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 4
An updated list of 60 apps for academic writing and research:

[Please like and repost if you bookmark this list.]
Finding Research Gaps

• Research Kick Start
researchkick[.]com/start
Pricing: $9/m, $99/year

Intergrating AI with Academic Databases

• Research Kick Chat
researchkick[.]com/chat
Pricing: $30/m
AI-Powered Search Engines for Researchers

• Scite Assistant
scite[.]ai/assistant
Pricing: $20/m, $120/year 

• Consensus
consensus[.]app
Pricing: $11.99/m. Free plan with limited features.

• Semantic Scholar
semanticscholar[.]org
Pricing: Free

• Scinapse
scinapse[.]io
Pricing: $39/m. Free plan with limited features.

• Lumina
lumina-chat[.]com
Pricing: $20/m. Free plan with limited features.

• Evidence Hunt
evidencehunt[.]com (for biomedical sciences only)
Pricing: €120/year. Free plan with limited features.

• System Pro
about.system[.]com/product/system-pro (for biomedical sciences only)
Pricing: $12/m, $99/year
Read 22 tweets
Feb 4
A list of 60 apps for academic writing and research:

[Repost if you find this list useful.]
Finding Research Gaps

• Research Kick Start
researchkick[.]com/start
Pricing: $9/month, $99/year

Intergrating AI with Academic Databases

• Research Kick Chat
researchkick[.]com/chat
Pricing: $30/m
AI-Powered Search Engines for Researchers

• Scite Assistant
scite[.]ai/assistant
Pricing: $20/month, $120/year

• Consensus
consensus[.]app
Pricing: $11.99/month. Free plan with limited features.

• Semantic Scholar
semanticscholar[.]org
Pricing: Free

• Scinapse
scinapse[.]io
Pricing: $39/month. Free plan with limited features.

• Lumina
lumina-chat[.]com
Pricing: $20/month. Free plan with limited features.

• Evidence Hunt
evidencehunt[.]com (for biomedical sciences only)
Pricing: €120/year. Free plan with limited features.

• System Pro
about.system[.]com/product/system-pro (for biomedical sciences only)
Pricing: $12/month, $99/year
Read 21 tweets
Feb 3
Just got access to ChatGPT's Deep Research function and tried it with a long prompt👇

The prompt asks ChatGPT to collect data from a specific database, analyze it, and write a report. Also mentions a website that shouldn't be used.

Took a while but the results are very impressive🤯A screenshot of a long prompt the Mushtaq used with ChatGPT's Deep Research.
The first time you run a prompt like this, Deep Research asks you for certain clarifications.

I answered its questions and then it got to work.

It looked up 57 sources before it started compiling its answer.

Looking up relevant sources took it around 10 minutes. But compiling took it around an hour. It's a bit slow at the moment but that's expected. It will surely become more efficient.
The results are very impressive.

For starters, there are little to no hallucinations. This alone is a remarkable advancement.

It was able to look up that are easily available like the number of convictions.

But it couldn't go within the database to look up desired stats like the number of immigrants from a particular country. For that it relied on other sources and Wikipedia.

This will also improve in the days to come.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 2
How to organize and summarize research papers with Zotero and Scholarcy:

You can learn this workflow in 15 minutes.
1. Open your Zotero desktop app and click on "File" and select "New Collection."

Choose a name for your collection. Keep the collection open.
2. If you haven't already, you'd need to install the Zotero Connector.

Go to Chrome web store and look for "Zotero Connector."

Add it to your Chrome and then pin it.

The Connector is available for Edge, Firefox, and Safari.
Read 19 tweets
Jan 31
ChatGPT just rolled out updated custom instructions.

This makes it very easy to customize ChatGPT for academic work.

And also to get rid of fake citaitons to papers that don't exist.

Here's how to customize ChatGPT (template included): A screenshot of ChatGPT's new custom instructions.
1. Open ChatGPT and click on your avatar in the top-right corner.

Select "Customize ChatGPT" from the drop-down menu. Then enable custom instructions for new chats.

You will see four questions.
2. In the field, "What should ChatGPT call you?" enter your name.

In the field, "What do you do?" write a bit about your work.

Here's a template you can use:

I am an academic researcher. My primary field of research is [...] with a focus on [...]. I have also published research on [...]. In addition, I do [...]. I have also taught course on [...].
Read 9 tweets
Jan 26
Trump is threatening Denmark over Greenland.

I lived in the US 🇺🇸 for several years and now I live in Denmark 🇩🇰

Here's a comparison of the two countries (based on my experiences):

1. Free Health A screenshot of a Financial Times article titled, "Donald Trump in fiery call with Denmark’s prime minister over Greenland."
🇺🇸You or your employer have to pay for health insurance. The US is the only country in the developed world without universal healthcare. More than 100 million Americans are in medical debt.

🇩🇰Denmark has universal healthcare. Anyone living in Denmark — citizen or alien — is issued with a yellow-colored health card with the name of their primary care doctor. You can see your doctor at no charge.

If your doctor refers you to a specialist and they have a long waitlist, you can see a private doctor. In that case, the municipality (kommune) will pay for your treatment.

Dental, chiropractic, and prescriptions are also subsidized.
2. Dental Care for Children

🇺🇸You have to pay for your children's dental care and treatment.

🇩🇰Children under 18 receive free dental care. If your child's dentist recommends braces, they can get them for free. You may have to wait for a few months or a year though.

You can see a private dentist too, if you want to.

Even private dental treatments in Denmark are more affordable than in the US.
Read 21 tweets

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