MECH 498 Senior Project I

Four Zotero Pro Tips 

Tip 1:  If you're having difficulties dragging and dropping PDFs into Zotero, simply do the following:

1. Make sure the correct destination folder is highlighted.
2. Select File > Add Attachment > Add File, then browse for your saved file.

Tip 2:  Have a PDF of an article that lists the doi (digital object identifier)?  If so, use the magic wand icon and pull up the article information using the doi.  *Remember, the magic wand also lets you pull in information from an article's PubMed ID (PMID) or a book's ISBN:

1. Remember the Magic Wand Icon for DOI, PMID, and ISBN numbers.

Tip 3: If you have an article that you couldn't easily import into Zotero, try the following:

1. Go to Google Scholar (www.scholar.google.com)
2. Look up your article by Title. (Use quote marks around the title to have words searched side-by-side.)
3. If the article is found, select the Cite link beneath the citation.
4. Select BibTeX.
5. Copy all the displayed BibTeX coding from the first through the last bracket.
6.  As always, make sure the correct Zotero folder is highlighted, and then select File > Import from Clipboard.
7.  The article citation will automatically appear in the selected Zotero folder after a moment of processing. 

Tip 4:  Making International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA) Cooperate:  IPA will not pull in all of the needed information if you use the icon in the URL bar.  To make it cooperate, do the following:

1. In Zotero, highlight the desired folder to pull the citation into.
2. In IPA, click on the quote marks that display to the right of the result, or if you're in the full record, the quote marks display at the top of the record.
3. Under Export to a citation manager or file, select RIS
4. A RIS file will download to your computer. Open the RIS file (if you don't see the automatic option to Open the file, look in Downloads and open from Downloads).
5. A dialog box will pop up asking if you want to import the file. Select OK. 
6. You should see a message pop up that says Import Complete. Your article citation will now appear in the selected Zotero folder
7. Clean up the citation as needed within Zotero.

Have a PDF of an article, and the tips above didn't help?  Check this more in-depth guide provided by Oregon State University.