Skip to Main Content

Citation Management Tools

What is Zotero?

Zotero logo

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. This research tool automatically detects many types of content as you browse, allowing you to add it to your personal library with a single click. Zotero is used by researchers in many academic disciplines, especially social sciences and humanities.

  • Collect references and add full-text PDFs, images, A/V files, snapshots of web pages, and other sources.
  • Organize your references into collections. Zotero automatically indexes the full contents of your library, enabling you to find exactly what you're looking for with a few keystrokes.
  • Cite sources in a bibliography and in-text citations using the style of your choice. Use a plugin to work in your favorite word processing program or simply drag one or more references into a message or document.
  • Share your collections of references by creating or joining groups on the Zotero site. Groups can be private or public, open or closed.

How does Zotero work?

This series of videos from Idaho State University Libraries offers a quick and informative overview of how Zotero works, including installation and setup, importing items, and creating bibliographies and in-text citations.

Zotero Documentation

Prefer to read step-by-step instructions? Zotero includes extensive support documentation on its site. Some highlights are listed below.