Zotero by clicking on and watching the Intro to Zotero video above, going through this step-by-step guide or come to a Zotero workshop led by OSU librarians either online or in-person ( see schedule ).

Learn more about EndNote at this guide .

• Citation Manager Comparison Chart

Many people like to know the pros and cons between the various citation management software choices before they start using a particular tool.  Here is a brief overview of the differences between three common tools: Zotero, EndNote, and Mendeley.  A more in-depth comparison between EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero is attached if you are interested.

Check out the current library workshop calendar for workshops on Zotero.

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• Next: 6. Done Yet? >>
• Last Updated: Dec 21, 2023 2:15 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/literaturereview

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Using Zotero to create literature reviews

This page will share some ideas on how to create annotated literature reviews for Appropedia programatically using Zotero. This page shows the basic functionality of using Zotero without going into detail, to explain how it can be used in the creation of literature reviews by reducing the time you'll spend editing a page on Appropedia.

I hope that this helps you save a lot of time in creating your reviews, including correct citation styles and a recommended format for literature reviews.

• 1 Motivation
• 2 About Zotero
• 3 Gathering materials on a Zotero collection
• 4 Annotating items
• 5 Creating a literature review page
• 6.1 Create a literature review manually
• 6.2 Create a literature review programatically
• 7 Future work
• 8 References
• 9 Further reading

Motivation [ edit | edit source ]

Literature reviews are an important part of the work on Appropedia. The reasoning behind them is to learn about a particular subject and previous experiences before undertaking the development of a new project. With this in mind, literature reviews require a lot of time and effort.

About Zotero [ edit | edit source ]

Zotero is a tool for managing bibliographic sources and materials. It's a widely used tool in the creation of new research. This means that it's very common to find people who are using Zotero for gathering bibliographic and web sources, as well as for creating reference lists very easily.

Gathering materials on a Zotero collection [ edit | edit source ]

Zotero can be used in conjunction with the Zotero Connector to gather the relevant materials being researched, for example: web sites, academic sources, or technical briefs. While it is powerful enough to gather the relevant metadata for many sites, it is important to complete the missing metadata (such as author information and licenses) for the materials being searched.

Zotero collections or folders are a useful tool for organizing materials pertaining a single research project. It is advised to organize all materials into a folder that can later be organized into a literature review for a specific research assignment.

Annotating items [ edit | edit source ]

Zotero has the ability to create notes for each reference as you collect and organize them. We will use this function to annotate for every source being tracked.

To create a note, select an entry of your library and switch to the "notes" tab. These should contain useful information for your research. According to Pearce (2018) [1] :

• It is recommended to add new pieces of information as bullet points.
• A note should contain a summary of the material or useful insights extracted from it.
• Be careful to record rough notes instead of polished content, to avoid self-plagiarism on academic manuscripts.

Creating a literature review page [ edit | edit source ]

For your literature review, we recommend that you create it as a subpage under your main project page.

Exporting and creating your review [ edit | edit source ]

Once you've created notes to a list of items in Zotero, you can export them by doing the following:

Create a literature review manually [ edit | edit source ]

• Select all the relevant items to be a part of the literature review.
• Click on "Create bibliography from items" and select your desired citation style.
• Create a literature review page and paste the text under each section.

Create a literature review programatically [ edit | edit source ]

This section explains how to do it programatically.

• Right-click them and select the option to export. Save the bibliography twice, as CSV and BibTex.
• 1. It will take the BibTex file and create citations for every item.
• 2. All notes will be cleaned from HTML tags. Items with more than one note will have them concatenated.
• 3. The page's wikitext will be formatted using the bibliography and notes, including a list of references.
• Copy and paste the formatted wikitext on your Appropedia page and save.

Please note that you must review any missing data warnings that will be shown when importing the .bib file entries for the script to work correctly. If there are any errors, go back to Zotero and fix the entries before trying again.

Check this page for a literature review created using the code below.

Future work [ edit | edit source ]

If this process works well, it might make sense to create an online tool to turn Zotero bibliographies into wikitext, perhaps through the Zotero API .

