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Zotero: MANAGE YOUR ZOTERO LIBRARY

Developed by the Center for History and New Media at the George Mason University, Virginia, Zotero is an open source easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.

Manage your Collections

By default, Zotero stores new citations in "My Library." 

  • You can create multiple folders (or subfolders), or "collections" to organize your research by topic, thesis chapter, or assignment:

A reference can be in more than one collection at a time. In other words, a book can appear in 3 different collections of your library without having to make three different copies of the reference.

  • From your "My Collection" drag the references to the left hand side pane.
  • When the Folder name disappears as in the example below drop the reference(s) in the collection (folder)
  • Alternatively you can send the reference directly to the relevant folder.

Deleting items in Zotero

About Deleting References:

  • All references are automatically deposited in "My Library" (your Master Collection).
  • If you remove a reference from My Library it will be deleted from all the other collections.
  • To remove a reference from a specific collection, just click on the collection to view it, click once on the citation you wish to delete, and press the delete key on your keyboard. The citation will remain in My Library.
  • Deleted items will still be visible in "Trash".
  • Right-click on the Trash folder to delete items permanently.

Recovering Deleted References in the Trash folder:

  • Click on Trash.
  • Right click on the Reference.
  • Select "Restore to Library"