Organise scanned PDFs, downloaded papers and old materials into a Zotero library, and use OCR and a tagging system to improve search, reading and writing efficiency.
Import existing PDFs, web references and records exported from databases into Zotero to set up the library.
After importing, check titles, authors, years and DOIs first.
Run OCR on scanned or non-searchable PDFs so their full text can be searched and copied.
Choose the OCR language that matches Chinese, Japanese or English documents.
Create collections by project, paper topic or research stage, and add a small number of core tags.
Don't use too many tags; keep the system maintainable over time.
Merge duplicate items and fill in missing journal, volume/issue, page and DOI information.
Check that reference information is complete, especially before submission.
For key papers, record the research question, methods, results, limitations and quotable points.
For every core paper, write at least one sentence on "how it helps my research".
