Suggestion for Update: Individual Collection Settings

raynemost · May 25, 2022

I am a fairly new user to Zotero, as I began using it at the beginning of 2022 for an archaeology class. I am so glad this wonderful tool was introduced to me because it has made life so much easier. This summer I am conducting Digital Humanities research at my university and we are using Zotero extensively. In our workshop the topic of needing to switch citation styles cropped up, as we build libraries of increasingly diverse topics.

I think something that could assist with this would be a settings menu for each individual collection or folder within the library, so certain folders could be designated as a specific citation style, so there is less room for user error (I imagine someone trying to cite in IEEE using APA on accident because of pre-established settings). Anyone else have thoughts on this?

DWL-SDCA · May 25, 2022

As a new user you may not be aware of how trivially easy it is to change from one citation style to another. It is easy to take a manuscript that you assigned one style and then make it another style (a bit of editing might be needed to make the prose not read stilted). Within Word or LibreOffice, click on the Docoment Preferences icon [a gear with a superimposed Z]. When you begin writing you can establish a habit of first clicking that icon if the Document Preferences window doesn't display automatically. When I write, depending upon the purpose, I need to use different styles (APA, Chicago, Vancouver).

I can promise you that some time in the future, if you segregate your Zotero records into style specific collections, you will need to cite something that resides in a collection with a different assigned style. Know too that items can reside in more than one collection just like songs in a play list. (Zotero collections do not behave like OS directories.) Collections should be used to organize your Zotero records into groupings that have meaning to you.

https://www.zotero.org/support/collections_and_tags

https://www.zotero.org/support/styles

https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_integration

For example, I use Zotero for three distinct purposes:

1. As a MODS export translator to import/export PubMed records. Each time I import an nbib file Zotero automatically creates a new collection. I may move one or more of the records into one or more collections. However, most of the items are useless to me and after MODS export go into the trash bin.

2. My research focus is the information-seeking behaviors of professionals and policymakers who need the literature of the many disciplines publishing material relevant to safety. I have created collections and sub collections to house articles and reports on those topics.

3. Within the safety field, I have special interests in literature concerning transportation and have a sub collection under transportation for bicycles. I have a sports collection with a sub-collection, "football" that has sub-sub-collections American football, Australian rules football, and soccer. There are a few journal articles that reside in all three sub-sub-collections.