Zotero
Librarian
More Help
295 South 1500 East
Digital Matters, 2751A
Zotero Connector
Whenever you are browsing the web or searching in one of the library databases, the Zotero Connector you installed in your browser will automatically detect the type of source you're looking at. For example, for journal articles, the Zotero Connector icon changes into a typed sheet of paper.
To add the reference into your Zotero library, simply click on the Zotero Connector icon in your browser. A dialog box will pop up in the bottom right corner of your screen, letting you know
- what library you are saving it to,
- the name of the reference, and
- whether or not it has grabbed the PDF full text.
To save to a folder or different library in your application, go to that folder in the desktop version and then save the reference.
Note that Zotero will only download PDFs if they are in the database you are currently in.
When you are using Google Scholar or the results list of a database, the Zotero Connector icon will change into a folder, indicating that there is more than one reference on the page.
To save more than one reference from a page, click the folder icon and select which references you want to save. If the full text for those references is available within that database, it will download those files.
RIS Export
If you do not or cannot use the Zotero Connector, you can very easily import citation files into Zotero. In EBSCOHost databases, such as Academic Search Premier, select the article or articles you want to add to your library. On the right side of your screen there is a "Tools" pane. Click "Export" and select the RIS option. Then go into your Zotero, and under "File" click "Import" and select the downloaded file.
In ProQuest, you will need to click the "Save" icon to export the reference. This option is also available in the Results list, where you can select more than one item at a time.
In JSTOR, you can either select multiple items and directly export them from the results list, or you can click the "Cite This Item" button, which brings up the export menu for that reference.
Manual Entry
You can also of course create new blank entries and enter the information yourself. This gives you a lot of control because you decide what goes into each field.
Simply click the green check, select the item type, and fill in your information. Easy as that!
Adding items by ISBN
Have the book in front of you and want to add it to your Zotero library without having to search for a citation?
If you have a book's ISBN, an online article's DOI or PMID number, just click the magic wand button: "Add item by identifier." Type in the book or article's number, and Zotero will automatically download its information and save it to your library.
Converting a list of references to a Zotero-readable file
We recommend using the AnyStyle.io tool to transform lists of references, such as a bibliography in an article, into sources that can be entered in Zotero. This is a fairly new AI-based tool, and it is a good starting point, though you will still have to clean up and fix your references.
After cleaning up any weirdness from the parsing process, you will save the references as a BibTeX file and import into Zotero.
- Anystyle.io This link opens in a new windowA machine-learning tool for generating citation management tool-readable files from text lists of references.
