{"id":4218,"date":"2026-01-21T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/?p=4218"},"modified":"2026-01-21T18:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:43:48","slug":"lab-2-active-reading-with-zotero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/2026\/01\/21\/lab-2-active-reading-with-zotero\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab 2: Active Reading with Zotero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most effective ways to read and engage with a text is to annotate it as you go. This is particularly true of dense texts! (I’ve tried to avoid those in the syllabus, but sometimes you’ll come across things that are unfamiliar or complex.) Annotations can be anything that stands out to you \u2014 underlining a phrase that makes a key point, definitions of unfamiliar words, questions or comments in the margins, or whatever signs and symbols help you make connections throughout the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might have your own strategy for annotating your readings, and throughout the semester, I encourage you to use whatever tools and methods are most effective for you. Today, however, we’re going to try out Zotero. Zotero is a free and open-source tool for reference management, note-taking, and annotation, which you can use on your own or collaboratively. (If you don\u2019t already have a system for taking notes while you read, I recommend trying Zotero out for a few weeks!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Create a Zotero account.<\/strong>\u00a0Visit www.zotero.org<\/a> and click \u201cLog In,\u201d then \u201cRegister for a free account\u201d to create your username.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Join the class group.<\/strong>\u00a0Go to https:\/\/www.zotero.org\/groups\/6392594\/hum230sp26<\/a>\u00a0and click the red \u201cJoin\u201d button.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Annotate the syllabus.<\/strong>\u00a0Find the class syllabus in our library. You\u2019ve already read through it once, but go ahead and skim through it again. Is there anything that catches your eye? Leave an annotation on the document. Maybe it\u2019s a tool or topic you\u2019re interested in, or a question you have about a class policy, or even a typo you notice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Add some metadata.<\/strong> As a group at your table, choose an item in the class library that doesn’t have complete metadata (that is, the information you’d use to cite it). Gather and enter as complete information as you can. You might need to correct what’s there as well!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of the most effective ways to read and engage with a text is to annotate it as you go. This is particularly true of dense texts! (I’ve tried to avoid those in the syllabus, but sometimes you’ll come across things that are unfamiliar or complex.) Annotations can be anything that stands out to you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-4218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labs","tag-zotero","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4228,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4218\/revisions\/4228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/hum230sp26\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}