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Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 colliding. Debra M. Elmegreen & the Hubble Heritage Team, NASA/courtesy of Nasaimages.org |
Zotero
Zotero is web based software that helps you manage your research, format citations and create a bibliography. Zotero is:
free
can save copies of articles and web pages
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can format article information into a variety of different styles (MLA, APA, etc.)
can only be used with the Firefox browser (working on versions for IE, Chrome, Safari, etc.)
portable - you can carry it with you (there is also a form of web access)
you can use it with Word, Open Office, EndNote or Refworks (and sort of with WordPerfect)
it will help you avoid due date panic and prevent accidental plagiarism
it has an interface with Word for Windows and Word for Mac (Zotero 2.0 only)
Not perfect, but very useful AND free
To download Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Once Firefox is loaded:
To download the Zotero extension: http://www.zotero.org/
Zotero help:
When you load Zotero, you will automatically get the button in the lower right corner.
If you'd like to add a button in the task bar. You can also add a button to the top if you choose.
You need to make changes in preferences to automatically capture images. To do this:
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Click on the Actions icon
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A drop down menu will appear.
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Click on Preferences.
You will get the menu below.
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Make sure the General tab is highlighted.
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Make sure all options are checked, especially the "take snapshot: and "attach PDFs" options.
Click on the Export tab to highlight it.
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Choose the citation format you use the most. Most people use Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA). It's easy to change this later if you need to.
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Click the OK button at the bottom of the menu to exit.
Proxy tab
If you're having problems using Zotero with library databases, you need to enable the proxy.
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Click on the Proxy tab
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Make sure that Automatically Remember Proxied Resources is checked.
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Click ok
If
you have problems accessing library databases after setting up the proxy, you
may need to add or change a specific proxy address. Contact the Reference
Desk at 801-626-6415, refdesk@weber.edu
or by chat (see icons on most library pages:
http://library.weber.edu ) You can
also fix the problem by unchecking the Automatically remember proxied resources,
by may have problems accessing the databases.
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from library databases (Ebscohost, library catalog, and so on)
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from Google Scholar (also Scirus, Pubmed, etc.)
The Zotero window does not have to be open to work to capture information from library databases or Google Scholar (and some other scholarly search engines). It does have to be open to capture information from a web page.
Zotero saves information from the page that shows on the screen. If you can't see the page, Zotero can't save the information. To save another page go to that page.
On library databases, you can use the database software to collect sources from different pages into one file/page and then save the information on that single page to Zotero.
Go to the library article database or catalog
You have three options:
To save one item:
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go to the item in the database
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click on the icon on the right side of the address bar. The icon will be:
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gold folder for a list of items (See directions
for saving a list of things below.) -
blue for a book -
white
page for a journal article
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You will see a dialog box at the lower right saying that Zotero is saving the item.
Example from the Stewart Library catalog:
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Do your search and pull up a list of sources
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Click the gold folder on the right of the address bar. The gold folder icon
stands for:-
items from a list
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a collection of items in Zotero
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A menu with a list of all the sources on the page appears. Choose the ones you want by clicking the boxes.
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Click OK and Zotero will save the information.
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If you've set up your preferences as discussed above, Zotero will also save the attached articles.
Zotero will not save articles you have to link to using
Article Link (the Find Fulltext link or button) or access indirectly.
There are problems saving from ScienceDirect
(now SciVerse) and
IEEE Xplore
(ASPP). They are exploring ways
to work to work around this, but right now the best way is to take a web
snapshot (see below), attach the article manually and fill in any missing
information.
Example from a library database: Academic Search Premier.
to save items on more than one page
You can:
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Repeat the process above on each page OR
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Use the database software to create a file and save that file.
This examples uses Academic Search Premier. Most library databases allow you to save multiple items to a file, but the exact way you do so differs by database.
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Do a search
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Choose the articles you want to save on each page by clicking on the Add to folder icon
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After you have saved everything you want, click on Folder View
The menu on the right in the image below is now on the left (with the exception
of the folder view.) This image shows an older version of the Ebsco
interface.
Once you are on Folder View, follow the normal directions for saving items on a page.
Saving items from Google Scholar and other scholarly search engines works just like saving items from one page of a library database (you do not need to open Zotero first.)
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Go to Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com)
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Do a search
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Click on the gold folder
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Choose the items you want and click OK.
The only way to save more than one page is to go to each page separately. There is no way to combine pages from Google Scholar and other scholarly search engines.
Having a screenshot is a good idea in case the web page disappears. If a
web page disappears, the screenshot will prove it did exist.
To save information from a webpage AND to save a screenshot of a webpage:
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Find the web page you want to save
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Open the Zotero page by clicking on the Zotero button at the bottom of the screen (or top if you chose that icon).
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Click the "Create new item from current page" icon
from the menu
on top of the Zotero screen.
Remember, you can only save the information you can see or scroll to on the screen. If you have to click and go to another page, you need to add that page separately.
You will need to
type in information such as the name of the web page or the title and/or author
of the page as well as the date into the Info box on the right side for the
system to generate an accurate citation.
Other nifty things you can do on Zotero
Add notes: to help you remember the content, where you found it, why you liked it, etc.
Add tags: to make it easier to search your citations for a specific subject.
For additional nifty features, such as highlighting web pages you've captured,
see:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/start.
Making a bibliography or reference list
There are several ways to do a bibliography.
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To copy just a few references into a bibliography on Word or another word processor, click on the Zotero button.
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In the center pane, highlight the sources you want to use.
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Use the mouse to drag and drop them into a Word document. (This also works, sort of, with WordPerfect).
