RefWorks Basics class on Friday

This Friday, October 2nd at 1pm in the Park Library, I will be teaching an introductory class on RefWorks. We'll set up accounts and cover basic usage in less than an hour, then move on to the advanced topics you find most interesting.

What is RefWorks?
RefWorks is an excellent tool for research, helping you organize and keep track of resources you find. Also, RefWorks makes bibliographies easy to produce by automatically formatting references in the style of your choice.

What We'll Cover on Friday

• Starting a RefWorks account
• Importing references from databases like Academic Search Premier
• Organizing your references into subject or project-based folders
• Manually adding references
• Easy automatic bibliographies in a range of styles (eg. APA, MLA)

Advanced Usage (if there's time & interest)

• Storing articles (eg. PDFs) in RefWorks
• Using the Write-N-Cite Microsoft Word plugin
• RefShare for collaboration and public reference lists
  
• RefMobile for devices such as iPhone
  

So come on out Friday to get started with RefWorks! And remember, the Park Library staff is available to assist you with RefWorks, whether you are a total beginner or you use it all the time. Please come see us with your questions!

RefWorks

Editor's Note: here's an example of two projects that you can do with RefWorks. To learn more about RefWorks, read Adam's post and/or come to the RefWorks session in the library on Oct. 2.

The other day I did this cool project in the library. Now before you think "Huh? Cool and library = fun" give me a chance to explain. You know how irritating finding articles can be? Yeah, I thought you would. Well, RefWorks is a database that collects sources, reformats them in APA or MLA among others, and allows the user to share the sources. Still with me? Ok, so I had to find faculty publications, a daunting task, I know. I had to use multiple databases to locate more than 500 publications faculty members have done since being employed here. Here's how the faculty publications look in RefWorks. Citations can be sorted by author, title and others. That way, your citations are easy to find. But that's not the real story, the point is that instead of finding so many citations and sources and printing them out, losing them, saving them in multiple files, why not keep them in one secure place? Research is tough but staying organized keeps the task from becoming a burden.

Now, to how you can use RefWorks beyond research papers. As journalism students, we're in that awful transition between budding media member and college reporter/videographer/designer/photographer etc. Keeping clips is uber-important but so is keeping them all in one place. RefWorks keeps all your clips or citations in a "storage" section, allowing you to access all of them, any time, any where, any place, well as long as you have the password. Sending out countless resumes and cover letters and clips is very tedious but necessary. Beyond sending clips, why not advertise your awesomeness on social media networks? Blogs, Twitter and yes, even Facebook, can reach more people than a couple of cover letters and pleas for employment. So try this: grab all your citations, clips, ringing endorsements and add them to Refworks and then link them to your Facebook page, Twitter account and blog.

I know, you'll thank me later. (that's Karen Kleimann (two n's)).

Don't know how to use RefWorks? Come to the RefWorks class in the Park Library, hosted by our very own Adam Rogers on Friday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m.