IMPORTANT NOTE: This book was published in 2019, when Zotero was in Release 5. While many of its applications to research remain valuable, Zotero 7’s user interface is substantially altered and some plugins have been discontinued. This book is now priced for the application portions that remain useful. If you want a quick-start introduction to Zotero 7, please see my 2024 book A Quick Guide to Zotero 7: Knowledge Management in Genealogy, History, and Other Fields.
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In Zotero software, researchers find a powerful and versatile research manager, a trouble-free citation tool, go-anywhere access to research, a framing structure for writing, and the ability to collaborate with other researchers. Developed originally by George Mason University, owned by the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, and used by scholars worldwide, this robust product is a must-have companion for seasoned scholars, writers, and students—anyone with a research project.
An avid Zotero user since graduate school, author Donna Cox Baker demonstrates Zotero’s ease and power for research and information gathering of many kinds. Not only does it eliminate file cabinets, binders, and stacks of unfiled papers, it brings your voluminous research anywhere you have Internet access. The Zotero Solution teaches Zotero from installation to advanced add-ons, using exercises and illustrations to enhance the learning experience. Baker teaches readers how to get the most out of Zotero with rapid setup.
What Zotero does for scholarly researchers:
- Eliminates paper and physical filing, replacing every notecard, file cabinet, notebook, binder, box, and paper stack that could weigh you down.
- Eliminates thousands of keystrokes as Zotero gathers reference records for citations with the click of a button.
- Creates your citations and bibliographies for you in Microsoft Word, LibreDocs, or Google Docs with dynamic connections to your Zotero data.
- Accesses your citations and notes virtually anywhere you have Wi-Fi and a computing device.
- Extracts the comments you have made and the passages you have highlighted in a text-editable PDF, drawing them into Zotero without retyping.
- Finds anything you have stored, with lightning-fast smart searching—even things you stored years ago and remember only vaguely if at all.
- Allows you to plan your research and keep up with what you have done and what you intend to do.
- Builds a smart research to-do list that eliminates repetitive data entry and is there whenever you need it.
- Allows a group of scholars to collaborate on research.
- Facilitates the reuse of research for multiple projects without duplicating effort or records.
Donna Cox Baker has a Ph.D. in history. She spent her first career in computer communications and her second in historical publishing. She is author of Views of the Future State: Afterlife Beliefs in the Deep South, 1820–1865 and Zotero for Genealogy: Harnessing the Power of Your Research, and coeditor of Alabama from Territory to Statehood: An Alabama Heritage Bicentennial Collection.
PDF (digital replica of paperback)
192 pp. / 149 B&W images
ISBN (paperback edition): 978-0-9996899-3-6
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- 1: Introduction
- What is Zotero?
- How does Zotero serve scholars?
- How should I use this book?
- PART I: ZOTERO GENERAL OVERVIEW
- 2: Getting Started with Zotero
- Installing Zotero
- The Zotero Workspace
- Choosing your preferences
- Setting up your free Zotero account
- Retrieving sample data
- Zotero’s data storage
- Zotero security
- Getting help
- Summary
- 3: Documenting Your Research
- Choosing your citation style
- Viewing the Research List
- Creating a research citation
- Quick data entry options
- Adding notes
- Deleting and restoring research items
- Adjusting panes and font sizes
- Identifying related records
- Merging duplicate items
- Summary
- 4: Organizing Research Collections
- Using Zotero Collections
- Research records inside collection folders
- Moving and copying subcollections
- Deleting collections and subcollections
- Summary
- 5: Managing Your Attachments
- Before you start attaching
- Creating file attachments
- Dragging and dropping attachments
- Restoring broken attachment links
- Freestanding files
- Summary
- 6: Searching, sorting and finding your research
- Basic sorting
- Choosing and controlling columns
- Basic searching
- Advanced searching
- Tags
- Searching and replacing within a note
- Locate menu—lookup engines
- Summary
- 7: Importing, Exporting and Reporting
- Importing and exporting from other reference management tools
- Creating reports
- Summary
- PART II: ZOTERO ADD-ONS
- 8: Zotero Connectors & Instant Data Entry
- Installing Zotero connector
- Using the Zotero connector
- Summary
- 9: ZotFile & Advanced PDF Management
- Installing ZotFile
- Creating a ZotFile reading stack
- Extracting annotations from PDFs
- Summary
- 10: Word Processing & Painless Citations
- Installing the word processing add-on
- Zotero tools in your word processor
- Creating citations in your document
- Adding multiple Zotero citations
- Subsequent Mentions
- Editing a citation
- Creating a bibliography
- Summary
- PART III: APPLYING ZOTERO IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
- 11: Organizing Your Filing System
- The main thing: one system for all
- Designing your filing system
- Two-pronged research filing
- Getting specific with your topical research
- More on the Breadcrumb Trail
- Creating a separate Zotero profile
- Summary
- 12: One Source Record or Many: A Choice
- A source record with many notes
- A case study
- Testing your bibliographic data—style preview
- Summary
- 13: Research Planning
- Logging your research
- Research-related to-do lists
- Summary
- 14: Zotero Online & on the Road
- Collaborating and sharing
- Zotero on tablets and smartphones
- Zotero on the road
- Summary
- 15: More Zotero Topics
- Edit in a separate window
- ZoteroBib
- Retraction Watch
- RSS Feeds
- Summary
- 16: Conclusion
- Index
- About the Author
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