Zotero is free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials (such as PDF files). Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors Microsoft Word, LibreOffice. Zotero is a bibliographic management tool that can help you keep track of your sources and so much more. The OU Libraries periodically offers Zotero workshops,but you may not be able to get to one. The Zotero plug-ins for MS Word and for LibreOffice allow you to add in-line citations and generate bibliographies in the citation style you need. After installing the Word plug-in, a Zotero menu should appear in your menu bar. You will want to make sure Zotero is running in a separate window to make sure Word can access your Zotero library. Zotero is a free, easy-to-use, open-source tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research. The Zotero Connector automatically senses content as you browse the web and allows you to save items to Zotero with a single click.
A nice overview from the folks at Zotero, making their case for Why Zotero?
What's with this guide?
Zotero Safari
Zotero's own website will tell you most of what you need to know to install and use Zotero. I created this library guide to supplement what it provides (you can also find some excellent tutorials and other how-to resources from other libraries on the Using Zotero.. tab).
Updates:
3/24/2021: Considering moving to Zotero from Mendeley for..reasons? Here's how to Import your library into Zotero See also note below this one (Beta note-taking within Zotero; upcoming IOS app)
Zotero Chrome
3/8/2021: Zotero 6 will be coming out some time this year, and it makes some major changes. You will now be able to view and annotate PDFs inside of Zotero, and have multiple tabs of PDFs open. This is *amazing* - its more integrated than Zotfile - and you can read more here and install the beta if you want to (I'm using it now). It makes one major change that will require some adjustment however - the Notes menu will look completely different, and offer some cool new functionality (i.e. embed citation in a note). However, its going to move from its current tool menu to something different, and to do things like bullet or numbered lists or blockquotes you will need to use a markup system called Markdown (see what I just did there? ;-) it's actually not that complicated and some of it is built into Zotero but a bit hidden, but will take a little adjustment. Markdown Cheatsheet example - here's another one
Zotero Citation
- a review (not from me yet) - note, Zotfile would have solved some of his pre-Zotero problems!
Also, Zotero will be coming out with an iPad app at some time; it's also in beta now.
2/2021: In my classes I often have skipped over the part in Preferences -> Search regarding Clear and Rebuild Index. I was wrong. I now recommend clearing and rebuilding your indexes every week or so or after adding a lot of new items. I have found that it substantially increases the fully-indexed items, which means its more likely to surface a PDF or screenshot when you are using Everything Search.
6/17/19: Zotero is now also integrated with the amazing Retraction Watch and will now automatically check your database and documents for works that have been retracted.
move citations between Word and Docs.
1/25/19 - Also, Zotero is now integrated with Unpaywall (a free service that harvests open access articles from publishers and repositories - it has a nice browser plugin that I recommend installing), so that if your article is behind a paywall you don't have access to, it will search for an OA version. How to add draft to word document file.
Zotero Chrome Extension
1/25/19 - I keep forgetting to add that Zotero now works with Google Docs (beyond the old drag-and-drop) See Using Zotero with Google Docs. As of July 2019, you can also move citations between Word and Docs.