UiA Bibliotek Blog

Zotero Course at the Library

Do you feel unsure about how to reference or set up bibliographies correctly? In this course you learn how the reference tool Zotero can help you with referencing and setting up bibliographies, while also saving time and energy. Zotero is most commonly used in the humanities.

Zotero is a powerful and widely-used reference management tool that helps researchers, students, and academics organize, cite, and share research materials. Here are some of the top benefits of learning and using Zotero:

1. Reference Organization: Zotero allows you to collect, organize, and manage your references in a central database. This makes it easy to keep track of all the sources you've consulted for your research.

2. Easy Citation: One of the main advantages of Zotero is its ability to seamlessly integrate with word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. It can automatically generate citations and bibliographies in various citation styles, saving you time and ensuring accuracy.

3. Browser Integration: Zotero offers browser extensions for popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. This allows you to save references directly from websites, databases, and online journals, making the research process more efficient.

4. Collaboration: Zotero facilitates collaboration by allowing users to share their reference libraries with others. This is particularly useful for group projects or when working with colleagues on research papers.

5. PDF Management: Zotero can extract metadata from PDFs and link them to your references. This feature makes it easy to keep track of your PDFs alongside the relevant citations.

6. Offline Access: While Zotero primarily works online, it also allows you to access your library offline, ensuring that you can continue your research even when not connected to the internet.

7. Tagging and Searching: The ability to tag references and use powerful search functionalities makes it simple to locate specific sources within your Zotero library quickly.

8. Cross-Platform Compatibility: Zotero is compatible with multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This makes it accessible to a wide range of users regardless of their preferred operating system.

9. Free and Open Source: Zotero is an open-source software, and the basic version is free. This makes it an affordable and accessible option for individuals and institutions with limited budgets.

10. Integration with Online Libraries: Zotero can connect with many online libraries and databases, making it easy to import references directly from sources like PubMed, JSTOR, and more.

Overall, learning Zotero can significantly improve the efficiency and organization of your research workflow, whether you're a student, researcher, or academic.

Our course teaches you:

• How to download Zotero and set up a library online and on your computer.
• How to import references from Oria, databases, and websites, and save and organise them in your Zotero library.
• How you can cite and reference in the correct reference style in your Word-document, with or without page numbers, and how to change reference style.
• How to correctly set up a bibliography.
• About useful functions related to using PDF’ files in Zotero.
• How to share your Zotero library with other Zotero users.
   

The library offers several courses that can help you get started with your thesis or research.

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