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CoB Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

This guide will introduce you to foundational research skills to begin your journey as a research assistant.

Zotero Citation Manager

Zotero is a tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research. It can help you:

  • Organize your research in a digital library
  • Quickly collect articles and online resources into your library using a one-click browser extension
  • Allow you access to your library across multiple computers and via the web
  • Share research with others in groups
  • Generate a bibliography and manage citations directly in Microsoft Word or Google Docs
  • Annotate and add research notes to items in your library

Why Would I Use Zotero?

Zotero is an easy way to share your organized research with your faculty mentor and other collaborators. Since it's a free tool, you can also take it with you when you graduate from JMU.

We tend to describe Zotero as a citation management tool, but it is much more powerful than that. Here are three key features:

Group Items by Project

Create Collections (aka folders) that keep all of the sources you're tracking for a particular project together.

Within Collections, you can also create Subcollections. These subfolders can categorize articles that support one key theme you're researching or track articles you've reviewed that won't be cited in your final submission. 

 

 

Tag Items by Topic

Tags (aka keywords) let you add descriptions to an article PDF. Then you can click on a tag to see every article in your collection that shares it. Effective strategies for creating could include topics, methods, findings, or workflow (e.g., To Read, Read, Not Helpful). Tags could also be used to predict where the article might fit into your final project, using tags like Intro, LitReview, Discussion. 

 

Annotate PDFs and Export Them as Notes

Zotero's built-in PDF reader enables you to annotate documents within the tool. You can highlight key passages, capture your reactions in notes, and even snip images of relevant charts. These can then be added as a note to the item in the library. These notes will include page numbers and citations to make it easy to copy that into your working draft.

 

Helpful Videos

Zotero offers multiple ways to add articles to your library.

Use the Zotero Connector Browser Extension

Zotero Connector lets you save a source from your browser with a single click. It's available to download for Chrome, Firefox and Edge. In Safari, Zotero Connector is bundled into the Zotero software.

This is the best method for grabbing multiple articles from Google Scholar or adding websites found in a regular Google search.

Drag and Drop a PDF into a Collection

Just like it sounds - find the PDFs on you've downloaded on your device. Then drag them into the Zotero collection where you want them to go.

This is the best method for adding articles you already have as PDFs. Multiple articles can be dragged into a collection at once.

If Zotero doesn't automatically find the metadata for the PDF, try these steps:

  • Right click on the PDF in Zotero and click Retrieve Metadata for PDF.
  • Right click on the PDF in Zotero and choose Create Parent Item. Manually fill in the item's information.

Export Citations  from a Database like Scopus

Many databases like Scopus and Business Source Complete have tools that allow you to export one or more articles in a format that Zotero can read called an RIS export. 

This is the best method when using a database, since you can export multiple items at a time and add them to Zotero at once.

Use an Identifier Number like DOI

This is the "magic wand" tool in your Zotero library. It allows you to use a publication's unique ID number to find the item and add it to your collection.

  • For books, the ID number is the International Standard Book Number or ISBN. 
  • For scholarly articles, the ID number could be the Digital Object Identifier or DOI. Or it could be the PubMed number or PMID. 

This is the best method for an academic article or book chapter when you might be waiting on a PDF to arrive through ILL. 

Setting up a Zotero Group will allow you and a faculty mentor to collaborate on a project by storing relevant article PDFs online and syncing the bibliography and notes across your individual Zotero accounts.

Groups must be created while using the Zotero Web Library in a browser (not in the downloaded software). Pay attention to the permissions you grant. For your faculty mentor to view PDFs you upload, use these Library Settings:

  • Library Reading — Select Any group member
  • Library Editing — Select Any group member
  • File Editing — Select Any group member

Make Sure to Sync

You also need to set your Groups to sync across computers. In Zotero on your desktop, follow these steps to set up syncing:

  • Select Edit from the menu
  • Choose Preferences
  • Click on Sync at the top
  • Check both boxes under Data Syncing as well as both under File Syncing
  • Click OK to apply these preferences

Useful Resources

After you've gathered your articles and annotated them, you'll start writing up your research project. 

