Last week I gushed about Google, and I will gush about Google again, but this week let’s take an academic approach and scratch the surface of one of the web based resources offered by UCF’s library.
Top 3 Reasons why I love the UCF Libraries Homepage:
1) I don’t have to leave home to search the catalogue and databases, manage my sources, or use inter-library loan (ILL).
2) I can wear my pajama bottoms, hot pink cut-off, reminiscent of the 1980s t-shirt, and drink my own coffee while executing the above actions.
3) I don’t have to leave home.
How to start using library resources from home: Sign in for off-campus access
RefWorks
Creating a works cited or bibliography page is not exciting. Often, I leave it as the last, neglected part of my paper. The part that I scramble to finish 40 minutes before the paper is due. Well, the old me did that anyways. The new and improved data management me uses RefWorks for my citation management needs.
RefWorks is your one stop resource for keeping track of the works you have cited. You can manually input your sources, working your way down a form that asks you to supply the author, title, publication, and etc. information. Or, when you do a search in the library catalogue or through the SFX journal search, you will notice a button that gives you the option of exporting the source to RefWorks. Click on that and you are halfway to being done with your works cited page. Once you have inputted or imported the sources you want to use, simply click the “Bibliography” button. Select your output style. This can be a little confusing because there are so many style choices, but I find that MLA 6th ed. – no casing style works the best for my needs. Once you have made this decision, click the “Create Bibliography” button and bammo: you have your bibliography. It was painless!
Granted, it takes about 30 minutes to get familiar with the program, so if you are doing the last minute paper scramble, give yourself about an hour to get your first RefWorks generated works cited list together.
How do you access RefWorks you wonder, scratching your chin and gazing thoughtfully at your monitor? Quite simple really friend; from the library homepage:
http://www.library.ucf.edu/
you click “Cite a Source?” under the “How Do I?” menu. When the new page loads, scroll down and click on the “Citation Software” link. Once there, you have the option of running four different software packages. This week we focused on RefWorks although feel free to sample the other software packages and report back to grad student Christine.
That’s all for this week! Do you have questions, comments, or concerns about RefWorks? Let me know! Do you have a beloved web application that makes your life easier, better, and more digitally in-demand? Let me know!
I know I said I was going to talk about Wikipedia this week - but it got back burnered by my affection for RefWorks. Stay tuned for next week's post on Wikipedia and its torrid affair with academia.
-Salud
Christine
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