citation/bibliography is wrongly placed in index area zotero

Inconsistent and wrong citations

• Gracile January 30, 2015 Are you sure you've selected the same item  ? The different spelling "Gunzelrnann / Gunzelmann" comes certainly from different (actually duplicates) items. Check them in your library.
• Caroline Huber January 30, 2015 @ Gracile: Yes I am sure. If i search for "Gunzel" there is only one entry. When I search for "Gunzelrnann" there is no entry. @newballance989: Spam?
• Gracile January 30, 2015 (yes, spam) Try to refresh (zotero refresh button: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage ). Are you member of a group? These refs / items might come from a group. Otherwise, since the references are stored into your document, even if you've deleted them in your library, they would still appear. Solution: try to replace in your doc the wrong reference by the good one from your library.
• Caroline Huber January 30, 2015 Hey Gracile I tried the refreshing-button, didn't work. I'm not a member from a group Even though I tried replacing them already, doing it again and selecting always the same suggestion (even though they are the same, just one is under "cited" and the other one under "my library" if you get what I mean) - it worked!Thank you!
• Gracile January 30, 2015 I think you had these two items in your library and cited them both. Then you removed the wrong duplicate from your library. It was still stored in your document since you had cited it (that's a zotero default option in order to allow people to work on a document without sharing a library). That's why the systematic replacement of your references made the trick. I can't see any other reason, but I could be wrong!
• adamsmith January 30, 2015 edited January 30, 2015 yeah, what Gracile says, almost certainly. That also explains why too many authors are listed for the subsequent citations of this (it's disambiguating between the two). Delete all misspelled instances of this and re-insert them, making sure to re-insert the right one from your library. edit. Sorry, misread your comment, didn't see you solved this; glad it worked.
• Caroline Huber February 2, 2015 edited February 2, 2015 Thank you for your help. That explanation seems very logical Gracile (although I don't remember having two entries). Since you helped me so well, you might know the solution tho the next problem I encountered. There are two entries who get cited wrong: - Lester, Harms, Bulling, et al., 2011 (all citations) instead of (Lester et al., 2011) since there are 6 authors - Lester, Harms, Herian, et al., 2011 (from the second citation on) instead of (Lester, Harms, Herian, Krasikova, Beal, 2011) for the first citation and Lester et al., 2011 for the others.). One part of the problem might be that for all the citations except the first ones, they both would be "Lester et al., 2011. I also have another entry which, from the second citation on is "Lester et al., 2011".

I also have another entry which, from the second citation on is "Lester et al., 2011".

• Caroline Huber February 2, 2015 Really? Never heard of that! But it actually makes sense. Oh, no it doesn't actually, I just have the entry in the library (and handmade citations in the text which I will delete anyways). Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it (and sorry for questions I asked due to missing knowledge (APA).

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• Create Citations & Bibliographies
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Choose a Word Processor

Create a citation, select a citation style, edit citations, create bibliographies.

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Using Zotero with a word processor allows you to make use of Zotero's ability to automatically track and format citations/footnotes/endnotes within your written document according to a chosen citation style. Zotero works with  Microsoft Word, LibreOffice , and Google Docs .

You can follow Zotero documentation to switch from one word processor to another within the same document.

• In your Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs document, place the cursor where you'd like to add a citation.
• Select the Zotero tab. The first time you use Zotero with Google Docs, you will be prompted to give permission to link your Google Docs account with your Zotero library to allow them to communicate with each other. 

• The first time you do this in a document, you will be asked to choose a citation style. Select a style from the list and click OK.
• A small window or bar should appear. Search for or select the item you'd like to cite, enter page numbers if relevant, and click OK. 
• The citation/footnote/endnote should appear in your document, correctly formatted.
• For suggestions of how to cite difficult or unusual documents, see HKS's Ask a Librarian Zotero answers . 
• If you want to cite multiple sources together, click on the Multiple Sources button to select multiple items together. 
• To add text to the beginning or end of your citation, use the Prefix and Suffix boxes. 

Video on Using Zotero with Microsoft Word

The first time you insert a citation in a document you will be required to choose a citation style.

You can change the citation style at anytime via the Document Preferences button in the Zotero menu in Word. 

If you do not see the style you want listed, you can add more citation styles to your library .

To make changes to your citation, place your cursor within the citation (1) and then click the Zotero Edit Citation button (2).

In the pop-up window, make the desired changes (e.g., adding page numbers) and click OK. 

