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Zotero: Introduction to Zotero

Using Zotero to manage your personal research library will save you a lot of time. With this free software you can

  • collect the bibliographic information and full text (when available) of a variety of sources: books, journals, websites, etc.,
  • organize your sources into collections,
  • annotate your sources,
  • store your sources with related metadata and personal notes,
  • do a keyword search of your personal library, and
  • automatically cite your sources.

Getting Started with Zotero

Create an account at Zotero.org. All you need is an account to start building your Zotero library on their website.

There is also a standalone version of Zotero that you can download onto your computer. It has some advantages over the web version--a faster method of adding sources, integration with Word to cite your sources, and more storage space. The rest of this guide walks you through the process of installing the standalone version.