Zotero is a free bibliographic referencing tool designed to help you collect, organise and manage your research. You can attach PDFs, notes and images to your citations and organise them into collections for different projects. It can also be used to create bibliographies and citations in your documents using your chosen referencing style. 

Zotero is the recommended bibliographic referencing tool for the AGLC style.

Zotero can be used either as a plug-in for the Mozilla Firefox web browser or as a standalone program that works with your web browser of choice, eg. Chrome, Safari. Browse the Zotero download page for further directions.

Step 1: Creating an online account

1. Go to https://www.zotero.org/ 
2. At the top right, click on Log In to Register for a free account
3. Enter your personal details and click Register

By creating an online Zotero account, you will be able to access your references online from anywhere. If you will only be accessing your references from your own computer, you can skip this step.

Step 2: Downloading the Zotero program

The Browser plugin for Zotero allows you to access your references on your browser. If you are not connected to the internet, you can still see your references, even though you can't see your cloud account for Zotero. To get the plugin for your preferred browser:

4. Navigate to the Zotero Downloads page, and select Download or Install depending on your preference
5. Follow the download instructions

Step 3: Set up Zotero syncing

If you chose to create a Zotero online account, you can now set up Zotero syncing to sync your data across multiple computers, access your library online, or collaborate in group libraries. Follow these steps to get started.

6. Open the Zotero application from your dock, launcher, or filesystem.

7. Select  “Preferences…” from the Zotero menu (Mac) or the Edit menu (Windows/Linux), and then select the Sync tab.

8. Under 'Data Syncing', input your username and password.

Step 4: Choosing your citation style

Zotero comes with the main commonly used referencing citation styles already loaded.

To download extra styles, including AGLC:

9. Go to the Zotero style repository
10. Use the search box to locate the style you need, e.g. for AGLC, type out "Australian guide to legal citation"
11. Click the title to add it to Zotero. If a dialogue box appears, click 'OK'. The style will then be added.
12. From your browser, return to the selectable style options - you should see the option listed.

Step 5: Organising your online account

Once logged into your account, select My Library and you will be able to:

• create folders (collections) e.g. cases, legislation, treaties
• make new references
• edit references
• add tags
• add full text to the references
• share your references with others (using the group functions)