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To use this technique, you must set
up a default citation style in Preferences.
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To create a complete bibliography, click on the Zotero button. In the center pane, highlight the sources you want to use.
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Click the right mouse button. A pop-up menu will appear.
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Click on "Create Bibliography from Selected Items"
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You will get a pop-up menu
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Select the style format
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Select the export format - I suggest you choose RTF. This stands for Rich Text Format and will copy into Word, WordPerfect, and so on.
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Click OK
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Choose a location to save the file to and give it a name you will remember.
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Go to your word processor and open the file just as you would any other. You'll see:
Make any necessary corrections and you're ready to go.
Using the Word plugin for Zotero
There are also plugins for OpenOffice and NeoOffice.
Using the plug-in is a good way to use Word AND get the latest citation styles. This is also the easiest way to generate footnotes/endnotes/parenthetical references.
Go to: http://www.zotero.org/documentation/microsoft_word_integration. Scroll down to: Download Windows Installer (119KB, English only).
NOTE: you can download other language versions, but must do so manually.
Install the plug-in. You may have to open and close Word for this to work
When the plugin
has installed, you will see a new toolbar:
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if you are using Word 97/2003, it will appear as a toolbar on the regular screen.
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If you are using Word 2007 or Word 2010, click on the Add-ins tab and you'll see the toolbar.
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Some people are reporting glitches using it with Word 2010. The main problem seems to be with documents moved from earlier versions of Word and not with documents created in Word 2010.
You can:
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add a citation/note/footnote
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add a list of citations and create a bibliography
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NOTE: all screenshots are from Word 2007.
Once you've set the format preference, you will get a screen that will let you choose what citation to add. It will be added as a note (or footnote) format - we'll look at doing bibliographies or reference lists below.
To preview the note, click on the Show Editor button on the bottom left.
To credit more than one source, click on the Multiple Sources button at the bottom left.
Click OK and you'll get the following information inserted in your Word document (make sure the mouse is pointing where you want the note to go.)
NOTE: appearance will vary depending on format selected. This is the Chicago/Turabian author/date format.
Notes and references are
only as accurate as the information in Zotero. It is pretty accurate for
materials taken from library databases. For other information, you will
need to check and be sure all necessary information is listed in the record and
added it manually if it is not.
To create a bibliography from your notes, click on the Create Bibliography icon. NOTE: to add other citations to the bibliography that are not in your notes, drag and drop them from Zotero. To create a bibliography when there are no notes, follow the directions in Creating Bibliographies and Reference lists, above.
You need to have Firefox and Zotero open to use the Word plugin.
This works with Mac Word X and 2004. Zotero 2.0+ will work with 2008, but there won't be a toolbar. Check the Zotero documentation for recent updates.
There are several ways you can save files and attachments of articles and web pages.
Portable Firefox/Zotero:
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Load a portable version of Firefox plus Zotero on your USB drive and use both anywhere. Directions are at: http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/portable_firefox
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Save your library and use it on another machine with Zotero. You'll need to import the library back to your home machine after you add information. This method can use up a lot of space on your usb drive.
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Click on the Action icon.
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From the dropdown menu, choose "Export Library"
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Another menu will appear.
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Click both boxes to export everything. Click "Export files" to export just the citations.
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To import files back
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click on the Action icon
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from the dropdown menu choose Import
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from the box that appears, find the location of the file (for example: your flash drive)
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Open it in Zotero.
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Sync the information - this is pretty new - keep a backup until you're sure everything works.
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Create an account at: https://www.zotero.org/user/register/
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Login to your account and set up Preferences as directed (see: http://www.zotero.org/support/sync )
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Zotero saves different types of information differently:
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Data Syncing - this saves your citation information - it's currently free, but you must register.
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File Syncing - this saves your attached articles and web pages. You get 100 MB free, which won't save much. You need to pay Zotero or other webDAV storage sites for more storage. OR save to your USB drive and use the import/export features.
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If you are using an online storage account for fulltext either Zotero or another site, you need to set that up in Preferences so the information will automatically save to the site.
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For Zotero file storage see: http://www.zotero.org/support/storage_faq . For other options, check out: http://tomuse.com/ultimate-review-list-of-best-free-online-storage-and-backup-application-services/ (This review is at least a year old. Google to look for newer options. Be aware that most of these sites charge).
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Standalone Zotero
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This is so new it's still in alpha.
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Doesn't require Firefox. Available for Chrome, Safari and they're working on Internet Explorer.
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Still very glitchy
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Connectors
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These currently work with Safari and Chrome
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They allow you to save some citations from Safari or Chrome and send them to Zotero on Firefox
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You must have Firefox and Zotero open
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My experience is that it's much easier just to use Firefox.
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Zotero reports give you information about the sources in note card format. It is a useful way to scan the information you've collected and figure out what additional information you need.
Not all websites and sources provide all the information you need for a
citation. Zotero gives you the basic information, enough to find the
source again, but does not always pick up all the information you need to do a
citation and notes. Check and add missing information manually if necessary.
To create a Zotero report:
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In the center panel, choose the items you want to include in the report by highlighting them - just as you did to create a bibliography.
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Once you've highlighted the items, right click your mouse to see the pop-up menu.
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On the menu, select: "Generate Report from Selected Items..."
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Onscreen, the report should look like:
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To save the report, click on File, then click on Save Copy As:
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When you get the Save menu, change the file name and remember where you save it to.
When you open the report in Word, it will look more like:
For the extra
credit assignment, please space between items before you save it and turn it in.
