New user has a basic question

rubylaz
I'm so sorry for asking what is probably a very basic question, but I can't seem to figure it out on my own. I've just installed Zotero and want to use it to manage the citations/bibliographies for my academic work.
I can't see how to easily import my citations into Zotero - do I have to do all of this manually? That seems like it would be awfully time-consuming.
I've never worked with this kind of software before so I can't import anything from another program. I just have word and PDF bibliographies.
Also, I assumed that Zotero could go into a word document and just pull all the citations from there and create a bibliography - is this not the case? Do all the citations have to be in my Zotero library already?

Thanks
  • aurimas
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/importing_formatted_bibliographies

    Unfortunately, the answer is that Zotero cannot (easily) import existing bibliographies.
  • adamsmith
    Have you looked at the video or the instructions here?
    http://www.zotero.org/support/getting_stuff_into_your_library
    Also, I assumed that Zotero could go into a word document and just pull all the citations from there and create a bibliography - is this not the case? Do all the citations have to be in my Zotero library already?
    no, it can't do that. Citations have to be in your library.
  • rubylaz
    Thanks for the input. I did read the instructions here, I just didn't think it would be so labor-intensive to begin. Do you all find that it's worth it to use the program once your citations are all in your library?
    Also, are there any shortcuts to getting citations in there?
  • aurimas
    edited November 20, 2013
    All the "shortcuts" are described in both of the pages linked by adamsmith and myself.

    I don't think that people normally begin by trying to import all references listed in paper bibliographies. From my experience, you typically pick specific papers you are interested in and, if you do, it's fairly trivial to import them as you go along via DOI, from publisher websites, or PubMed (or other relevant database).
  • adamsmith
    As for "worth it" - if you're writing anything more substantial than a term paper it's a terrible idea to not use a reference manager.

This is an old discussion that has not been active in a long time. Before commenting here, you should strongly consider starting a new discussion instead. If you think the content of this discussion is still relevant, you can link to it from your new discussion.

Sign In or Register to comment.