References [ edit | edit source ]

• ↑ Pearce, Joshua M., How to Perform a Literature Review with Free and Open Source Software (May 8, 2018). Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, Volume 23 Number 8, May 2018 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3331153

Further reading [ edit | edit source ]

• Help:Literature reviews
• Literature reviews
• Pages with syntax highlighting errors

How to generate a literature review matrix

• adamsmith July 6, 2020 You've found Zotero's CSV export I assume? That'd be the starting point.
• veronicalm July 6, 2020 Yep, thank you! I still need to trim the table every time I export the references and I wonder if there are more efficient ways of doing this, such as only exporting selected fields (and making it default)? I also look forward to the function of user defined fields... Thanks!
• bwiernik July 6, 2020 The translator could be customized to only export certain fields. What do you want to have included?
• veronicalm July 7, 2020 Thank you! I'd like to include author, year, title, journal, extra(citation) and tags. I also wonder if there is a way to organise the tags so that I could easily filter records and potentially visualise counts of tagged info in the csv export? Right now I don't know how to easily visually the tag counts (e.g. bar chart, cross-tabluation etc.), but perhaps this is beyond what this forum could cover. Just in case anyone has some tips to share (that would make my phd life much easier...).
• bwiernik July 7, 2020 For tags, you can use Excel (or whatever program you are using for analysis) filter feature for rows that “contain” a tag. You can similarly use pivot tables or a similar feature to compute counts.
• veronicalm July 11, 2020 Thank you! That's really helpful.
• miguelbaratagoncalves August 25, 2022 Hi! I was searching for this topic and just found this post. I also would like to "only export selected fields (and make it default)" and also, if possible, to create more personalized fields, but I can't see how to customize the translator... Also, for the tags and annotations, when I export a .csv file and open it in Excel I cannot see my annotations. Can you please post a small tutorial with the steps? Thank you!

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• Library Guides
• Literature Reviews
• Writing the Review

Literature Reviews: Writing the Review

Outline of review sections.

Your Literature Review should not be a summary and evaluation of each article, one after the other. Your sources should be integrated together to create a narrative on your topic.

Consider the following ways to organize your review:

• By themes, variables, or issues
• By varying perspectives regarding a topic of controversy
• Chronologically, to show how the topic and research have developed over time

Use an outline to organize your sources and ideas in a logical sequence. Identify main points and subpoints, and consider the flow of your review. Outlines can be revised as your ideas develop. They help guide your readers through your ideas and show the hierarchy of your thoughts. What do your readers need to understand first? Where might certain studies fit most naturally? These are the kinds of questions that an outline can clarify.

An example outline for a Literature Review might look like this:

Introduction

• Background information on the topic & definitions
• Purpose of the literature review
• Scope and limitations of the review (what is included /excluded)
• Historical background 
• Overview of the existing research on the topic
• Principle question being asked
• Organization of the literature into categories or themes
• Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each study
• Combining the findings from multiple sources to identify patterns and trends
• Insight into the relationship between your central topic and a larger area of study
• Development of a new research question or hypothesis
• Summary of the key points and findings in the literature
• Discussion of gaps in the existing knowledge
• Implications for future research

Strategies for Writing

Annotated bibliography.

An annotated bibliography collects short descriptions of each source in one place. After you have read each source carefully, set aside some time to write a brief summary. Your summary might be simply informative (e.g. identify the main argument/hypothesis, methods, major findings, and/or conclusions), or it might be evaluative (e.g. state why the source is interesting or useful for your review, or why it is not).

This method is more narrative than the Literature Matrix talked about on the Documenting Your Search page.

Taking the time to write short informative and/or evaluative summaries of your sources while you are researching can help you transition into the drafting stage later on. By making a record of your sources’ contents and your reactions to them, you make it less likely that you will need to go back and re-read many sources while drafting, and you might also start to gain a clearer idea of the overarching shape of your review.

