Category Archives: Research librarians

Extended uses for Zotero

Academic Writing, Citation management tools, Citations, Dissertation writing, Organization/ Order, Productivity, Reading, Reference management, Research, Research librarians, Writing resources, Zotero

By Michael Lines, Matt Huculak and Shevaun Ruby

For an introduction to Zotero, please see our last post.

Notes

Zotero, as a scholarly organization tool and citation manager, allows you to attach notes to items in your library, as you likely would if you were reading a physical journal or book. You can create a child-note, which is attached to a specific item in your library. This type of note would be equivalent to writing in the margins of a journal article or attaching a post-it to a relevant page in a book you are using for research.

You can also create a standalone note, which can be used more generally to illustrate a common theme or concept for your collection or project. A child-note can be moved to become a standalone note, so if an item in Zotero is no longer relevant to your research but contains notes, the notes can be moved and saved before you delete the item from your library.

Once you have created a note, or many notes, you can of course edit and move them. Zotero notes can also be fully formatted to fit your needs. As in a word processor, you can add bullets, create numbered lists, bold, italicize and underline key words or ideas, and more. The flexibility of the note tool in Zotero allows you to further organize and add to your research, all in the convenience of one location.

Group Libraries

As a scholar, you may find yourself collaborating with your colleagues and peers on certain research projects. Zotero makes collaboration simple through the creation and use of group libraries. Whoever has been invited to contribute to group libraries will be able to perform regular Zotero tasks, like adding and editing items or creating notes.

To create a group library, you must first sign up for a free Zotero account through Zotero.org. Once you have set up an online account, you can create group libraries and send invitations to your fellow researchers.

Syncing your library after adding and editing items will update the content for the whole group. Syncing your library to the Zotero server (also known as “Data Syncing”) also lets you access your Zotero library on multiple devices, although this does not include PDF attachments. Syncing your library between devices is great if you use different computers between campus, work, and home.

Working with others can sometimes result in duplicate items being saved to the Zotero library. Luckily, Zotero has a folder to display duplicate items in your library. This folder enables groups to identify when they are treading the same ground as their colleagues, thus streamlining and organizing research.

Creating annotated bibliographies

Most major citation styles have a format for annotated bibliographies. Zotero automates some of these formats and uses whatever text appears in the “abstract” field for the annotation. However, Zotero is often able to import the standard abstract along with other descriptive information, which users may not want to replace with their own custom annotation. To get around this, a number of annotated styles have been created by K. Stanger of Eastern Michigan University: https://guides.emich.edu/c.php?g=188045&p=1241422. These styles use the “extra” field to accommodate the custom annotation.

Tracking research projects and your knowledge of a field

There are a number of ways to use Zotero to track your growing comprehensive knowledge of a field. Intelligent use of the basic organizational tools (files, tags, and notes) can go a long way, and in addition Zotero offers the “timeline” feature. Select a library and click “create a timeline” under tools. You will see a customizable chronological display of the items in the library. This tool may reveal chronological gaps in your collection which should be investigated.

This collection of Canadian legal history books and articles shows no works prior to 1985, but a substantial literature exists from the 1970s.

Annotating and highlighting PDFs using Zotfile

Zotfile is a Zotero extension that allows users to highlight and annotate the PDFs attached to Zotero items and then make use of that work. Zotfile also allows for easy transfer of annotated PDFs between devices, among other functions. If you like to work directly with e-texts in multiple locations, Zotfile is for you.

Want help with Zotero? Zotero Workshops will be held in Room in Library Room 130  February 20 and 22, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

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Michael Lines is a Learning and Research Librarian (Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Political Science) at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library. You can reach Michael at 250-472-4236 | mlines@uvic.ca | www.uvic.ca/library/research/librarians/mlines

Matt Huculak is a Digital Scholarship Librarian at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library.  You can reach Matt at 250-472-4970 | huculak@uvic.ca | https://www.uvic.ca/library/research/librarians/huculak

Shevaun Ruby is a Learning and Research Librarian (intern) at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library. You can reach Shevaun at 250-853-3610 | sruby@uvic.ca

 

Zoom zoom with Zotero: How to get started with a citation manager

Academic Writing, Citation management tools, Citations, Organization/ Order, Productivity, Reading, Reference management, Research, Research librarians, Time management, Writing resources, Zotero

By Michael Lines, Matt Huculak, and Shevaun Ruby

Using a citation manager is a must for grad students. It facilitates the easy collection and use (and re-use) of citations, and can help in other areas of the writing process, such as note-taking, tracking research areas, making annotated bibliographies, and managing collaborative projects.

