Laurea LibGuides: Reference management: Reference management systems

There is a great number of different reference management systems available. Some of them can be used free of charge and some require a license. You can read more about them e.g. in this Wikipedia article.

Laurea does not currently have a license to any reference management system. On this page you can find some instructions on how to use free tool called Zotero.

If you decide to use a reference management tool, remember that errors may occur. Students writing their assignments and thesis reports should follow Laurea's Guidelines for Referencing instructions.

Zotero

https://www.zotero.org/
Zotero is free to use and based on open source code
Zotero is available for desktop and/or browser based use
Desktop version saves your references to your computer and you can use your references offline. Creating a Zotero account is not necessary.
Browser based use requires creating a Zotero account. References will be saved in Zotero's cloud in USA.
By synchronizing the desktop version to your Zotero account, your references will be saved both to your computer and in Zotero's cloud in USA.
Zotero account is needed if you wish to share your references with other users
Zotero integrates to word processors (MS Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs)
There a more than 9000 reference styles available.

Installing Zotero & creating account

Laurea staff can install Zotero desktop version to Laurea's computers from Laurea SoftWare Center
To a private computer Zotero can be downloaded from https://www.zotero.org/download/
During the Zotero download an extension will normally be automatically added to your word processor. If this doesn't happen, you can download the extension later manually from Zotero homepage
Create an account, if you want to use Zotero online. Account is also needed if you want to share references with other Zotero users.
If you use both desktop version and browser version, synchronize them in the desktop version. Choose Edit – Preferences – Sync – Settings. Add Username and Password and choose Sync automatically.
Optional. Zotero Connector is a useful browser extension that helps you to import references directly from webpages and library catalogues. If you like, you can download it to your browser from Zotero homepage.

Using Zotero

Privacy

Zotero Privacy Policy
If you create a Zotero account, note that your data will be saved to a server in USA where EU GDPR regulation does not apply. Avoid saving sensitive data to Zotero.