Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture
Oct 17, 2022 23 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Zotero's inbuilt Note Editor can REVOLUTIONIZE your note-taking and writing processes.

But most academics don't know much about it.

Here's how to supercharge your writing using Zotero's Note Editor 👇

A step-by-step guide with visuals 🧵
Let's start by adding a PDF to our library.

You can add a PDF using its DOI, or you can simply drag it into your Zotero library. A screenshot of Mushtaq's Zotero library. A yellow arrow poi
Once added, double click on it to open the PDF in Zotero's PDF reader. A recently added PDF in Mushtaq's Zotero library. A red box
Zotero will open the PDF in a new window.

To your left, you will see an Annotations pane, and to your right, the PDF's metadata.

You will also see Annotation Options on the top of the PDF.

In the top right corner, you will see a small Notes button. Zotero's inbuilt PDF reader showing a PDF. To the left is th
Let's add a couple of annotations before we start taking notes.

Here I have added two annotations using the "Highlight Text" button.

You can also add your own comments under these annotations. Two annotations added using the "Highlight Text" o
Now to the Notes Editor:

Clicking on the Notes button in the top right corner will open the Note editor for you.

Click on the "+" sign under the Notes Button and in front of "Item Notes."

Select "Add Item Note." Zotero's inbuilt Notes Editor displaying two options: "
Zotero will open its Note Editor with a toolbar on top. There are six tools in the toolbar:

1. Format text
2. Highlight text
3. Clear formatting
4. Insert Link
5. Insert Citation
6. Find and Replace A screenshot of Zotero's inbuilt Notes Editor. A yellow arro
Let's start with the basics - formatting text: The "Format Text" menu box open in Zotero's inbuil
Here I am composing a note with a heading (Heading 1) and a one-line paragraph. A note composed using Zotero's inbuilt Notes Editor.
Now I am adding a numbered list of three sources that I should read to take my project further.

I have used the "Numbered List" function here.

And I highlighted this part in purple using the "Highlight Text" option to remind myself to read these sources. A list of three sources composed using the Notes Editor's &q
I obtained the three sources, added them to my Zotero library, and read them.

I selected one relevant quote from each source, and manually added them to the note.

I also highlighted the word "national" because it's crucial to my project. Three quotes from three sources added to a note composed in
In the Note Editor you can also insert an in-text citation.

Click on the "[+]" (Insert Citation) button, and Zotero will open a search bar.

The search bar shows "Orsini and Zecchini, 2019" because that's the source currently open. Click on the "Insert Citation" button and Zotero w
I am going to delete "Orsini and Zecchini, 2019" and instead write "Damrosch," the author whose book I obtained the first quote from.

Zotero shows me all items by Damrosch in my library.

I select the relevant source: "What is World Literature?" Zotero showing all items by Damrosch in Mushtaq's library.
Zotero prepares the citation for insertion. It also lets you edit it to suit your requirements.

To edit, click on the citation in the search bar.

Here I'm adding the page number of the relevant quote. An in-text citation prepared by Zotero for insertion in the
Here you can see the three citations I added along with page numbers, which I manually added.

The in-text citations in Zotero Note Editor is a really POWERFUL feature.

I'll show you why: Three in-text citations added in Zotero's inbuilt Notes Edit
If you click on an in-text citation, Zotero will give you three options:

1. Go to Page
2. Show Item
3. Edit Citation

Click on "Go to Page" and Zotero will take you to the page in the original source from where you lifted the quotation 🙀 Clicking on an in-text citation gives you three options: Go
Here you can see Zotero opened page 283 of Damrosch's book "What is World Literature?" after I clicked on the in-text citation in the Note Editor.

This is something that can SUPERCHARGE your note-taking and referencing. Zotero opened page 283 of Damrosch's book "What is Worl
Now that we have taken a bunch of notes, it's time to start composing a draft of our paper.

Open a blank document MS Word, and click on the Zotero tab.

Then click on "Add Note." A blank document in MS Word with the heading "Location,
Zotero may or may not open "Zotero - Document Preferences" with a list of available citation styles.

