Creating Citations and Bibliographies
In this video, we'll look at how to use Zotero when you're writing to create in-text citations and bibliographies.
We'll be demoing in Microsoft Word today, but Zotero is also compatible with Libre Office and Google Docs and works very similarly in these platforms.

Installing your Referencing Style
The first step is to make sure Zotero has your referencing style installed.
There are different versions of each referencing style. If you're not sure what specific referencing style to use, check the guidance on Skills Hub. The edition the University is using will be listed on the top of the page for that style. In this example, we're using Harvard, so we need Cite Them Right 12th edition: Harvard.

The easiest way to install a style is to just go to the Zotero style repository at zotero.org/styles. Go to the style search at the top. As you search for your style, the results will be displayed below. If we hover over any style, it will provide a preview, allowing you to check if that is the right style. We definitely want to Cite Them Right 12th edition: Harvard, so I just click this, press okay, and Zotero will install that style.

Once you've done this, you won't need to do it again unless you're using Zotero for the first time on a different computer. We'll now have the option to generate references and citations in the style we installed whenever we're using Word.

To start using Zotero when you're writing, go to Zotero tab at the top. The first time you add a citation or reference to a document using Zotero, it will ask you what style to use. You can also set the style you're using for a document using the Document Preferences button. We just select the style we want to use, click okay, and now all the citations and references we create with the Zotero in this document will be formatted in that style. You can change the style at any point by just going back to the Document Preferences button, and the document will automatically update.

Adding Citations
Next, we're going to look at adding citations from our Zotero library into a Word document.

For this to work, make sure the Zotero app is open in the background. Open the document and go to the Zotero tab. To add a citation, click in the place you would like to add it and then click Add or Edit citation. A search bar will pop up. If you start typing, it will search your Zotero library. Select the source you want to add a citation for. And then just click the arrow, or press enter, to generate that citation.

You can also add a citation by selecting it directly in your library. If we add another citation, and this time, rather than searching, click the Z. This opens a drop-down and we can select Classic View. This gives us a pop up showing our library, so we can find and select the item we want to cite. Then click okay to bring through the citation.

Zotero works with both author-date styles like Harvard and footnote styles like Chicago. If you add a citation when using a footnote style, Zotero will create a full footnote for you. Going back to the Harvard style, with lots of styles, if you're quoting a source directly or citing a specific section of the text, then you need to include the page number as well as the author's name and date. To add a citation with a page number it's the same process as before, click add or edit citation, look for a source but before you press the arrow or hit enter, just type in the page number. Zotero will recognise any number you enter as a page number and format the citation accordingly.
Alternatively, you can click on the citation. This brings up a menu where you can make changes. You can add a page number here.

There's also the option to omit the author for instances where you've already mentioned the author's name in your writing. Click the arrow and Zotero has generated a citation according to the options you selected.

You also have these options when using classic view. If we use the dropdown to go into Classic View again, select the reference, at the bottom you can see we have the same options. You can enter a page number, and we could omit the author if we wanted to. Then we click okay, and it generates the citation.

If you need to edit any of your citations, all you need to do is click on them. You'll see that they're highlighted in grey. This indicates that they're linked to Zotero. If you click the Add or Edit Citation button again, this will open up the citation and give you the option to make any changes by just clicking on the citation. I can change the page number and omit the author if I've rearranged my sentence and I've mentioned their name. It's important to edit citations this way, rather than changing them manually, as this can break the link between Zotero and your document.

We can also use Zotero when we're making a point supported by multiple sources, to add a citation including all of them. Again, just click add or Edit citation. Search for and select the first source you want to cite. Then hit space and search for another source you want to add to this citation. You can continue to add as many sources as you need, and then hit enter or press the arrow to generate this citation.
You can also do this in classic view. Click multiple sources. Then we can navigate through our library and select sources we want to add using this green arrow to bring them over to our list. Once we have a list of all the sources we want included in this citation, we just press okay, and Zotero will generate that citation.

Generating Bibliographies
Now that we have some citations in our document, we can generate a bibliography. The bibliography is linked directly to the citations in your Word document, which are in turn linked to Zotero. To add a bibliography based on the current citations in your Word document, click any point after your citations where you'd like the bibliography to appear, and then just click the Add or Edit Bibliography button. Zotero will scan the citations in your document and generate a bibliography including all of these sources, formatted in your selected style.

It's important at this stage to review your bibliography and make sure that all the information you need to include in the reference has been added correctly. Because the citations and the bibliography are linked directly to Zotero, any changes that we make are best made within Zotero itself. So let's say, for example, the date was incorrect for this reference. Rather than editing this manually and potentially breaking the link to Zotero, we need to go back to our Zotero library, find this reference and update it.
This is the reference in my Zotero library. Under the date here, I'm just going to change it to 2020. Press enter to save this. Then if we go back to our document and hit refresh, all the citations and references for that source will update. You can see it now says 2020 here, in my bibliography, and 2020 here, in the in-text citation. Avoid making changes manually, as this can disrupt the link between Zotero and your document.

That covers how to create citations and bibliographies in Word using Zotero. Thanks for watching!