Choosing a citation manager can be hard because there are many available. As a grad student you may have different priorities than a professional writer, an undergrad student, or a librarian. Cost and flexibility may be important, especially if you are new to citation management. In addition, academics should take into account the ethics of the decision: what are the privacy implications, and are you supporting a sustainable model of scholarly labour?

Zotero is recommended here on all of the above accounts: it is a free and open-source software developed and maintained by the Roy Rosenzweig Centre for History and New Media at George Mason University, is designed to meet scholarly needs, and is licensed on terms compatible with academic freedom.

Setup

Zotero requires two components in order to function properly and save items to your library:  Zotero 5.0 Standalone and the Zotero Connector.

Zotero Standalone 5.0 is software that is downloaded from Zotero.org and then installed onto your hard-drive. It can function without an internet connection, although those functions will be limited to editing and organizing existing library items, creating notes and tags, and attaching PDFs. The second component, called Zotero Connector, is installed through your preferred internet browser (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari); this is the tool that allows you to save items like journal articles or web pages from the internet to your Zotero library. In order to save items from your internet browser to Zotero, you must have the standalone software open.

Additionally, Zotero will install a plugin to your word processor that allows you to insert and format citations and bibliographies within your paper. In Microsoft Word, this shows up as a tab simply named “Zotero.”

The system/storage requirements for Zotero are low; Zotero standalone application requires less than a megabyte of hard-drive space, and the Connector is a small extension that lives in your browser. This means the program runs quickly and should not burden your CPU, allowing you to have Zotero running while you work on other projects within your word processor or internet browser.

Collecting Bibliographic Information

Once set up, Zotero is easy to use. And Zotero is easiest to use when the researcher has a clear intention to collect and store bibliographic information and PDFs for later reading. This is part of the bigger picture of having an orderly approach to the research and writing process.

First, Zotero must be running. When the desired item is open in the browser the researcher presses the “save to Zotero” button on the toolbar, and the bibliographic information is collected (that is, its bibliographic info copied into Zotero.) Usually a PDF will also be downloaded and added to the item in Zotero, if one is available. Any website, online article, eBook, etc. may be “collected” and this includes database records that only describe a book or article.

As easy as this is, it is not always error-free, so it is good practice to double-check the information collected by Zotero while the book or article is still up on the screen. Quickly correct any errors. Once that is done, the researcher never has to return to editing the details of the citation.

Making citations and bibliographies

Once the items are in the Zotero collection, the researcher can make use of them in the writing process. The Zotero add-in for Word and other word processors should automatically install with Zotero, and will be one of the tabs in the Word processor toolbar.

When a citation is needed, select the tab, click “Add/Edit citation,” and select what citation style you will be using. Then type the first few letters of the title or author in the search box that appears, select the correct source, and press Enter. A citation will appear in the text or footnote.

Later, select “Add/Edit Bibliography” and all the sources that have been cited will be collected in a bibliography. This is where checking the citations as you entered them into Zotero pays off: if you have good data in Zotero, all your citations will be accurate at a single click of the button.

The UVic library has a more detailed guide to setting up and Using Zotero at: http://libguides.uvic.ca/Zotero.

The Library will be hosting some “Introduction to Zotero” workshops in February. The workshops will cover introductory usage of Zotero, from downloading the connector and standalone software, to adding items and making citations.  Please come!

Next time, we’ll be talking about extended uses of Zotero, such as attaching notes, creating group libraries for collaborative work, and building  annotated bibliographies.

