Zotero: Citing While Writing

When you install Zotero, it also installs the plug-in for Microsoft Word. This allows you to insert in-text citations into your document as you write a paper and automatically builds your reference list in the citation style of your choosing.

Learn how to cite while you write:

• Setting Up Citation Style Preferences
• Inserting In-text Citations
• Editing and Removing Citations
• Creating a Bibliography
• Changing Citation Styles
• Converting Document to Plain Text

Before citing anything, you should double-check your citation style preferences. Zotero does not have American Medial Association (AMA) pre-installed on the program, however you can easily import AMA or any other citation style.

To add AMA to your Style Manager:

1. Select Edit > Preferences. 
2. Once in the Preferences screen, select Cite.
3. Under the Style Manager box, select the Get additional style link. 
4. In the search box, type American Medical Association.  
5. Select either the American Medical Association or JAMA. This will import the style into your Zotero library. 
6. Click OK to save your preferred citation style.

There are two ways to add in-text citations: from Microsoft Word or EndNote. Before adding citations, consider having instant formatting on or off.

Microsoft Word:

1. In the document, click on the Zotero tab.​       
2. Place your cursor where you’d like to insert a citation.
3.  Click Add/Edit Citation in the toolbar on the left.
4. On your first citation a citation style preference box will appear, be sure to select American Medical Association or whichever style you will be citing in.
5. A red Zotero search box will appear. You can search by the author's name or by keyword. 
6. Select the item you wish to cite. This will add the item to the search box. 
7. If you want to add an additional reference to the same citation, begin the process again by typing in the search box.
8. Once you have added all the references, hit Enter on your keyboard to add it to your document.

To Edit a Citation:

If a citation is incorrect or missing data, check the reference in Zotero to ensure the reference information is correct and complete, and then click Refresh in the Zotero tab to update your document with any changes.

For example, if the author names are not appearing correctly, double-check that the first and last names are in the correct sections. Or, if the page range is not appearing, check that the page numbers of the article are recorded accurately in Zotero.

Remember to click Refresh after any changes to citation data in Zotero, or the updates will not be reflected in your document.

To Delete Citations:

1. Delete the superscript citation in the body of your paper.
2. Click Refresh in the Zotero tab to update your document, including the bibliography.

To create a bibliography or works cited page in Microsoft Word:

First, insert a page break at the end of your document. This will help ensure that your working draft and the bibliography are separate and remain in the format you want.

1. Go to the Insert tab
2. Select Page break

This will create a new page for you.

Next, create your bibliography:

1. Select the Zotero tab from the toolbar
2. Select Add/Edit Bibliography 

​To change your citation style:

1. Select the Zotero tab from the toolbar
2. Select Document preferences                                                                     
3. Choose your preferred citation style from the list
4. Click OK 

Suppose you are sharing your document with someone for editing or submitting a manuscript for publication. In that case, you’ll need to remove all the Zotero code used to connect Microsoft Word to your Zotero library. If someone is editing your document and accidentally deletes a citation or marks up the document with comments, the file could become corrupt, and you might not be able to open it again.

To convert the document to plain text:

1. Save a second and final copy of your document.
2. In this final copy, select the Zotero tab in Word
3. Select Unlink Citations

IMPORTANT: After converting your document to plain text, you can no longer change your citations. It is best practice to save two Word document versions: the in-progress or draft version and the final plain text version. This will allow you to go back and change the citations from the draft version if needed.

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