Import references from already formatted bibliography

mbernal

I am trying to find if there is a way to import references from already formatted bibliography (e.g. in a word or pdf document). In the FAQ, there is an entry called:

Can I import bibliographies in Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, and other text files, into Zotero?

However, this entry does not have an associated page. Is this something currently under development? do you have any hints on how to do it meanwhile? Thanks very much for your help.

dstillman

That link works fine for me.

http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/importing_formatted_bibliographies

hasibdrbd

Thanks Dan for the link.

ccmandrgm

I used Zotero to generate a bibliography in a Word doc. Someone stole my computer before I backed it up, but I have the word doc. I'm trying to recreate the Zotero library from that doc. I used FreeCite as you suggested at it appeared to do a good job of parcing, but when I click the capture icon, only 5 out of about 40 citations download. I can't find a logic as to which work.

Any suggestions?

adamsmith

not really - you could paste the citations here as ajlyon can have a look.

ccmandrgm

Thanks for your quick response.

Below is my Zotero generated bibliography.

“[Advertisement].” The Massachusetts Centinel. Boston, MA, June 7, 1786, Volume V, 23rd edition.
Adams, John Quincy. Letter. “Letter to John T. Kirkland”, December 15, 1823. Corporation Papers, 1st Series, Supplements. Harvard University Archives.
Allen, Brenda et al. Slavery and Justice: Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University, 2006. http://brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/report/.
Bailey, Ronald. “The Slave(ry) Trade and the Development of Capitalism in the United States: The Textile Industry in New England.” Social Science History 14, no. 3 (October 1, 1990): 373-414.
Beckert, Sven, and Alfred D Chandler. The Monied Metropolis : New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896. Cambridge, U.K. ;: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Bentinck-Smith, William, and Elizabeth Stouffer. Harvard University : History of Named Chairs : Sketches of Donors and Donations. Cambridge, Mass.: Secretary to the University, 1991.
Briggs, L. Vernon. History and Genealogy of the Cabot Family, 1475-1927. Harvard Social History/Business. Boston: C.E. Goodspeed & Co., 1927.
Cabot, Eliza Perkins. “Reminiscences”, n.d. Cabot Family Papers; Schlesinger Library.
Cabot, James Elliot. “Extracts from the Letter-books of Perkins, Burling, Perkins & Co. and other partnerships of Thomas Handasyd Perkins and James Perkins, 1786-1840”. Boston, n.d. Schlesinger Library, Harvard University.
Carrington, Selwyn. “The United States and the British West Indian Trade.” In Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World : a student reader, edited by Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000.
Cary, Thomas Greaves. Memoir of Thomas Handasyd Perkins. Boston: Little, Brown, 1856.
Coughtry, Jay. The Notorious Triangle : Rhode Island and the African Slave Trade, 1700-1807. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981.
Cutter, William Richard, and William Frederick Adams. Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910.
Cutting, Nathaniel. “Nathaniel Cutting Journal and Letterbooks, 1786-1798”, n.d. Massachusetts Historical Society.
Dalzell, Robert F, and Alfred D Chandler. Enterprising Elite : the Boston Associates and the World They Made. Vol. 40. Harvard Studies in Business History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1975.
Du Bois, W. E. B. “The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade.” In Du Bois: Writings, 1-356. New York, NY: Library of America, 1996.
Granite Railroad Company. The First Railroad in America: a History of the Origin and Development of the Granite Railway at Quincy, Massachusetts. Boston, MA: Walton Advertising & Print Co., 1926.
Green, Martin Burgess. The Problem of Boston : Some Readings in Cultural History. 1st ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966.
Grund, Francis J. Aristocracy in America. From the Sketch-book of a German Nobleman. London,: R. Bentley, 1839.
Hall, Peter Dobkin. The Organization of American Culture, 1700-1900 : Private Institutions, Elites, and the Origins of American Nationality. New York University Series in Education and Socialization in American History. New York: New York University Press, 1982.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. The Autocrat of the Breakfast-table : Every Man His Own Boswell. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899.
