If you have not already downloaded Zotero, the free, open source bibliographical reference manager for Firefox, now would be a good time. It now supports the cutting edge Firefox 3, and, for all those interested in writing papers in biblical studies, there is now an extension that produces SBL-compliant citations and bibliographies.
Installation is easy enough. You will need to have Firefox installed (either link above will guide you, but I recommend Firefox 3 RC1, as it is pretty stable and supports a lot of great features). Once you have firefox up and running, follow this link and click of “Download.” Firefox should do the rest. You will need to restart firefox to get started–you should see the Zotero icon in the bottom right corner. Click on it to play around!
To install SBL support, Click Here in Firefox and let Zotero do the rest. You will need to restart your browser for the changes to take affect.
Zotero takes a little practice. You can manually type in entries or download them by clicking on the little book icon in your browser’s address bar on cites such as Amazon.com or The Westminster Library. Once you have some entries, try creating a citation or bibliography. First, go to “Preferences” (an option under the gear icon in the main bar). Click on the “Export” tab and select SBL as your “Default Output Format.”
To create a citation, click on the entries you want to cite. Use the keyboard shortcut a to create a citation in your Clipboard, which you can then “Paste” into any document editor. To create a bibliography, select the desired entries, right click on one of them, and choose “Create Bibliography from Selected Items.” Follow the instructions. Paste wherever you see fit.
There is also a plugin for Microsoft Word that integrates the Zotero interface into your document editor. Usage instructions are provided in the previous link. For those more dedicated to open-source software, there is also an openoffice.org version available.
I hope to publish a full guide to using Zotero in a week or so–complete with Screencasts.
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Hey Tommy,
For whatever reason (probably user error) I am having trouble following your directions for citing something. I can’t figure out how to get something into my library in zotero (and I have downloaded and installed everything you said to download and install).
Ben
Okay I take that back. I am able to do it with the book icon from amazon, but was unclear about the procedure for cutting and pasting something into word.
Ben D.
There are multiple methods. Right clicking on an item provides you with a list of options. You can also use keyboard shortcuts, a list of which is provided in the “preferences” menu. On my installation,A is set to copy citation to clipboard.
You can always edit the default shortcuts. I have had to do so in a couple of instances due to the fact that the predefined shortcuts overlapped with other programs.
I read your blog entry about the new, beta version of Firefox. I downloaded it last night. Unfortunately, it is telling me that certain extensions and applications, most importantly Zotero are not compatible with the new beta version
The newest version of Zotero should run in Firefox 3. Go to Zotero’s site and download the latest version. Also, for those other plugins: http://www.oxymoronical.com/web/firefox/nightly. Among other things, this plugin allows you to override Firefox’s over-protective tendencies. Nevertheless, use with caution (though I have encountered no problems)
[...] I thought I would provide some of my favorite extensions. Check them out! Zotero of course. I have already posted a brief introduction. If you do any amount of research, Zotero is a must for organizing [...]
[...] familiar with Zotero? Check out my previous post, which introduces the software and shows you how to add JBL’s bibliographic style to the mix. [...]