RA Information Guide: FREE Computer Programs

What Zotero Does

Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a Firefox addon that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use, lives in your web browser where you do your work, and best of all it's free.

Zotero allows you to attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations, organize them into collections for different projects, and create bibliographies.

It automatically updates itself periodically to work with new online sources and new bibliographic styles.

• Start:

  • Watch the Video 1 on installing Zotero
  • Download the Zotero desktop application
  • On the same page, install the Zotero connector for your browser
  • Watch Video 2 on how to change the settings
  • Open Zotero, change settings, then create a yellow folder for your paper or project 

• Next:

  • Go to your favorite library database
  • Have your Zotero desktop application running
  • Watch the Start to Finish Video 
  • Search within the database
    • as you find articles of interest, click on the Zotero icon in your browser 
    • This will capture the citation and full-text PDF

• Next

  • Go back to the Zotero application 
  • Check your saved articles - Double-check the information and capitalization 
  • If PDFs were part of the database collection, you will be able to open the PDF from Zotero

Zotero works best with Microsoft Word. SLU students can get Office 365 at no cost.