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Citation Management

Writing a paper is hard! It's a little bit easier with citation management.

Create Bibliographies

How do I create a quick bibliography with Zotero?

To create a quick bibliography from within Zotero Standalone you can use the right-click method or the drag-and-drop method.

The right-click method:

  1. Open Zotero Standalone
  2. Select the citations or collections you want to include in your bibliography
    1. Hold the CTRL key and click to select multiple items
  3. Right-click, select “Create Bibliography from Items”Screenshot of Zotero highlight drop down menu in center panel with 'Create Bibliography from Items...' selected.
  4. Choose your citation style
  5. Choose from four output methods
    1. RTF (Rich Text Format used mostly between Microsoft products and other applications)
    2. HTML  (HyperText Markup Language used to build websites and pages)
    3. Copy to clipboard
    4. PrintScreenshot of Create Citation/Bibliography popup windown in Zotero showing list of citation styles.
  6. If you choose ‘Copy to Clipboard’
    1. Paste (CTRL V) into a document of your choice

The drag-and-drop method:

  1. Open Zotero Standalone
  2. Set your Quick Copy citation style
    1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Export
    2. Set your Item Format
    3. Click OKScreenshot of Zotero Preferences highlighting Export tab with a circle around Item Format.
  3. Select the citations or collections you want to include your bibliography
    1. Hold the CTRL key and click to select multiple items
  4. Drag the items into a document of your choice.

How do I create an annotated bibliography with Zotero?

To create an annotated bibliography:

  1. Add your summary and evaluation of the citation to the ‘Extra’ field in Zotero Standalone (which you can find in the right pane if you have a citation selected).

    Screenshot showing Zotero's My Library menu.

  2. From within Zotero Standalone, go Edit > Preferences > Cite > Styles and click on 'Get additional styles...'

    Screenshot showing Zotero's standalone preferences and styles window.

  3. From within the Zotero Style Repository search for annotated, find American Psychological Association 7th edition (annotated bibliography) OR Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (note, annotated bibliography) and click on one of the links to add the style to Zotero Standalone.
    Screenshot showing Zotero's Style Repository window.

  4. When you're ready to create an annotated bibliography, make sure you have selected the correct citation style. Go to

    1. Edit > Preferences > Cite > Styles > Style Manager and choose the annotated style you added in Step 3 (APA or Chicago)

    2. Edit > Preferences > Export > Default Format and choose the annotated style you added in Step 3 (APA or Chicago)

  5. Then, from within Zotero Standalone, select a collection or group of citations (hold the CTRL key and click to select multiple items)

  6. Right-click and choose 'Create Bibliography...'

    1. A dialog box will pop up and you can choose  the annotated style you added in Step 3 (APA or Chicago), output mode, and output method.

How do I find additional citation styles for Zotero?

There are two ways to find additional citation styles.

  1. Go to the Zotero Style Repository for over 10,000 additional styles. All of these styles are also supported by Mendeley, Papers and many more. Screenshot of the Zotero Style Repository showing common formats and fields.

  2. Open Zotero Standalone, go to the top menu, and find

    1. Edit > Preferences > Cite > Styles and click on "Get additional styles.." Screenshot of Zotero Preferences highlighting the Cite tab with an arrow pointing to the 'Get Additional Styles' link.

Check out Zotero's Citation Styles page to report style errors or request new styles.