Zotero provides flexible organizational models using either Collections or Tags as your basis. You can use these in combination (this is probably the most commonly used option), or rely on one or the other as your primary sorting method. This page will describe approaches for using each. For more information, you can find a helpful discussion at the Zotero website: Collections and Tags.
Zotero can be a helpful organizational tool for your research. This page will show you how to:
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).
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:
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:
Zotero hosts two kinds of notes:
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.