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Decolonizing Place Names

Research guide to support Spring 2024 program

What is Zotero?

Zotero is a free citation manager that helps you to collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

Learn more at https://www.zotero.org/

Get Started

  1. Create a free Zotero online account. Creating an online account will allow you to sync and access your web-based Zotero library from any device. Log in to your account from anywhere to access your synced library. 
  2. Download the Zotero desktop app. The standalone desktop version of the software that can be accessed from your personal computer. Sync the desktop app with your account (Windows: Edit > Preferences > Sync // Mac: Preferences > Sync) 
  3. Download the Zotero web-browser extension. Zotero Connectors automatically sense content as you browse the web and allow you to save it to Zotero with a single click. Zotero is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Chrome is the preferred browser, but you can select "Zotero Connectors for other browsers" to view more. 

Add items to your collection

  • Option 1: Use the browser extension to automatically add items to your collection.  
    • Check that the metadata imported correctly. If you see errors in metadata, such as capitalization or incorrect information, correct it as you add to increase findability and save time later on. 
  • Option 2: Manually add items to your collection using the green new item button at the top-left of the center pane. 
  • Attach files to items in your collection
  • Subscribe to feeds for updates from a journal, website, publisher, or other sources.  

Organize your collections & take notes

  • Organize collections (folders) by topic, course, project, etc.  
  • Use tags to filter across collections 
    • Optional color-coding for tags: bottom left corner, right-click on tag > assign color 
    • Importance of case, spelling, punctuation with tags: “Academic Libraries” vs. “academic library” 
  • Use “Related” items to express relationships between items 
  • Saved searches: Small magnifying glass icon at top of middle pane > create & “Save Search” 
  • Duplicate items > Merge items 
  • Add notes to items
  • Add annotations using the PDF reader 

Share and export

Additional resources

Daniel J. Evans Library - MS: LIB2300 - 2700 Evergreen Parkway, NE. Olympia, WA 98501 - 360-867-6250