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Zotero Citation Manager

This is your guide to using the free citation manager Zotero and its simplified version, ZoteroBib, to create, correct, store, and export your citations

What's ZoteroBib?

ZoteroBib is a free and easy way to create bibliographies made by the creators of Zotero. It can create bibliographies in 9,000 different styles that you can copy and paste into your paper.

Why use ZoteroBib?

  • You can't (or don't want to) install any software
  • You don't need all the features of regular Zotero
  • You just need to create a one-off bibliography

How does it work?

Screenshot of the Cite toolbar in ZoteroBib.

Go to ZBib.org.

In the "Cite" bar, enter either the URL for a web source, the ISBN of a book, the DOI or PMID number of an article, or the title of a source. (Numbers sometimes work better than titles.) If none of those work, you can click Manual Entry and fill in the blanks.

Your bibliography appears on the page as you add sources. Use the blue bar to choose your citation style.

Screenshot of a short bibliography generated by ZoteroBib

Delete a source by mousing over it and clicking the X button that appears to the right.

To create an in-text citation or footnote, click the copy button to the right of the source and enter the page number you're citing. Then click Copy Citation and paste it into your document.

Screenshot of the in-text citation function of ZoteroBib.

Where does it save my work?

ZoteroBib stores your work in the browser on the computer you're currently using. If you clear your browser cache, it deletes the bibliography.

You can use the Link to This Version feature to create a version you can send to someone else.

Get more details about how it works at the ZoteroBib FAQ!

How do I edit an entry in ZoteroBib?

Sometimes the citations that ZoteroBib creates aren't perfect. There may be errors with the author(s), or think you're citing a web page instead of an online article if you give it a URL. If you need to edit a citation in ZoteroBib, just click on the citation. You should get a popup that allows you to edit all the information.

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