The Zotero Plug-in for Microsoft Word makes in-text citations and bibliographies easy! Rather than having to manually write and manage your citations, this plug-in enables you to:

  • Insert in text citations and bibliography entries in the citation format of your choice with a few clicks of the mouse from your Zotero library
  • Reformat your citations into a different style. For example say a publisher requires you to use APA citations when you wrote yours in MLA, in a few clicks Zotero will reformat your citations for you.
  • Update your bibliography entries when you remove or add in-text citations

Helpful Resources

While Zotero is a free tool, JMU Libraries subscribes to an upgrade to unlock unlimited storage for all campus users.

To take advantage of this expanded storage to save more articles to your library, simply use your JMU email as your primary email for this account. You can add additional emails to your Zotero account to maintain access to prior projects or ensure you'll keep access at a new institution.

Zotero is the only citation management system licensed by JMU. Individuals who prefer a different management system can check the approved software list and ask their department to purchase access or pay out of your own pocket.

Organizing Your Research Using a Matrix

As we know, a literature review is not a summary. Rather than merely presenting a summary of each source, a literature review should be organized according to each subtopic discussed about the larger topic.

Synthesis Matrix is a tool that can help you organize massive information and make the writing process simpler. A synthesis matrix is a chart that allows a researcher to sort and categorize the different arguments presented on an issue. The matrix allows to record sources along with the main points of argument on the topic.

If you prefer to use a document or table to organize your research, try using the example below to build an organization method that works for you!

Example: Synthesis Matrix Tool

Citation 

Research Question(s) 

Methodology & Data 

Findings & Conclusions 

Relevant Quotations

Themes

Blake, L., Ballance, D., Davies, K., Gaines, J. K., Mears, K., Shipman, P. Burchfield, V. (2016). Patron perception and utilization of an embedded librarian program. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 104(3), 226–230. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.104.3.008

Do patrons know about the embedded program and individual embedded librarians?

Do patrons use specific embedded services?

What is the perceived value of embedded services and librarians?

Web-based survey of 381 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, clinicians, and residents at a medium-sized, 4-year university in the health sciences 

Respondents valued the library’s embedded librarian program in health sciences for helping them successfully complete assignments and improved grades, progressing their research skills, and improving research self-efficacy.

A primary reason given for lack of use was unawareness of the service and scope of assistance. 

Respondents indicated that more extensive marketing of the program and increased presence within departments would improve utilization.

One respondent indicated that “all the embedded librarians have made a significant impact in my research, teaching, and service to the [university] community.” (p. 229) 

Student perceptions of academic librarians’ duties and roles

Saunders, L. (2012). Faculty perspectives on information literacy as a student learning outcome. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 38(4), 226–236. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2012.06.001

 

 

 

How do faculty members define or understand information literacy?

How important do instructors believe information literacy to be for their students? How do they address information literacy, or expect it to be addressed within the curriculum?

Are there disciplinary differences in faculty attitudes toward and approaches to information literacy?

Survey of 278 faculty at 50 random institutions across the United States

71.8% strongly agreed IL is important for their students (p. 228).

77.6% strongly agreed or agreed they address IL in their teaching

High percentages (numbers not given) agreed or strongly agreed teaching faculty and librarians were responsible for teaching IL (p. 229).

No correlation was found between discipline and perceptions on teaching responsibilities for IL or effectiveness of library instruction.

A strong correlation was found between discipline and instructional request frequency.”

“In particular, several participants pointed to the problems students faced in dealing with information overload, which they variously referred to as a “glut,” and an “avalanche.” These participants note that students need help filtering through the information. They also suggested that, contrary to what is generally believed about the generation referred to as ‘digital natives,’ students are not particularly adept at searching for and finding information. One participant indicates that students perceive themselves to be better searchers than they actually are, while another contends that the idea of “digital natives is such a lie” and that “the art of thinking like a cataloger” has been lost.”  (p. 230)

Faculty perceptions of academic librarians as teachers

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

Other Formats of Matrix Tools

You can add or change columns from these samples to best suit your projects' needs.