Verify Zotero
What is metadata?
Metadata is information that describes an item. For example, author, title, journal title, date, and the DOI or URL, are common pieces of metadata needed to create a citation.
The quality of the resulting citation depends on the accuracy and completeness of the metadata of the source. Zotero does not create or correct the metadata. You are responsible for verifying the metadata. Garbage in, garbage out.
Verification Checklist
Do you have an Info Tab with metadata?
You can't create a citation from a stand-alone PDF with no metadata. The item needs to have the Info Tab with metadata in it for citing.
Examples with metadata. Can be used to cite.
If item does not have an Info Tab with metadata, did you create a Parent Item and add the metadata?
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Right click > Retrieve Metadata for PDF or
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Right click > Create Parent Item > Add metadata
Do you have the needed pieces of metadata?
Check against the examples given in the Citation Guide. Examples:
- Journal articles: Author(s), Article Title, Journal Title, Volume and/or Issue, Date, Page Range, DOI or URL
- Books: Author, Title, Short Title, (Editor), Place of publication, Publisher, Date
- Government Reports: Author, Title, Document ID#, Place of Publication, Publisher, Year, Page(s), URL
- Websites: Author, Title, Organization, Date, URL
Style Preview function
We highly recommend installing the ZoteroPreview plugin. It allows you to preview your citations in Zotero with one click.
But if you don't want to install the plugin, you can follow the multiple steps below.
- Highlight the item
- Go to Preferences
- Click the Cite tab
- Click Style Preview button
- Select the Citation Format in the drop down.
- Choose author date for APA, Chicago AD, INFORMS
- Choose note for Chicago NB
- Choose numeric for IEEE
- Open another window with the Citation Guide.
- Compare the the Style Preview with the relevant example in the guide
- Make the necessary edits in Zotero if possible so that the Preview matches the Citation Guide example as closely as possible.