Thinking about Zotero

Become a Zotero Person?

Putting together a bibliography at the end-phase of writing a paper was always a hassle, so I was delighted to start using EndNote years ago. I was even happier with Zotero, because it is free and works on multiple operating systems--anywhere that Firefox can run, Zotero can be installed as a plug-in to Firefox.

For those who don't like using Firefox, the good news is that the Zotero developers are hashing out a stand-alone program that can work with Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. At this point Zotero standalone is in "alpha" phase, meaning that it is still being tested for bugs. I have found that it works fine, but use at your own peril.

The other thing that I like is that Zotero provides some free disk space so that you can back up your bibliographic database to "the cloud." I recently reformatted my hard drive. When I reinstalled the OS, the apps, and the Zotero plugin, I could just sync my local database with the one stored at my online Zotero account.

Zotero and EndNote exemplify one of the useful traits of databases: each reference is a record with multiple fields including the author's last and first names; year of publication; title; publisher; ISBN; and comments. Output from these DBs can be formatted in many different ways corresponding with different bibliographic styles: Chicago, MLA, American Psychological Association, etc.

You can also add comments to each record, which will help you in the future. You are likely to refer to favorite publications repeatedly over time, so it is worth investing in a personal database of key references.

Sleutherama - Online access to journals

The Bibliotheque Nationale de France by Dominque Perrault was one of the crowning architectural jewels of Francois Miterrand’s socialist government during the 1980’s and90’s. One of the most celebrated libraries in the world, it does not carry out a wireless network.

Since you are registered in the Berkeley system for the summer, you get online access toelectronic versions of major research journals--even from your own computer at home!

To make this work, you need to set up Proxy Server access in your web browser. Once you have done this, any time you encounter a login gateway, you have to enter your CalNet username and password (these are different from your Student ID number, and different from your login to the computer lab accounts within Wurster).Then, you go to the UCB Library homepage and you will find link to finding and accessing electronic journals, such as "E-journal titles A-Z”.

A street view of a monument to german literary giants in Berlin, Germany

Now let me step back for a moment. This is the way to actually get the articles, but how do you search an issue in peer-reviewed journals (i.e. "critiques of Climate Action Plans--California")?
First, there is Google Scholar, which focuses on peer-reviewed publications.Second, there are various electronic library catalogs, such as Berkeley's OskiCat.

Happy sleuthing!