Zotero organizes your resources in folders called "Collections". You can create multiple collections within your library. This would be beneficial if you were working on multiple assignments/ research topics that you needed to organize resources for.
To create a collection:
1. Open your Zotero Desktop Application.
2. Click on the yellow folder with the plus sign in the left corner.
3. Name your collection (either by topic or assignment name).
1. Open the Zotero Desktop Application (this needs to be open before you can add citations to your collections)
2. To make things easier, click on the collection folder you would like to save the resources to.
3. Open your web browser and begin searching for resources using databases, search engines, etc.
4. Once you have found a list of resources you would like to save, you will click on the Zotero extension (which should be pinned next to your search bar after downloading) in the top right of your screen, next to the search bar.
5. The Zotero Item Selector will pop-up on your screen. Select which citations you would like to add to Zotero (or "Select all" if you would like to add the entire list) and then click "Ok".
6. In the top right of your screen, you will see another pop-up letting you know which folder the citations are saving to (this should be the folder you clicked on in Step 2).
7. You will then see the citations begin to be added to your collection (this may take a minute or two, depending on the size of your list).
8. You should now be able to view your citations in the appropriate collection on the Zotero Desktop Application.
If Zotero is unable to transfer the citation information for a resource or you find it easier to manually add a resource, you can do so by using the Zotero Desktop Application.
1. Open the Zotero Desktop Application.
2. Click on the plus sign at the top of the screen, near the middle.
3. Select the type of resource you would like to add (Book, Journal Article, Blog, etc.).
4. On the right side of the screen, you will have the ability to add as much information about the resource as you can (such as Title, Author, Date, Language, etc.).
5. Once the citation has been added to your collection, you can right click on it and click "Add Attachment". From here, you can add links or saved files.
SLC Libraries and Academic Support Centres. (2021, February 26). SLC Libraries Tutorial - Creating Resource Collections with Zotero [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4xIwJSbuP7s