If you are writing a paper and trying to keep track of your references and citations, you have probably tried a citation tool to help. There are several different options that we highlight in our How To Guide for Citation Tools. In this post we wanted to highlight one you may not have tried yet – Zotero!

Zotero is a free to use open source program that allows you to easily save, organize, and cite your sources. It includes an application that you can download to your laptop as well as a browser plug-in called Zotero Connector.

Zotero Connector detects research and you can click it any time you find a useful source to save it – whether it’s a newspaper article or a scholarly work you found in one of the Library’s databases.

Once you save a source, you can find it in the application. There you can organize all your sources by project or topic. Zotero also integrates directly into Word and GoogleDocs so you can easily create in-text citations and a works cited/reference page.

Another perk to Zotero is that it is free to use for everyone – which means you can continue to use it after you graduate!

Find more information about Zotero in this handy Guide to Zotero or visit the Zotero website. If you need help getting started with Zotero, they provide an easy quick start guide.

Academic Video Online, AVON for short is a video subscription database that students and faculty have access to through the UAA Consortium Library’s Database webpage: 

Within AVON you can browse preselected channels or search using keywords by clicking on the magnifying glass icon found on the top of both the Homepage and the Channels page.

If you are familiar with Boolean Operators, you should review AVON’s General Platform Help page for Search Tips, because AVON does not follow typical Boolean Logic. 

If you would like to create personal playlists and clips, you must create a personal user account, click on the red account button located on the top right hand side of each AVON page. 

AVON is a great place to search for curated academic audiovisual content. While you are a student take advantage of this valuable and interesting resource. 

If your heart hasn’t already been broken and healed by Punch, the abandoned baby Japanese macaque who is just doing his best and trying to fit in at a zoo in Ichikawa City Zoo, you’re in for a real emotional journey. When he first arrived at the zoo, he struggled with socializing and showed signs of anxiety from the isolation. To help him with his transition, zoo-keepers gave him an orangutan plushie which he took to very fondly – photos of him cuddling and carrying the plushie around the enclosure quickly went viral and the heart of the Internet was captured.

Happily, Punch has now been seen being groomed and held by one of the adult macaques – a wonderful development for his socialization with the other monkeys at the zoo! You can read the Ichikawa City Zoo’s update here (if you don’t read Japanese, click the “translate” button!)

You can find photos and read more about Punch here.

Want to learn more about the social dynamics of Japanese macaques? Check out this search or some of the articles highlighted below (be sure to be logged in for off-campus access or connected to campus WiFi before clicking links)!

Male–male social bonds predict tolerance but not coalition formation in wild Japanese macaques by Tatsuro Kawazoe

Social play among juvenile wild Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) strengthens their social bonds by Masaki Shimada and Cédric Sueur

Have more questions about macaques or another topic? Reach out to us at the Information & Research Help Desk!

If you are working on papers or projects this week, the Research Help Desk is still staffed to help! We are open every day, with the exception of Friday, March 13th. Check the hours of the library, the Research Help Desk and other departments here: https://libcal.consortiumlibrary.org/hours/

Working on assignments from home? No problem – you can contact us by email, phone, text, or chat! Find more information on our Ask Us page: https://ask.consortiumlibrary.org/

If you’re doing research off-campus, don’t forget to log in for off-campus access to ensure you’re able to access all the articles and databases we are subscribed to. Log in using your university credentials: https://login.consortiumlibrary.idm.oclc.org/login

Wishing you all a restful and relaxing break!