Library guides and databases: Zotero: Adding a reference manually

Zotero 7 - Adding a reference manually

There are occasions when you may need to add a reference manually, where it is not available from an online source.

Click on the Page button with the plus sign, at the top of the central panel.
or click on the File menu and then New Item.
Select the type of reference from the drop-down menu.
Complete the relevant fields.
Zotero will save the record automatically.

Zotero 7 Duplicating a reference

To duplicate an item in your library, simply right-click on the reference and select Duplicate Item option as shown below.

You can change the item type once you have duplicated the reference, e.g. from Book to Book Section or Chapter.

Create a book section (chapter) from a book reference

You can also create an individual reference of a book chapter, or book section as Zotero calls it, from an edited book:

Select the reference then right click and from the drop down menu click on Book Section.

Zotero will use the metadata of the existing reference to create a new reference.
On the metadata section add the Title of the chapter then click on Book Author and from the drop-down menu select Author and type in name of the author of the chapter, you can add more than one author.

Tip

Always check your references to make sure they have imported correctly, check that the details are completed, accurate and with information in the correct fields.

If you think that information is incorrect or missing you can correct this:

Edit the details manually if necessary.
If you have the PMID, ArXiv ID, the DOI or an ISBN use the Identifier to retrieve the correct metadata..

See checking reference details.