What you need
- First, check that you have the Zotero tab in Word or Google Docs.

- Have the Zotero program open on your device.
- You must also have an account with Zotero, which is free to set up.
For Google Docs, you may be prompted to authorize Zotero to access your Google account. The pop up box to select the style may also be behind some other windows. Clicking on your Zotero desktop may help to reveal it.
Steps for APA Style citations
- Double check the Information tab of the parent record for the sources you will be citing.
- Use sentence case for all titles. If you change case, check that Proper nouns are capitalized.
- Make sure you have a Title, Author, Source and DOI or URL, and where necessary the date or year
- Place cursor where you need to add the citation. If it is a parenthetical citation at the end of a sentence, place the cursor before the period.
- Click on the Zotero Tab. Select Add/Edit Citation.
- Select APA 7th edition for the style (if prompted to, which is usually the first time you cite).
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- Depending on your preference settings, you will get a quick view (one bar) or a classic view (which shows your resources like they are on your device). With the quick view, you can start typing in an author name or part of the title and matching authors and titles will appear for you to select and press enter. For the classic view, select what you want to add and click OK.
- As needed: Add page number in the page number box and additional notes in the prefix and suffix boxes.
- Start a page for References or go to the References section of your paper. From the Zotero tab, select Insert Bibliography
- The citation will be automatically added.
- You will only need to select "insert Bibliography" the first time you add a cite.
- Subsequent cited sources will be automatically added
More guidance on citing sources and creating bibliographies on Mastering Zotero: A user guide for the Zotero reference manager.
Citing Sources in Word and Google Video Tutorial
This video demonstrates how to insert a parenthetical citation, narrative citation (omitting the author), multiple sources, page number, a figure and a quote and how to automatically generate the list of references. Citing sources in Microsoft Word and Google Docs is similar so it may be useful to watch both sections.
Citing sources in Word 00 to 11:15
Citing in Google Docs 11:15 to 17:12
Creating stand-alone bibliographies 15:12