1) Get a (free) Zotero account.

Signing up with your Carleton email address will get you unlimited free storage.
Signing up with a personal email address will get you 300MB of free storage.

2) Install BOTH the Zotero program and the Browser "Connector."

If the Zotero connector doesn't seem to be communicating with your Zotero application, go to Zotero.org and log in with your zotero account. This will let your browser, and therefore the connector, know who you are, and it will be able to send citations to your Zotero application again.

3) Configure Zotero's Preferences

Sync to your Zotero Account

1. In Preferences, click "Sync"

2. Enter your Zotero username and password.

Choosing your Default Citation Style

1. In Preferences, click "Export."

2. Use the "Default Output Format" menu to select your preferred style.

The three step process outlined above is meant to get your Zotero account up and running. Please see your librarian for help with how to add citations into Zotero, how to use the web plugin to save citations, how to create folders and groups, and how to add notes and tags within each of your citations. Your librarian can also show you how to insert citations as you write your paper nad generate your final bibliography.

Zotero has good documentation online

If you want more details and often even videos, check out their online documentation.