Zotero for Genealogy: Harnessing the Power of Your Research

Zotero offers genealogists a powerful and versatile citation manager, an endless file cabinet, go-anywhere access to research, a flexible organizational structure, and the ability to file one thing in many places. Developed by George Mason University and used by scholars worldwide, this robust product serves research in phenomenal ways. Best of all, for all its value, Zotero is free to download.

An avid Zotero user since graduate school, author Donna Cox Baker proves it to be the perfect complement to genealogical research. Not only does it eliminate file cabinets, binders, and stacks of unfiled papers, it brings your voluminous research anywhere you have Internet access. Zotero for Genealogy teaches Zotero from installation to advance add-ons, using exercises and illustrations to enhance the learning experience. Baker teaches readers how to get the most out of Zotero and shares the various methods she has developed to maximize its value to genealogy.

What Zotero can do for a genealogist

◆ Eliminate paper and physical filing, replacing every file cabinet, box, and paper stack you used to think you had to have.

◆ Eliminate thousands of keystrokes as Zotero creates citations for you with the click of a button.

◆ Access your citations and notes virtually anywhere you have Wi-Fi and a computing device.

◆ Extract the comments you have made and the passages you have highlighted in a PDF, drawing them into Zotero without retyping.

◆ Find anything you have stored, with lightning-fast smart searching—even things you stored away years ago and remember only vaguely if at all.

◆ Replace the standard genealogy research log with something much better and more powerful.

◆ Build a smart to-do list that eliminates repetitive data entry and is there whenever you need it.

Table of Contents

PART I: ZOTERO GENERAL OVERVIEW

Getting started with Zotero

Documenting your research

Organizing research collections

Managing your attachments

Searching, sorting and finding your research

PART II: ZOTERO ADD-ONS

Zotero Connectors & instant data entry

ZotFile & advanced PDF management

Word processing & painless citation

PART III: APPLYING ZOTERO TO GENEALOGY

Organizing your filing system

One source or many: a choice

Working with Evidence Explained

Creating your research to-do-list

Efficient note-taking

Zotero on research trips

Collaborating with others