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Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

May 4 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X

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Zotero is the best citation management tool for academic writing.

And it's new version — Zotero 7 — is now available for use.

Here's how to automate your citations and references with Zotero 7.

You can learn this workflow in 15 min:

Go to this link below and download the version compatible with your computer.

Link: zotero(dot)org/support/beta_builds (replace the word "dot" with ".")

Install the app on your computer.

If you already use Zotero 6, it will get updated with Zotero 7 without any loss of data.

Open your Zotero desktop app after you have installed it.

This is how your Zotero 7 interface would look like. Your collections from Zotero 6 will remain unaffected.

If you are using Zotero for the first time, you won't see any items in your library.

If you are starting out on Zotero, you would also need a Zotero account.

Go to zotero(dot)org. Click on "Log In" and then "Register for a free account."

A Zotero account gives you an online backup of your library.

As you can see here, my whole Zotero library is available online.

If you change your computer, all you need to do is install Zotero, log in to your account, and your whole Zotero library will be available.

If you are a new Zotero user, you will also need to install a Zotero Connector for your browser.

Go to Chrome Web Store and look for Zotero Connector.

Add it to your browser and then pin it by.

Open your Zotero desktop app. Cclick on "File" and then select "New Collection."

Choose a name for your collection and click on "Create Collection."

You will now have a new collection with no items in it yet.

Go to Google Scholar and run a search using keywords related to your project.

You will get a list of papers/books.

Click on the Zotero Connector in the top-right corner. Zotero will open an Item Selector.

Select the items you find relevant and click on "OK."

Zotero will start saving them to your library. Select the collection you just created so Zotero saves these items there. This will help you keep things organized.

You can also do this with other academic databases like PubMed or JSTOR.

Run a search, open Zotero Item Selector, select relevant papers, and add them to your Zotero collection.

After you are done adding items, go to your Zotero desktop app and you will all the items in the relevant collection.

Zotero will also retrieve open-access PDFs of papers and add them to your collection.

For paywalled papers, you can use your university's llibrary.

To read a paper, simply double-click on it and Zotero will open it for you.

Now you can read the paper and highlight important parts of it.

https://twitter.com/MushtaqBilalPhD/status/1786415677722484872

Finding research gaps and crafting novel research questions takes a lot of time and labor.

Research Kick is an AI app that will help you craft compelling research questions and find research gaps — in minutes.

660+ academics are using it.

Tutorial 👇

https://twitter.com/MushtaqBilalPhD/status/1786415677722484872

You can also add items using their DOIs, ISBNs, and PMIDs.

Click on the magic wand-like button in the top bar and enter an item's DOI, ISBN, or PMID.

Zotero will add it to your collection.

To add a citation to your paper, place the cursor where you want to insert the citation.

Click on the Zotero tab and select "Add/Edit Citation."

Zotero will open a red search bar for you. Type in the name of the author you want to cite and any additional details like a page number.

Press Enter/Return and Zotero will add the citation.

Add all citations in this manner.

To add bibliography to your paper, place the cursor where you want to add it.

Then click on "Add/Edit Bibliography." Zotero may ask you to select a citation style. If it does, select the style relevant to your field.

And Zotero will add the properly formatted bibliography.

Zotero 7 also has dark mode.

To switch to dark mode, click on "Edit" and then "Settings."

In the "General" tab, select "Dark."

Found this thread on Zotero 7 helpful?

1. Scroll to the top and repost the first tweet to share it with your friends.

2. Follow me for more threads on Zotero and AI apps for academic writing.

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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 26

European Research Council (ERC) gives a Starting Grant of €1.5 million for a period of 5 years.

I am attending a masterclass on how to write a competitive proposal to win an ERC grant.

I'll be live-tweeting the proceedings of the masterclass.

Follow along to learn more:

erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/st…

An ERC grant application is a very unique document.

It's not always a good idea to look at the previous winning proposals. That may end up undermining your prospects.

This seems like a bit counter-intuitive because mostly someone like me would start by looking at previous winning grant proposals.

We are all sharing our academic fields and the trainer responded to Economics with "good" 😂

Read 53 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 26

😟Worried about data privacy while using ChatGPT?

Microsoft just launched Phi-3 mini, a large language model as good as ChatGPT.

😀Phi-3 is open source, free to use. And you can keep your data private.

Here's how to use it:

Go to lmstudio(dot)ai and download the app compatible with your computer.

Once it gets downloaded, install it on your computer.

LM Studio is a free app that lets you use open source LLMs.

This is how your LM Studio would look like once it has been installed.

You will see a search bar in the middle of screen.

Read 7 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 24

☹️Google Scholar is a great tool. But it doesn't show how papers are connected with each other.

😀Here's how to fast-track your literature review with a "visual search."

And export your papers to Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.

You can learn this workflow in 15 min:

Go to litmaps(dot)com and log in to your account.

Create an account if you don't have one already.

Litmaps will give you a list of its new features.

You can take a look at these features, but it's not necessary for this workflow.

Click on "Continue," and you will see an option: "Create your first Litmap."

Read 17 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 13

Most people think ChatGPT's hallucinations are bad: fake information that looks real.

But you can use ChatGPT's hallucinations intelligently to your advantage.

Here's how:

What do I mean by using hallucinations intelligently?

Most people think hallucinations are bad because they use ChatGPT to generate content. And hallucinations are fake content.

But reframe hallucinations as unexpected connections that your brain was unable to make.

And hallucinations can become moments of spark for you.

Yesterday, a couple of colleagues and I were discussing the impact of European literature outside of Europe.

A colleague wants to apply for a grant and we were brainstorming ideas. It was a great discussion but lacked focus.

A few minutes into it, I opened MS Word and click the "Dictate" button. MS Word started transcribing our conversation.

As you can see, we are all over the place.

Read 8 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 12

Evidence Hunt is an AI-powered app that will help you gather and analyze medical evidence.

Think of it as PubMed+ChatGPT.

Ask it a question and it will give you an answer with references to published papers. Plus, it will give PICO analysis for every paper.

And it's free!

Go to evidencehunt(dot)com and sign up for a free account.

Go to "Chat" and type in your question.

Evidence Hunt will answer your question and give you a list of papers it cites.

[If you want elaborate answers or want to use filters, Evidence Hunt has a monthly plan for €15.]

To see PICO analysis for papers, go to "Search" and fill in the relevent details for "Patient problem or population" and "Intervention."

Evidence Hunt will give you a list of papers.

Click on "Show PICO analysis" at the bottom of a paper and Evidence Hunt will show you color-coded PICO analysis.

Read 5 tweets

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD

@MushtaqBilalPhD

Apr 5

How to ask smart questions during presentations (even if you're unfamiliar with the topic):

A couple days ago, I attended a presentation by a colleague. He is working on the relationship between writing and walking with a focus on vagabonds in European literature.

It was a fascinating and stimulating presentation.

While I was listening to my colleagues, a couple of questions came to my mind. But since this was a new topic for me, I wasn't sure if my questions were worth asking.

Here's what I did:

I went to researchkick(dot)com and logged into my account.

I simply typed "vagabond and cities during the 18th and 19th century Europe" in the chatbar.

The good thing about Research Kick is that you don't need to write any prompts whatsoever. Just a topic or a few keywords and it will give a bunch of questions.

Research Kick gave me seven questions. I read through them and found one question very interesting.

It was about how vagabondage challenged the social order during the 18th and 19th centuries in European cities.