Zotero

Length of video: 10 minute 09 seconds

Zotero provides you with the ability to alter and improve the metadata for your articles.

What is Metadata?

Metadata is the information about the source you are citing. For a journal article, for example, the Author's name is a piece of metadata. The year the article was published is a piece of metadata. The journal that published the article is a piece of metadata. And so on. It is these small bits of information that make up the entirety of your reference list. So, it is imperative that you are able to look through the metadata, identify what information is missing, and what information you need to add or alter (if any of it is incorrect). Most of the time you are going to have a lot of good metadata that is correct - most journals are diligent about attaching the correct metadata to PDFs for the purposes of referencing. But you still have the responsibility to check it out.

Remember, each type of source you submit whether a journal article, a podcast, a YouTube video, a work of art, a book, etc. all have different pieces of information needed when you reference it in the reference list. That is why you should always have a good referencing guide on hand like our referencing guide linked below. Another great resource is the Cite Them Right referencing guides also linked below.