Zotero is a free, open source citation manager.¹
All citation managers perform essentially the same functions. But there are some features of Zotero that make it a good choice for researchers:
• Non-profit, non-proprietary business model - you don't have to be affiliated with an institution in order to download and use it.²
• Doesn't require account set up as a condition of use.
• It's free!!!
• Simple, intuitive direct export interface.
• Simple, easy to use tools for creating bibliographies and references.
Zotero can direct export records from a wide range of databases, library catalogs and internet sources including (but not limited to):
• Amazon Books
• EBSCO databases (Acadmic Search Complete, America History and Life, Business Source Complete, CINAHL, MedLine, etc.)
• GaleCengage databases (Health Reference Center Academic)
• Google (Scholar, Books)
• JSTOR
• Library of Congress Catalog
• Muntz Library catalog & Swwop Search
• PubMed
• ProQuest databases (Dissertations & Theses Full Text)
• WorldCat
The remainder of this guide reviews essential procedures to download and get started using Zotero.
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¹ A citation manager is a personalized bibliographic database that enables users to import and store bibliographic records (book and article citations) from databases, catalogs and the web for later use in the creation of reference lists, bibliographies and citations in their written work.
² So you can take it with you wherever your academic or clinical career takes you...you don't lose access to it when you finish your degree here at UT Tyler.