Your citation will automatically refresh and display the edits you made. 

Correct Errors

All metadata errors in a citation should be corrected in Zotero, not in Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs.

Only use the Zotero Edit Citation function in the Zotero toolbar if you are making changes like those depicted above.

After you have gone into Zotero and updated the citation, use the Zotero Refesh button in Word to update your document.

This section will cover several different ways to create bibliographies with Zotero:

• Bibliography from Citations : You can create a bibliography from all the works you have cited in your paper, using Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs. This may be particularly useful for citation styles that use a shortened note or author/date form. 
• Annotated Bibliography : You can create annotations of works and automatically append the annotations to your bibliography entries.
• Standalone Bibliography : You can create a bibliography directly from works in your Zotero library without using Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs.

Create Bibliography from Citations 

After adding citations to your Word/LibreOffice/Google Docs document, click Add/Edit Bibliography.

Zotero will insert a fully-formatted and alphabetized bibliography of all references cited in your document, using the citation style you had previously chosen: 

Note that this bibliography will only contain articles, books, etc. that you have cited in your document. If you would like to add items to your bibliography that you have not cited in the document , place the cursor into the bibliography and click Add/Edit Bibliography again.

You will now see a pop-up window similar to the one you see when adding citations. The area on the right (1) contains all items already included in your bibliography; the area in the middle (2) shows all items in the Zotero collection selected in the area on the left (3). From the middle area, select the item(s) you would like to add to your bibliography, then click on the green right arrow between the middle and right areas. 

Click OK. The additional item(s) should now show in your bibliography: 

Annotated Bibliographies

• APA: Download the style "American Psychological Association 6th edition (annotated bibliography with abstract)."
• Chicago: Download the style " Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (note, annotated bibliography)."
• Open your Zotero Library and select the item that you want to annotate.
• In the "Info" tab on the right-hand pane, w rite the annotation in the "Extra" field.
• Repeat this step for each item that you want to include in the annotated bibliography.
• Open your word processing document and follow the standard process for inserting a citation into your document.
• When prompted to choose your citation style, select the Annotated Chicago or APA style that you just downloaded.

Standalone Bibliographies 

You can quickly create standalone bibliographies with Zotero in three different ways.

• Creating a bibliography from a Zotero Collection .
• Creating a bibliography from select items in your Zotero library .
• Creating a bibliography of select items with drag-and-drop (known as Quick Copy in Zotero parlance) .

Note that bibliographies created with any of these three methods are static. In other words, changes you make to a citation in Zotero will not be reflected in these bibliographies; they will be simple Word/LibreOffice/Google Doc documents. 

Creating a bibliography from a Zotero Collection 

Creating a bibliography from select items in your Zotero library 

• In Zotero, select the items you would like to include in your bibliography (holding down the CTRL [Windows] or Command [Mac] keys while clicking on items with your mouse). (If you would like to select items from different collections, select them from the My Library view.) 
• Right-click (control-click on a Mac) on any of the selected items; then select Create Bibliography from Items . 

Proceed as described under Creating a Bibliography from a Zotero Collection . 

Creating a bibliography of select items with drag-and-drop

• In Zotero, select the items you would like to include in your bibliography (holding down the CTRL [Windows] or Command [Mac] keys while clicking on items with your mouse). If you would like to select items from different collections, select them from the My Library view.
• Drag and drop the selected items into a Word document. The items will be formatted into a bibliography according to the citation style you have selected under the Export section of Zotero Preferences. 
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• Next: Organize Your Zotero Library >>

Except where otherwise noted, this work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which allows anyone to share and adapt our material as long as proper attribution is given. For details and exceptions, see the Harvard Library Copyright Policy ©2021 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

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Edit citations in Zotero

Choose the right item type, book chapter vs. whole book.

• Capitalization (Title Case / Sentence Case)

Change the title casing (capitalization)

Edition numbers.

It is best practice to edit your citations within Zotero not Word . Preview it, then edit it in Zotero. That way, it will be corrected at the source, and will export correctly every time you use it in Word.

• Highlight the item
• In the Info Tab, place your cursor into any field and start typing
• Click outside the field to apply your changes
• Learn more about editing items

Zotero tries to identify an appropriate Item Type when you import items into your library. But sometimes the Item Type is not correct. For example, it might import an item as a webpage, when it is really a newspaper article or a report, etc.

Examine the source, and try to determine what it is.

