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Zotero--great citation management for academic writers
July 22, 2021

Zotero--great citation management for academic writers

Joshua Welsh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Zotero

I use Zotero myself as a citation management system. The problem it solves is to keep track of vast numbers of academic sources. Instead of the old-fashioned way of printing out articles, putting them in a file cabinet, and never reading them again, with Zotero, I can easily find sources that I've read and marked up, and figure out how to use them in whatever I am currently working on.
  • PDF Management
  • Library organization
  • Automatic import of Books
  • Libre office integration was iffy
  • Using different word processors (i.e, Word, then Google Docs on the same file) can "break" embedded citations.
  • Source Managemnet
  • In-text Citation Creation
  • Bibliography Creation
  • Much easier to integrate sources into scholarly writing
  • Much easier to keep track of source library
  • Much easier to switch citation styles when necessary
For a brief time I tried Mendalay, since at the time Zotero didn't have a Google Docs plug in. Mendalay is not as intuitive as Zotero and if I recall correctly, was more expensive. Zotero works very well, and ultimately I found myself back in Zotero because it's easier to use and does a great job of managing my library of academic articles.

Do you think Zotero delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zotero's feature set?

Yes

Did Zotero live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zotero go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zotero again?

Yes

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), OBS Studio, Zoom
Zotero is great for managing a large number of academic sources and easily using them in an article or other scholarly work. When the Word Processor plug-in is enabled, adding a citation is just a keystroke away. Even better Zotero automatically generates Works Cited pages. And if you need to switch citation styles, Zotero can do most of the work with just a few clicks of the mouse.

It's less good at collecting day-to-day recourses such as websites you want to visit later. It's really aimed at producing academic writing, and it does that amazingly well.