Citation Management

Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is free, open source software that collects, manages, and cites research sources, including online journal articles, books from the library catalog, news articles, and websites. It's a great time-saving tool that helps you avoid writing citations and bibliographies manually. For a 30-minute start-to-finish tutorial, see our YouTube video below!

*Important: 

Although Zotero has a high degree of accuracy, no citation generator is 100% accurate. It is your responsibility to make sure your citations and references are correct! See the "Editing Fields" page for instructions on editing your entries.

Pros

• It's very easy to use.
• It's fast & free
• Zotero for Firefox does not require local admin privileges to install. You can install it on the library's computers, but it will be deleted when you log off.
• Zotero Standalone is available for Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux.
• Zotero Standalone has plug-ins available for Chrome & Safari. 
• Plug-ins available for You can set up an account for online syncing.
• It has an add-in for Microsoft Word and LibreOffice.

Cons

• Browser specific: works with Chrome FireFox and Safari, but not Internet Explorer.
• Syncing is not the same as backing up your data. Zotero recommends that if you are working on a large document, you back up your library file manually.
• Zotero Standalone requires local admin rights on your computer to install, so you will not be able to install it on lab or library computers.
• Online sync is view-only, no editing.
• Only a few citation formats are supported, but they are the most common ones (ACS is not supported).