Hege Library & Learning Technologies

Digital Citation Management with Zotero

A guide to digitally managing citations using Zotero, an open-source, free, & easy-to-use tool that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share research.

What Is Zotero?

Zotero logoZotero is a tool for digital citation management: you can use it to catalog and organize (individually or collaboratively!) all manner of sources during your research process – and then easily create citations and bibliographies while writing, using its handy plug-ins for Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Best of all, Zotero is free and open source!

This guide will walk you through how to get started with Zotero.

  • getting started: creating an account and installing Zotero on your own machine (or using it on a campus computer)
  • saving sources (including automatically, using the handy browser connector button!) and engage with them by organizing them and writing notes
  • citing sources and creating bibliographies
  • and finally, getting help when you need it.

This guide includes both text walkthroughs and video walkthroughs created by other Zotero users. Dive in wherever is most helpful for you!

Please note: this is a guide for beginners, and only scratches the surface of all that Zotero has to offer. If you feel like you're ready to take the next step with Zotero, check out a more in-depth guide - there are many out there. One we recommend in particular is Wake Forest's ZSR Library Guide to Zotero, as it is comprehensive and very clear. It is available at https://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/zotero/home.