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Zotero: Tips
and Tricks

Created by Jason Puckett at Georgia State University

Adding Special Styles

AMA that comes with Zotero may not match the version used by our professors.  AMA with NO URL may be the better style to add to your library.

Turabian that comes with Zotero may not be the version used by our professors. Turabian 8th Edition may be a better starting point. 

APA 7 Annotated Bibliography

APA 7 (annotated bibliography) is a great style to add if you are writing an annotated bibliography. Utilize the "Extra" field in the right-hand Info tab to allow Zotero to include annotations in your bibliography. 

Adding items by ISBN

Have the book in front of you and want to add it to your Zotero library without having to search for a citation?

If you have a book's ISBN, an online article's DOI or PMID number, just click the magic wand button: "Add item by identifier." Type in the book or article's number, and Zotero will automatically download its information and save it to your library.

Reprinted Books

If you are citing a reprinted version of a book (i.e. ESV Bible), you will need to add the following to the Extra field in the item's Info tab:

  • original-date: XXXX

This allows Zotero to properly code your in-text citations (English Standard Version, 2001/2006) and add the appropriate parenthesis to your bibliography (Original work published in 2001). 

Visit the Zotero Forums to find more nuanced tricks for your citation style!

Adding Additional Styles to Zotero

Zotero comes with the most common bibliographic styles, but many more are available to download.

To install a style:

  1. Go to Zotero Edit → Preferences → Cite (for Windows) or Zotero → Preferences → Cite (for Mac).
  2. Click on the hyperlink Get additional styles... and search for the name of the style you need.
  3. Select the name of the style and it will appear in Zotero's style lists.

Zotero + EndNote

It's easy to use EndNote and Zotero together and take advantage of the best features of each, or to share Zotero libraries with colleagues using EndNote or vice versa. Both programs can read and write a standard citation file format called RIS, which means references can be converted back and forth with a few clicks.

PDFs and other attachments do not export between programs, however; only citation information.

Zotero to EndNote

To save your Zotero library for importing into EndNote, click the Zotero button that looks like a gear and choose "Export Library." Choose RIS as the file type and pick a filename.

In EndNote, click "File" and then "Import." Click the "Choose File" button and select the file you just exported from Zotero. Set Import Option to "Reference Manager (RIS)" and click Import.

EndNote to Zotero

To export your EndNote library for use in Zotero, click "File" and then "Export." Set the output style to "RefMan (RIS) Export" and save it as a text file.

In Zotero, click the button that looks like a gear and choose "Import." Just double-click the file you exported from EndNote. The new references will be added to a collection named "Imported" followed by the date and time.

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