If it does, select the citation style you want to use.

I am going with MLA 9th edition. "Zotero - Document Preferences" menu open in MS Wo
After you choose a citation style, Zotero will open a yellow search bar with a list of all your notes.

Select the note relevant to your current project. Zotero's "Add Note" search bar open in MS Word.
Click on the relevant note and Zotero will import the note into your Word document.

Notice, the citations are all correctly formatted according to the MLA 9th editon.

Now, you have your notes and citations in MS Word.

Start writing. A note imported into an MS Word document from Zotero's Notes
Do a couple rounds of writing and editing and you will have a decent draft.

Below is the first page of one of my forthcoming articles.

---

And that's how you can use Zotero's Note Editor to conceive, develop, and execute a project. The first page of Mushtaq's forthcoming article. Four citati
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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Feb 27
Zotero Tutorial 2

Zoteor has 10,500+ citation styles. This makes it very easy to switch between citations styles.

Draft your paper in one citation style and change it to another — in seconds.

Here's how to do it:
1. Open your draft in MS Word and open the Zotero tab.

Click on "Add/Edit Citation." In the red search bar, enter the name of the author you want to cite.

Select the relevant source and hit Enter/Return. Zotero will add your citation.
2. Once you are done draft, place the cursor where you want to enter your bibliography.

Click on "Add/Edit Bibliography" in the Zotero tab.

Zotero will add your bibliography.

Here, it added the citations and bibliography according to MLA 7th edition.
Read 8 tweets
Feb 26
Zotero Tutorial 1

How to automate your citations and bibliography:

You can learn this in 15 minutes, and it will save you hours of work.
1. Go to zotero[.]org and click on the "Download" button.

Download the app and install it on your computer.
2. Click on Zotero Connector and add it to your browser.

Zotero Connector is available for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Pin the Zotero Connector to your browser by clicking on the puzzle-like icon in the top-right corner.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 25
AI can now solve PhD-level problems.

Can AI write a good abstract for a research paper?

Here's a comparison of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Deep Seek, and Grok:
1. ChatGPT o1

I uploaded a draft of my paper and asked ChatGPT o1 to write a precisely worded abstract of 150 words foregrounding my argument.

This is a useful abstract but not very precise. It stays within the word limit though.
It understands the argument quite well but renders in a language that is a bit too far from my style.

During reasoning, it brought up something in Chinese too. I mention in the paper a couple times but there is no Chinese text in the paper.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 23
I used to think AI can't do a literature review. I'm begining to change my mind.

SciSpace just introduced Deep Review.

It generates well-researched overviews on any given topic — in minutes.

Here's how to use it to supercharge your literature review:
1. Go to typeset[.]io and sign in to your account.

You will see three options under the search bar: Standar, High Quality, and Deep Review.

Select Deep Review.
2. Type in your question. It will give you a few suggestions to reword your question.

You can select a suggestion question or you can go with your own.
Read 12 tweets
Feb 22
Libgen, Sci-Hub, and Z-library had millions of pirated academic books and papers.

So, they were shut down. We shouldn't use them anyway.

We should help billion-dollar academic publishers get richer.

Anyway, here's how to access these libraries:

Don't do this!
1. Don't go to open-slum[.]org.

Because there you will see links to LibGen, Anna's Archive, Z-Library, and Sci-Hub.
2. Don't click any link because that will open your desired library.

Don't type the title of a book you want to read because it might show up.

Look at this, someone has pirated my own book. I'm livid!
Read 5 tweets
Feb 21
AI will automate literature reviews sooner than we expect.

Elicit can now generate detailed research reports based on published papers — in less than 10 minutes.

Here's how to do it:
1. Go to elicit[.]com and sign in your account.

Sign up if you don't have one already.
2. Select "Get a research report" and type in your question.

Elicit will suggest a few options to refine your question. Select the one you find most relevant.

Click on the right arrow and then "Generate report."
Read 12 tweets

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