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Global and Community Health

What is Zotero?

Zotero is a free, open-source citation manager which streamlines the process of collecting, organizing, citing and sharing research. It was created in 2006 by an independent, nonprofit group, and is continually updated and refined to suit the needs of its community of researchers.

The three basic components of Zotero are:

  • the desktop application
  • word processor plug-ins (automatically included with desktop application
  • browser extension

You can download the Zotero desktop application and browser extension at zotero.org/download

  • Zotero uses a quick citation search function similar to a Spotify library so you can locate documents quickly while writing
  • Can generate a fully-formatted bibliographies with one click
  • Supports over 10,000 citation styles, including styles specific to journals
  • Allows you to update in-text citations to different referencing styles at any point in the writing/editing process
  • Zotero's Built-in browser extensions allow you to import websites, academic articles, and PDFs to your library

How will Zotero help me?

  • Zotero uses a quick citation search function similar to a Spotify library so you can locate documents quickly while writing
  • Can generate a fully-formatted bibliographies with one click
  • Supports over 10,000 citation styles, including styles specific to journals
  • Allows you to update in-text citations to different referencing styles at any point in the writing/editing process
  •  Built-in browser extensions allow you to import websites, academic articles, and PDFs to your library

Want to learn more?

UCSC Library offers regular workshops on Zotero use. Check the calendar and register for the next available!