• Newspaper/Magazine Articles: News organizations that only have an online presence (examples: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, BBC, etc.) are webpages Those that have  both an online and print counterpart are Newspaper or Magazine Articles  (example:  New York Times ).  
• Reports: An official report is freestanding  and  should have publisher and/or copyright information. If it does not meet these criteria, then format it as a webpage.  
• Book Chapters vs. Whole Books: See example below

PDFs will often import as webpages regardless of the actual source type. Taking the time to select the appropriate Item Type will help you format your citation correctly.

Chicago Notes/Bib users: Please see specific Item Types to use with Zotero .

Item Types in Chicago NB

For Chicago Notes/Bibliography style, changing the  Item Type will help Zotero format correctly.

Use the BOOK Item Type for these sources:

• Brochure/Pamphlet
• Field Manual/Handbook/Guide
• Government Report
• ​Instruction/Directive
• Joint Doctrine
• Research Report
• Think Tank Report
• White Paper

Use the REPORT Item Type  for these sources:

• Presentation
• Press Release
• Working Paper
• Why Don't My Chicago NB Citations Look Right? Tips for getting Zotero to format Chicago NB citations correctly.

Sometimes you want to cite a book chapter, not the whole book. 

• Change Item Type to Book Section
• Use the plus (+) to add editor(s) or more authors
• Authors go with the chapter  
• Editors go with the whole book
• Remember to include the page range for the chapter

Ebook chapters have different DOIs than the whole book.

Capitalization: Title Case vs. Sentence case

Note: Always format the information in your citations (titles, author names, etc.) according to the requirements of the citation style you are using, regardless of how it appears in the original source.

To change the casing of the title:

• Hover over the title
• Right click
• Transform the text to the casing you want

Edit as needed using the capitalization rules below.

Type the numeral in the Edition field. (You don't need to note 1st editions -- only subsequent editions.)

• URLs DOIs, PDFs

Items from a Library/Commercial Database

• When Zotero edits don't fix the citation, you can fix them in Word

URLs, DOIs, PDFs

• Use a Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) when available.
• DOIs should not include "libproxy.nps.edu" A properly formatted DOI link should look like this:  https://doi.org/10.1080/10242690701505419 .

  For PDFs , rather than using the link to the PDF itself, try to find a permanent link or handle  to the record . Compare these two examples:

• Link to the PDF
• Permanent link or handle

Check your individual style example page to see what is required for each source type. Here are a few common examples:

Journal articles

Usually are formatted this way. (Don't use the "first published" date.)

• Month/season + year

Newspaper/Magazine Articles

Websites/webpages.

A DOI is always preferred and sometimes available for items from library commercial databases. But if it isn't available, use the name of the database instead.

To enable that feature:

• Go to Preferences > Cite tab
• Check the box under "Citation Options" 

Then put the name of the database in the URL field

The name of the database belongs only in the URL field. Remove it if it appears in the Title or Publication field.

When Zotero edits don't fix the citation, you can edit them in Word

Sometimes it's a headache trying to get Zotero to export the citations as you want them to display. You can edit the citation in Word but please be aware that:

• It only fixes that one citation.  
• It will disconnect the citation from Zotero, and that citation will no longer be updated.

This works for the in-text citation or footnote only, not the bibliography.

To edit citations in Word

• Put your cursor in the citation
• Make your edits
• Click Refresh
• Click Yes in the pop up warning message

To edit the bibliography in Word

• First save a backup copy of your Word document. Put it somewhere safe.

• Make your changes to the bibliography.

Unlinking is not a requirement. For your theses, capstone project reports, etc., do  not unlink your initial draft or your proposal. If you decide to do this, only unlink your  final draft to the TPO

You can follow the same process for your papers or your proposal, but it is completely optional.  

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• Last Updated: Jun 3, 2024 9:51 AM
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Zotero Guide

Formatting citation and bibliography, format your citations and bibliography in ms word using zotero.

 As you already installed the Zotero plugin in your MS Word, you will see “Zotero” as a tab in the menu bar.

NOTE: The Zotero application needs to be open before you add/edit your footnotes or bibliography in MS Word documents.  Zotero communicates with MS Word ONLY when the Zotero application that is installed on your computer is running.

Citation and bibliography styles can be different depending on the area of study. STM recommends using " Turabian 9th edition (full note) "/" Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition (full note) " for STM students.