READ EXTANT LIT REVIEWS CLOSELY

As you conduct your research, you will likely read many sources that model the same kind of literature review that you are researching and writing. While your original intent in reading those sources is likely to learn from the studies’ content (e.g. their results and discussion), it will benefit you to re-read these articles rhetorically.

Reading rhetorically means paying attention to how a text is written—how it has been structured, how it presents its claims and analyses, how it employs transitional words and phrases to move from one idea to the next. You might also pay attention to an author’s stylistic choices, like the use of first-person pronouns, active and passive voice, or technical terminology.

See  Finding Example Literature Reviews on the Developing a Research Question page for tips on finding reviews relevant to your topic.

MIND-MAPPING

Creating a mind-map is a form of brainstorming that lets you visualize how your ideas function and relate. Draw the diagram freehand or download software that lets you easily manipulate and group text, images, and shapes ( Coggle ,  FreeMind , MindMaple ).

Write down a central idea, then identify associated concepts, features, or questions around that idea. Make lines attaching various ideas, or arrows to signify directional relationships. Use different shapes, sizes, or colors to indicate commonalities, sequences, or relative importance.

This drafting technique allows you to generate ideas while thinking visually about how they function together. As you follow lines of thought, you can see which ideas can be connected, where certain pathways lead, and what the scope of your project might be. By drawing out a mind-map you may be able to see what elements of your review are underdeveloped and will benefit from more focused attention.

USE VISUALIZATION TOOLS

Attribution.

Thanks to Librarian Jamie Niehof at the University of Michigan for providing permission to reuse and remix this Literature Reviews guide.

Avoiding Bias

Reporting bias.

This occurs when you are summarizing the literature in an unbalanced, inconsistent or distorted way . 

Ways to avoid:

• look for literature that supports multiple perspectives, viewpoints or theories 
• ask multiple people to review your writing for bias
• Last Updated: Apr 9, 2024 3:50 PM
• URL: https://info.library.okstate.edu/literaturereviews

Current Library Status

The California Faculty Association strike has been resolved with a tentative agreement, and full library services resume Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Joy in the Library Workplace: A Literature Review and Related Activities

• CCLI 2023 Workshop
• Finding joy where we can: A literature review of joy in the workplace

Presentation Abstract

Presentation slides, public zotero library, informed consent.

Your responses provided during this workshop may be collected, without any identifying information, and may be used in future research and/or publications.

If you do not wish your responses to be collected, please abstain from providing them.

Participation is voluntary and optional, and you may stop participating at any time. If any identifying information is provided, it will be removed from the researchers’ records.

We are grateful for your presence, whether you choose to provide responses or not.

Finding Joy Where We Can: A Literature Review of Joy in the Workplace

CARL 2024: California Academic & Research Libraries (CARL) Conference  | April 3-6, 2024, San Jose, California

Presenters:

Katherine (Kitty) Luce, Instruction and Web Services Librarian, CSU Maritime Academy

Margot Hanson, Science Librarian, Saint Mary’s College of California

The existing literature on toxicity and low morale in library workplaces is extensive, yet the experience of well-being, even joy, is little discussed. This session provides a review of the scholarly and popular literature on joy in the workplace, with a critical appraisal of whose voices are evident, and a discussion of implications for academic libraries.

Recent writing focuses on the need to bring joy to workplaces, mostly to medical workplaces affected by the intractable challenges of COVID-19, worker shortages, and grueling and dispiriting work. The focus on joy reflects how far many workplaces are from inspiring joy, how difficult it is to change the work itself, and how humans crave the experience of transcendent delight.

This talk will provide an overview of the current research and published writing surrounding joy and well-being in workplaces, providing attendees the context to consider their own organizational culture. A review of the literature delineates coerced or nominal joy and differentiating it from true joy, which expresses workers’ autonomy and defies workplace inequities.

We have a public Zotero library collecting information we used in this workshop, and a few other suggested readings and relevant materials.

• << Previous: CCLI 2023 Workshop
• Last Updated: Apr 3, 2024 5:25 PM
• URL: https://library.csum.edu/joy

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