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During your time at GC, you will likely have an assignment that requires you to submit an annotated bibliography. Zotero is a huge help to for an assignment like this, since you can simply enter your information into Zotero and produce a bibliography with your annotations! Follow the steps below to get started.
To create an annotated bibliography, you will need to first create annotations! Open your Zotero library, and click on the citation that you would like to annotate.
When you click on your citation, you'll notice a side window on the right side of the screen that has header tabs labeled Info, Notes, Tags, and Related. Make sure you have the Info tab selected (this is typically the default), and in the section where it says Extra, type in your annotations for an article.
It should look like the image below. Zotero saves your citations automatically, so once the text is entered, you are good to go!
Add annotations for as many items as you would like to add to your annotated bibliography.
After your annotations are ready, you need to download the annotated citation styles to your Style Manager. Currently, only Chicago Style and APA Style are available for you to use to create annotated bibliographies in Zotero.
To add these citation styles to your library, open up your Zotero library, and click on the Edit dropdown in the top left corner. Click on Preferences.
A window will pop up showing the various citation styles you currently have in your library. To add a new citation style, click on Get additional styles.
A window will pop up allowing you to do a style search. Search to find the APA Style and Chicago Style with annotated bibliography options, like what appears in the example below.
Click on the style that you want, and it will now appear in your Style Manager list.
Once you've added your citations and downloaded the annotated citation style you prefer to use, it's time to create your annotated bibliography.
The steps for generating an annotated bibliography are the exact same as what you would follow to generate a general bibliography. See the previous page in this research guide titled "Creating a Bibliography" if you need further information on how to do this.
Once you've highlighted the items to include in your annotated bibliography, select the citation style you'd like to use for your annotated bibliography from the Style Manager. Remember, only APA Style and Chicago Style offer the options for you to create annotated bibliographies in Zotero at this time.
Click OK, and your annotated bibliography will be generated. If you select the Copy to Clipboard option and paste your annotated bibliography into a Word document, it will look something like this.
