I fell out of love with Endnote when it corrupted my PhD Proposal Word file to such an extent that every citation went in as four incomprehensible lines of field code. I knew it would come right the next time I edited that or any other citation, but all that extra text made my actual proposal very difficult to work with. I had other problems with it too, mostly related to the fact that I was accessing my Endnote library from two different computers, one at home and one at work. Endnote does have advantages for an AUT postgrad student. It is freely available for AUT students and very well-supported by our Library staff who have carefully refined the APA 6th style so that it is correct down to the very last comma. Endnote also has a preview pane which allows you to see whether an entry will display correctly. But my relationship with Endnote was on the rocks and I was ready to move on.
Then my supervisor suggested I try Zotero. Zotero is a free add-on to the Firefox browser which you can download from here. If you install it on more than one computer it synchronizes automatically. Add a reference at AUT and it’ll be on your home computer as well. Since it works in your browser, it’s easy to capture a reference with a single click. It allows you to add notes, attach files, and group references in much the same way as Endnote does, and its Word citation add-on is easy to download and use. Unlike Endnote, Zotero allows you to put your reference list into your document when you want to and where you want it to go, which really helps when you’re assembling your final document. I was a bit concerned when it appeared to freeze as I tried to import my entire Endnote library into it, but I needn’t have worried. It took a little time for it to swallow 1500+ references, but once it had managed it there was no further problem, even when I had to replace my computer. I found it reassuring to have my reference library backed up, consistent and accessible. It isn’t supported through AUT but there’s plenty of help in the Zotero forums and there are excellent training courses in Auckland run by Academic Consulting
These are not the only options of course. Of the free ones Mendeley has been getting good reviews, and it works on mobile devices as well. Has anyone at AUT tried it?
Author: Jennie Swann
Thanks. Does Zoterio work with any other browser, apart from Firefox?
The short answer is no, Zotero only works with Firefox, but …..
1) Why wouldn’t you use Firefox as your preferred browser
and
2) It is possible (and easy) to run Zotero as a stand alone application so that you do not even know that it is using Firefox and in this case it would be possible to use some other browser for normal browsing and then when you want to access your favourite referencing tool (Zotero) then just crank it up and notice that it has this amazing browser embedded within it that makes internet searches really easy.
And of course (Julia – grin) Firefox runs on the Mac but not on an iPad but the not running on the iPad thing is an Apple constraint rather than a Mozilla constraint and even that can be cured by using a (more open) tablet such as one based on Android.
Doug
Zotero 3.0 also provides Connectors for Google Chrome and Safari that allow you to save items to Zotero from within these browsers. Download them from here: http://www.zotero.org/support/3.0
– Robyn