Using the Zotero Standalone Chrome Plug-in
Log into the Google Chrome Browser. You can use a personal google account, or your Arcadia google account. If you use your Arcadia account, you will be prompted to log into My.Arcadia as well.
Go to Zotero.org and click “Register”
Once your registration is complete you will be asked to go to your e-mail and click on a link to confirm your registration. Once you click on the link in your e-mail, you will be brought back to Zotero
Click “Log In”
Click “Download”
In the Zotero Standalone section, click the button for the Chrome extension. This button should be highlighted if you are using the Chrome browser. Note:
- Don’t click the large Zotero for Windows button, click on the smaller Chrome button.
- If you use an apple computer, you will have to download the safari plug in.
To install the extension click the blue “free” button. A pop up window will appear asking you to confirm the new extension, and add the Zotero Connector. Click the “add” button. A message will then pop up saying that the Zotero connector has been added to chrome.
Make your way back to Zotero.org and click on “my library.” This is where new items will appear as you add them.
In a new browser window you can then search for a citation you wish to add to Zotero. If a website, book, or article citation can be added to your Zotero account, a small icon will appear in the very right of your website address bar. Click on the icon to add items to Zotero. A small box, which says “saving item” will then pop up in the lower right corner of your browser. Note: Apple users may have to add the icon to their tool bar manually.
The first time you try to add a citation to Zotero a window will pop up saying that an application would like to connect to your account. Click “accept defaults.” You may have to refresh your Zotero library page to see the new item that has been added.
Each time you add an item you can make modifications to an entry by clicking on the item title, which will bring up the complete item record. On this page you can upload a full text document if Zotero has not done this for you automatically. You can also further edit each entry by clicking on the edit button. Here, you can add or change the tags associated with that item to help you more easily find your citations. You can also add notes to the item at this point.
If you cannot automatically add a resource to Zotero, an option exists for you to create an entry manually. To do this click on the “create item” icon (a plus sign). You will then be asked what time of entry you wish to create (book, journal article, etc.).
You can also create folders in Zotero by clicking on the “create collection” button. Creating collections is an easy way to organize your citations, as it allows you to file articles for multiple classes or assignments in difference folders. To add items to a folder, select the item by clicking the check box next to the item, and then add the item to a collection by clicking on the “add to collection” button.
To have Zotero create a reference citation for you, check off the articles you wish to cite, and then click on the “cite” button, which can be found towards the right side of the screen.
