Zotero: Organizing Sources

Zotero can be a helpful organizational tool for your research. This page will show you how to:

• Create and organize folders
• Tag resources by topic or subject heading in order to find them easily
• Keep notes about a resource associated with that bibliographic record
• Associate a resource with a related resource (for example, a commentary about a work can be associated with the parent work to which it refers)
• Remove duplicate references from your library
• Clean-up information in any library reference

A little housekeeping goes a long way toward ensuring that your Zotero library is useful when you most need it to be. Perform these check-ups on occasion (while procrastinating on paper writing or, perhaps more helpfully, at the end of a semester).

• De-duping your library. Zotero can quickly identify when you've saved more than one copy of a record in your library. Click on "Duplicate item" under "My Library" to see a list of these items. Select one of those items (Zotero will select the other items it senses as duplicates.) Zotero will ask which of these duplicates you wish to use as the master (based on date and time of saving the reference).
• Highlight that item, then click "Merge items." Do this for each item in your duplicate library. Problem solved!
• 

• Unfiled items. This Zotero-generated collection shows all items that are not in any other folders in your collection. Review these periodically to create folders as needed, move items, and delete items.
• Trash. Any items deleted from your library can be found here until permanently removed. This is helpful if you accidentally delete a source; check Trash and then drag-and-drop the item back to its preferred folder.

By default, Zotero is installed with one folder called "My Library". You can create folders within this folder, or even create separate libraries of content, if you work in widely diverse areas. In general, because you can only search one Zotero library at a time, the most productive avenue is to create as many folders as you need within "My Library" rather than creating lots of different libraries. You can create as many folders as desired, and as long as they're housed within "My Library", Zotero can search them all simultaneously. 

"Collections" can be thought of as a kind of iTunes playlist; that is, you can add a particular resource (or song) to as many collections (or playlists) as you like. Doing this does not duplicate an item.

To create a folder:

• In Zotero, click on the File menu at the top of your screen, then "New Collection."
• A pop-up box will appear asking you to name this collection. Select a topic or title that matches the content you wish to keep here (perhaps a class title, a paper topic, or a general subject interest), then click "OK."
• The newly created collection will appear underneath "My Library".

You can also create sub-collections within a collection. To do this, create a New Collection as above and then drag and drop it into the parent collection to which it should relate. You will then see it nested under that parent in your list of Zotero collections.

All folders are sorted in alphabetical order by default.

Zotero allows you to use both subject headings (from library catalogs or self-created) and tags to identify what a resource is about so that you can find it again as needed, quickly develop a bibliography, and more. The tag box can be found in the rightmost column of any individual record entry.

To add a tag, click on the "Add" button in this rightmost column and type the name of the tag you wish to add. Once you hit "return", you will see your new tag listed alphabetically among any other tags or headings listed.

To remove a tag, simply click the minus (-) button next to the tag. Voila! It's gone.

A few ways you can use headings and tags to your advantage:

• If you like library-assigned subject headings and keywords and are used to searching by those, you can set up Zotero to bring in any associated subject headings or keywords by default when bringing in a resource from a library catalog or article database. To do this, click on the "Gear" tab in your Zotero library and then select "Preferences." Make sure the following line under "Miscellaneous" is selected: "Automatically tag items with keywords and subject headings." Once this is done, any list of tags will show which tags were automatically generated and which were user created.
• In any record, you can add your own tags or subjects. This can be particularly helpful in these cases:
  • The term you're using is not an official subject heading but is a commonly recognized term (for example, GLBTQ)
  • You wish to add a non-standard tag, for example, to identify the chapter or section of a paper in which you wish to use a source or the particular talk for which you found it ("chapter4", "aug27sermon", etc.)

Zotero hosts two kinds of notes:

• Child notes are associated with a particular item in your library.
• Standalone notes live independently in your Zotero library.

Both are helpful. Child notes allow to keep notes about a particular book or article connected to that reference point. Standalone notes allow you to jot down ideas for paper development or additional research needs without needing to leave the Zotero browser; doing this also makes it easy to locate these notes, since they are then synced along with the rest of your Zotero library.

To create a child note:

1. First, highlight the item in your Zotero library with which you wish to associate the note.

2. Click on the post-it icon in your Zotero library. Select "Add child note."

3. Type away! Note that in the bottom of your editing pane you have the option to "Edit in a separate window." Clicking this creates a pop-up window. Click "x" in the top left of the pop up window to close it.

4. Your note is saved underneath the resource selected.

To create a parent note:

1. Click the post-it icon in your Zotero library. Select "New standalone note."

2. Type away! Again, you have the option to "Edit in a separate window."

3. The standalone note is saved at the same level as any bibliographic citations in your collection, and is sorted alphabetically by the first word in the note. You can add tags and headings to a standalone note if desired in order to make searching for it easier in the future.

Zotero allows you to "relate" items with one another. For example, you might connect book reviews to the reference for the book they mention so that you can easily retrieve these assessments, or different versions of the same work to one another, or chapters in a multi-author work to the parent reference. In order for this function to work, the items must live in the same Zotero library.

• Highlight one of the items you wish to relate. 
• In the rightmost window, click on "Related." Select "Add."
• Navigate to the item in your Zotero library that you wish to connect, then click "OK."
• The items are now connected to one another.