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Zotero - Free Citation Management System!

Cite in APA, AMA, MLA, Chicago, and so many more citation styles!

Zotero Pro Tips

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 + icon, and choose Store Copy of File, then browse for your saved file.

+ Icon in Zotero

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.

Magic Want Icon in Zotero

 

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 Import into BibTeX.
  5. Copy all the displayed BibTeX coding from the first through the last bracket.
  6.  Use the Cogwheel icon.
  7. Select Import from Clipboard and the BibTeX coding you just copied will be imported, and the article citation will automatically appear in the selected Zotero folder after a moment of processing. 

Using Google Scholar

 

BibTeX Coding

 

Cogwheel and Import

 

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 IPA, click into the record for the desired article.
  2. Use the blue bar above the article record, and Hover over Export/Save and then select EndNote, Reference Manager, or ProCite.
  3. Click on the Continue button at the bottom of the pop-up box.
  4. Another pop-up box displays, asking if you want to import items into Zotero - select OK.
  5. Your article citation will now appear in the selected Zotero folder
  6. Please note, you will have to remove the Volume/Issue/Country info. from the Title field, and insert the Volume and Issue info. into the correct fields.

International Pharmacy Abstracts guides

 

Exporting in IPA

Working With Article PDFs

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