“James Perkins, Esq.” Boston Commercial Gazette. Boston, MA, August 5, 1822, Volume 61; 68th edition.
Kass, Amalie. “Walter Channing: Brief Life of a Nineteenth-century Obstetrician, 1786-1876.” Harvard Magazine, April 2004.
Knight, Franklin. “The Transformation of Cuban Agriculture, 1763-1838.” In Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World : a student reader, edited by Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000.
Lamoreaux, Naomi R. “Banks, Kinship, and Economic Development: The New England Case.” The Journal of Economic History 46, no. 3 (1986): 647-667.
McCusker, John J. Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775 : a Handbook. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Va., by the University of North Carolina Press, 1978.
MeasuringWorth Database, 2011. http://www.measuringworth.com.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Founding of Harvard College. Tercentennial History of Harvard College and University, 1636-1936. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995.
———. Three Centuries of Harvard, 1636-1936. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936.
Norton, Louis Arthur. “The Naval Patrician: Dudley Saltonstall.” In Captains Contentious: the Dysfunctional Sons of the Brine, 64-87. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2009.
Perkins, Charles C. “Memoir of James Perkins.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 1 (1823): 353-367.
President and Fellows of Harvard College. “Minutes of the Meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, October 28, 1825”, October 28, 1825. Harvard University Archive. Corporation Records.
Pulszky, Ferencz Aurelius, and Terézia Walder Pulszky. White, Red, Black : Sketches of American Society in the United States during the Visit of their Guests [Louis Kossuth]. New York: Redfield, 1853.
Quincy, Josiah. The History of Harvard University. The Academic Profession. New York: Arno Press, 1977.
Seaburg, Carl, Stanley Paterson, and Alfred D Chandler. Merchant Prince of Boston, Colonel T. H. Perkins, 1764-1854. Harvard Studies in Business History ; 26. Cambridge Mass.,: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Stein, Robert. “The French West Indian Sugar Business.” In Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World : a student reader, edited by Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle, 2000.
Story, Joseph. Commentaries on the Law of Promissory Notes, and Guaranties of Notes, and Checks on Banks and Bankers : with Occasional Illustrations from the Commercial Law of the Nations of Continental Europe. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1845.
Story, Ronald. The Forging of an Aristocracy : Harvard & the Boston Upper Class, 1800-1870. 1st ed. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press ;, 1980.
The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, etc. H. Colburn, 1823.
Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, 2009. http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/database/search.faces.
“Wealth and Its Uses.” Charleston Courier. Charleston, S.C., August 19, 1822, Volume XX, Number 7028 edition.
Williams, Eric. Capitalism & Slavery. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
Williams, Greg H. The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793-1813 : a History and Comprehensive Record of Merchant Marine Losses. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009.

adamsmith

that's a problem of the freecite site - Zotero uses the stuff marked with the <ctx> brackets for import. If you take a close look, the ctx of the items that don't import actually doesn't contain any info on the citation. Sorry.
Maybe try Wizfolio? Generally speaking, though, citation parsers work worst for the type of data you have. Journal articles work best.

ccmandrgm

Thanks anyway. I appreciate your having taken a look.

ccmandrgm

For the record, WizFolio isn't perfect, but it works minor miracles all the same.

DWL-SDCA

My experience with WizFolio is that, depending on the citation style of the original material, it works adequately for journal articles that are in PubMed. It works not very well for articles in journals that aren't included in PubMed. Further, the RIS output is non-standard and doesn't import into Zotero properly without substantial editing.

A lot of time is needed to edit the bibliography imported into the "Add" screen before the data can be interpreted by the software.

I believe that, at least for my purposes, hand entry into Zotero is more accurate and quicker -- and I'm not a particularly fast typist.