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Zotero Tutorial

Citing Sources in Your Paper

The Zotero plug-in for the MS Word (desktop application only) and Google Docs is automatically installed when you install Zotero.

  • If Zotero is not showing up on your toolbar in Microsoft Word, close and Quit (on Mac) ALL Word documents. Open Zotero, then Open Word. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the web based MS Word.
  • For the Zotero plug-in to appear in Google Docs, first open Zotero, then open your Google Doc

Virtual Computer Lab

To connect the Word plug-in on the Virtual Computer Lab, follow these steps in order:

  • Open Virtual Computer Lab (VCL) - Search for VMware
  • Open Zotero
  • Open Word
  • Click on Enable Conent

The Zotero Toolbar in MS Word looks like this:

a screenshot of the Zotero toolbar in MS Word

Add citations to your paper

  1. Place your cursor where you want your citation to go (usually before or after the period)
  2. Click the Add/Edit Citation button on the Zotero Toolbar
  3. Search for your reference in the Red Box that appears. This could be a keyword or author. Select your source from the dropdown list. If the red box disappears, it can be found next to the Zotero app.rectangular search box with thick red boarder and red Z
  4. Click on the reference in the box to add page numbers, or to Omit the author if the author was mentioned in the text for in-text citations.
  5. Hit Enter and the in text citation will be added to your paper
  6. Click Document Preferences from the Zotero Toolbar to choose your Citation Style if not automatically prompted

You may add more than one reference to a citation by searching the Red Box again before hitting enter.

Generate Your Bibliography

You only need to do this once in your paper. Zotero will  continue to add sources to your bibliography in the correct order as you add them to your paper.

  1. Add at least 1 citation to your paper following the steps above
  2. Place your cursor where you want your bibliography to go (usually at the end of your paper)
  3. Click the Add/Edit Bibliography button on the Zotero toolbar
  4. A bibliography will be generated included all the sources you have cited in your paper

Making Edits

If you find an error in a citation in your paper, make the correction to the reference in your Zotero account using the Editing Sources instructions.

Then click the Refresh button (icon of paper with a green circular arrow to the left of the word Refresh) on the Zotero toolbar.