While working on a blog article temporarily titled “Shortcuts to Shame,” I wanted to add quotes with Chicago-style citations from the Roman philosopher Rufus and theologian Ryle in both Zotero and DEVONthink. Rather than typing the information into Zotero and again into DEVONthink, I had Claude add the citations and quotes for me. It worked perfectly. While Claude was performing this "donkey work,” I was able to continue my writing. I hate dealing with citations! 
For those who may be interested, the quotes are:
“If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures. --Rufus
May we never forget that without [spiritual] fighting there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die! --Ryle
This is an example of a good use of AI, which does not involve outsourcing our brains.
Here is a screenshot of Claude at work in Zotero.
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I agree - great use of AI
One suggestion - when you prompt it for something like this if you simply ask it to “create Chicago-style citations” it might hallucinate missing details. Alternatively you might try “Create Chicago-style citations. If any metadata item is missing, leave it blank rather than guessing.”
Obviously I don’t know what prompt you used- you may have done this already. Just a suggestion.
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Good suggestion. I did not include “ If any metadata item is missing, leave it blank rather than guessing,” but I will in the future. Thanks!
I’ve been using Claude for my APA citations for my master’s degree. It’s been glorious. I just drag the file in and tell it to give me the APA citations and I copy/paste. Works for my workflow!
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So for interest, what was the prompt? Something like attach the paper (?) and the quote and then tell Claude to add the quote and citation to Zotero and relevant group in DEVONthink using the Chicago style citation scheme?
Because this was the first time I had attempted this, it was a couple of separated prompts, which combined was essentially this:
Add a reference for each of these two quotes to Zotero and create a note for each in DEVONthink: "If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures” [A Stoic Breviary: Classical Wisdom in Daily Practice: TEXT: Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Fragments (tr Cora E. Lutz)] --Rufus and "May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die!” —Ryle [J.C. Ryle: Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots - Christian Classics Ethereal Library].
Regarding the Ryle quote in DEVONthink, Claude responded:
The quotation is now in your DEVONthink Global Inbox as a Markdown note titled “Ryle – Without fighting there can be no holiness.” It gives the quotation, Chicago citations in three forms, and the page details. Its link points to the online chapter, so you can open the source from DEVONthink. I tagged it Ryle, holiness, sanctification, spiritual warfare, and quotes. You may want to file it next to the Free Republic copy of Ryle’s sermon in RESEARCH › Character › Holiness, so the properly cited version sits with it.
Thanks, I have a Slipbox group in Devonthink for those sorts of things and Zotero. So that gives me some ideas
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