Zotero Review

Zotero is a useful tool to cite your sources correctly. This project was started by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media from George Mason University in 2006. Since then it has been a very reliable way to cite sources for your various papers and projects. Zotero is completely free and is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux.

To use this system you must first download it to your computer. After the download you are able to save sources and webpages into Zotero. It is formatted similarly to an iTunes library so you can search through your library of sources and webpages that you saved to find the correct one you are looking for. You may also place unlimited notes on your sources. An example of a useful note to add to your source would be important quotes. This will give you easy access to the citation as well as the useful quotes within without the user having to go back and search through the source. This tool is far more reliable than the commonly used Easybib because the citation that you receive on Easybib has a lot to do with what you enter into the website. With Zotero, the tool does all of that for you so there is no worry about human error.

Zotero was sued by Thomson Reuters, the creator of EndNote in 2008 but the case was later dropped in June of 2009. Besides this issue there have been no other controversies with Zotero.

I would recommend Zotero because it is an easy to use and extremely reliable tool to cite your sources. Its easy access and its ability to add notes and other important information to the citation make it an extremely useful tool for constructing bibliographies. This tool was also recommended to my class by our professor, Professor Denlinger at Wake Forest University.