Source- The UC Libraries Newsletter

Libraries
- Hours and Maps

Quicklinks

Search

Spotlight on Service: RefWorks

R.L. Roberts, Senior Librarian, randy.roberts@uc.edu

What if there were a tool to help you electronically collect and manage your research resources, such as articles, books, reports, and Web pages? What if this tool assembled and organized your arduously discovered citations in a place where you could easily and quickly find them? Furthermore, what if this tool automatically created bibliographies, footnotes, or in-text citations in almost any output style (e.g. MLA, APA, or Turabian), and then could easily reformat it to a different output style? Would you use such a tool? Might such a tool diminish some of the stress inherent in your academic life?

This tool exists and is referred to as a Personal Bibliographic Manager, or PBM. PBMs are not exactly new, and some may sound familiar such as EndNote, ProCite, or Papyrus. Each PBM distinguishes itself by some unique features or capabilities. Some, notably EndNote and ProCite, tend to be slightly higher-end tools, but all PBMs perform the same essential tasks of electronic data collection, management, and automatic bibliography and footnote creation. In effect, PBMs can be a collaborative partner to Microsoft Word in the composition of research papers or manuscripts.

What is new and worthy of renewed consideration is that these tools are now more robust and easier to use than ever before; and one of them, the Internet based RefWorks, is free to UC faculty, students, and staff. To create a RefWorks account, connect to RefWorks from any on-campus computer or off campus via UC Remote Access. Once connected to RefWorks, proceed with the following steps to set up an account:

Select “Sign up for an Individual Account.”
Fill in all the User Information boxes.
Click on the “Register” button to register a new account.
RefWorks will immediately send confirmation of account registration via e-mail

After establishing an account, explore the features of RefWorks using any of several RefWorks user aids available from the “Help” menu option. The user aids include a tutorial, a comprehensive set of help screens, and a Quick Start Guide.

University Libraries has long supported the use of PBMs through workshops and technical support for EndNote and ProCite, and will continue to do so. RefWorks training is also available. Workshop dates and descriptions may be found via the University Libraries Instructional Services Web page. For more information about RefWorks, EndNote, or ProCite, contact Randall Roberts at (513) 556-1864 or randall.roberts.uc.edu.

Source Index