Research Smarter: Using Reference Management Tools for Your Research
GB 5/160 (Dekanatssitzungssaal)
How can PDF and bibliography tools become more than just a place to store data? This workshop explores practical approaches to organizing literature and notes, and to developing sustainable research workflows, with Zotero providing a hands-on starting point. The workshop will be structured around progression from managing literature to developing broader research workflows. We will begin by building an organized digital research library: adding and managing literature, correcting metadata, working with collections and tags, searching and filtering, and using Zotero's PDF and annotation features. We will then move from literature management to broader knowledge systems, exploring reading and note-taking workflows, linked notes and synthesis strategies, different approaches to managing research information, and ways to connect references, concepts, and research materials.
Target audience
The workshop is open to all researchers and students interested in reference management, and is particularly relevant for early-career researchers (ECRs). It is suitable for both those who are new to reference management software such as Zotero and those who already use such tools but would like to develop more efficient workflows. The workshop will combine practical exercises with examples of how researchers can organize, connect, and work with literature and research information over the course of long-term or multiple research projects.
What to bring/prepare
Participants should bring a laptop with Zotero installed. Zotero can be downloaded free of charge from https://www.zotero.org/. It would also be useful to bring a small selection of PDFs or other literature from an ongoing research project, so that you can try out some of the practical exercises with your own material.