Michael Lines is a Learning and Research Librarian (Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Political Science) at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library. You can reach Michael at 250-472-4236 | mlines@uvic.ca | www.uvic.ca/library/research/librarians/mlines

Matt Huculak is a Digital Scholarship Librarian at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library.  You can reach Matt at 250-472-4970 | huculak@uvic.ca | https://www.uvic.ca/library/research/librarians/huculak

Shevaun Ruby is a Learning and Research Librarian (intern) at the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning – McPherson Library. You can reach Shevaun at 250-853-3610 | sruby@uvic.ca

 

 

 

 

 

Want to get organized? Consider using a reference management tool

Academic Writing, Citation management tools, Organization/ Order, Productivity, Reading, Reference management, Research librarians, Time management

 

By Madeline Walker

Are your notes on sources scattered everywhere? Do you write with the intention of citing later, but then forget where you found that bit of information? Choosing and using reference management software early in your graduate program will get your reading and research off to an organized, efficient start.  Academic and blogger Pat Thomson calls her chosen reference management tool, Endnote, her “adjunct brain” (2016, p. 49). Over many years, she has stored almost 10,000 items on Endnote, creating a searchable database of sources (Thomson & Kamler, 2016, p. 49). You too can let a reference manager do some of your work for you. Reference managers can keep track of articles and books by importing bibliographic information directly (or indirectly) from the source, picking up metadata from pdfs, formatting citations in your chosen style, building bibliographies, and searching/sharing data.  There are many managers to choose from—all with different features. Our library has put together a  page about reference managers with descriptions of each one and a comparison chart of six popular products.  If you want to compare a wider range of reference managers, check out Wikipedia’s comprehensive comparison chart of 32 products.

Comparison Chart on our Library’s website

Three of the most popular reference managers are Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero. Each tool has benefits and disadvantages, so you may want to test drive the free products before deciding on one.  Functionality, aesthetics, the requirements of your discipline, and just plain personal preference will come into play. Consider what your fellow students/researchers are using in case you want to share citations or folders for group projects. One caution: the web-based versions store data in the United States so are not recommended for storing any personal or confidential data.  You may wish to consider a product you can download on your computer.

I asked three of our reference librarians to say a little about the product they’re most familiar with. However, please note that neither the library nor its librarians recommend or endorse a particular product.  Here’s what they said:

Aditi Gupta on Endnote:

Endnote can be purchased as a standalone software program (EndNote X8) that works well with MS Word, Open Office, and other tools OR students can use a free Endnote basic version.  You will need to create a free account to access Endnote basic online. It easily allows you to import references from databases and create a list of references using different citation styles including APA, MLA, and Chicago. Once you have started to import your references, you can share your folders with other Endnote users.

Rebecca Raworth on Mendeley:

“Your research content is primarily contained in PDF files: Mendeley has an integrated PDF viewer and can create citation records just from importing a PDF file. Mendeley.org has the strongest website and community platform.” (from http://libguides.wustl.edu/choose). Also, Mendeley (free version) is very good for collaborative work, and if you back up records, you can sync multiple computers. Mendeley also provides 2GB of web space.

Michael Lines on Zotero:

Zotero works best on a PC running Firefox. If you already use that combo, or can make the switch, it can really improve your workflow. Because it lives in your browser, it facilitates collecting and checking citations as you do your research. Getting that piece into your routine saves a ton of headaches. It is also an open-source program made at a US university for academic purposes, so it is strong ethically. It has an online component that can be fun, useful, and collaborative, but it is based on US servers, so it opens you up to NSA inspection.  And remember that choosing a citation manager should be part of a larger practical review of your research and reading process!

If you are reluctant to start using a reference manager because you find technology challenging, links provided in the library’s comparison chart take you to helpful videos and user-friendly documentation.

Students can consult about citation management and other research-related issues with librarians via email and text, and also in-person at the Research Help desk on the main floor of the library.

Best wishes for a productive and joyful semester.

Reference

Thomson, P. & Kamler, B. (2016).  Detox your writing: Strategies for doctoral researchers.  London, UK: Routledge.