Course instructors, however, may prefer a different citation/bibliography style. For example, biblical studies may use the " Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) 2nd edition (full note) " style. We recommend students ask their course instructors for further details before writing papers, theses, or dissertations.

Note: If you need to see the screenshots in larger sizes, please click the screenshots. It will open up the magnified view.

• Click “Zotero” from the menu.

• You may also set your citation style in the Zotero App. > Click “Edit” > Click “Preferences.” 

• If you already used this feature, the popup bubble will show without showing the citation style preference option.

Bibliography

Bibliography: Add

• Click “Zotero” from the menu in your Microsoft Word document.

• If you already have footnotes added from Zotero, this will automatically add all your resources from the footnotes at the end of your document.

Bibliography: Edit

• The following steps will appear only if you already have footnotes in your document.
• Click “Zotero” from the Microsoft Word menu.
• Click “Add/Edit Bibliography.”

• If you added all your resources to the right-side panel, click “OK.”
• Your bibliography will be updated and you should have the items you added.
• If you removed some of the resources from the right-side panel, click “OK.”
• Your bibliography will be updated and you should not have the items you removed.
• << Previous: Installation
• Next: Collecting and Organizing Materials >>
• Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 3:29 PM
• Tags: Attach File to Zotero Library , citation tools , Cloud storage , Google Drive Desktop , STM , TML , zotero , Zotfile

Why isn’t Zotero detecting my existing citations?

If you've previously used one of Zotero's word processor plugins to insert citations into a document and later find that 1) the plugin says “You must insert a citation before performing this operation”, 2) the bibliography doesn't contain all citations in the document, and/or 3) references in a numeric citation style start from 1 instead of from an appropriate higher number, the existing citations in the document may no longer be active fields.

To check whether fields in a document are active, click them and looking for a gray highlight (Word/LibreOffice) or “Edit with Zotero” popup (Google Docs). If you then click Add/Edit Citation, the Zotero citation dialog should appear with the citation shown. If the citation dialog is empty, the citation is no longer active. In Word and LibreOffice, you can also try toggling field codes .

Your citations may have become inactive for a few reasons:

• You used the “Unlink Citations” button. This button will disconnect your document from Zotero and convert all citations and bibliographies to plain text.
• When using Word, you need to save your document as .docx. If you save as .odt, active citations will be lost.
• When using LibreOffice, if you are storing citations as ReferenceMarks (the default), you must save your document as .odt. If storing citations as Bookmarks, you must save your document as .docx.
• Google Docs: If you want to open a Word or LibreOffice document in Google Docs, or vice versa, you must follow an extra step to transfer the document . Directly opening a Word or LibreOffice document in Google Docs, or vice versa, will break existing citations.
• Other online word processors : Most online word processors do not support Fields/ReferenceMarks/Bookmarks. Opening an existing document in these tools will break connections with Zotero. Microsoft's Word Online does support Fields and so can be used safely with Word documents containing Zotero fields, though a Zotero plugin is not currently available for Word Online.
• Pages: Apple Pages does not support Fields/ReferenceMarks/Bookmarks. Opening a document in Pages will break connections with Zotero.
• Word: If you open an .odt file (created by LibreOffice) in Word, Zotero references stored as ReferenceMarks (the default) will be broken. To share a document between Word and LibreOffice users, change the “Store Citations as:” option in the Zotero Document Preferences to Bookmarks. (Bookmarks can cause errors if accidentally modified, so they should only be used if compatibility between Word and LibreOffice is necessary. You can also choose to transfer the document instead.)
• LibreOffice: If you open a .docx or .doc file (created by Word) in LibreOffice, Zotero references stored as Fields (the default) will be broken. To share a document between Word and LibreOffice users, change the “Store Citations as:” option in the Zotero Document Preferences to Bookmarks. (Bookmarks can cause errors if accidentally modified, so they should only be used if compatibility between Word and LibreOffice is necessary. You can also choose to transfer the document instead.)
• If you're using Google Docs, see Why isn’t Zotero detecting my existing Google Docs citations? for other possible reasons.

If you find that your citations have been flattened, your only options are to restore the document from a backup, re-insert the citations using the plugin, or manually edit the document's citations going forward and generate a final bibliography from a collection in Zotero without using the plugin. If reinserting citations, it may help to adjust Word field settings to always highlight fields in gray rather than only doing so when they are selected.

If your bibliography is flattened but your citations are still active, you can simply insert a new bibliography by clicking Add/Edit Bibliography.

• Old revisions