Database Changes: RefWorks Goes 2.0--Gets New LibGuide

RefWorks, "an online research management, writing and collaboration tool...designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies," is changing its platform in the next few months. (The new version is scheduled to become the "default" interface in late October, and the "Classic," older version is scheduled to be decommissioned at the end of this year.)

For many, RefWorks is a bit daunting, and more than they want to deal with when they just want to create a simple bibliography. But for those doing a large, ongoing research project, the stored citations and bibliographies and handy export/import features of RefWorks can be very useful, indeed!

Connie (who blogged about the change earlier) has done a super new LibGuide for RefWorks 2.0, with lots of tabbed pages of useful information on how to use the tool effectively.



We are also maintaining her guide on the Classic Version until it goes away.

If you just want to build a citation from scratch and store it in a folder, you might prefer using our other bibliography tool, NoodleTools (aka NoodleBib).

And did you know that we have lots of useful librarian-written guides related to the task of creating an accurate List of Works Cited and also in utilizing the information in a citation to actually find the material in question? Here are links to a few.

Need to understand the parts of a book or periodical citation and how to track that cite in the library? Take a look at Sonia's guide, Citations: Deciphering and Using Them. It provides a clear and concise introduction to the topic.

Sonia also did a guide on Citing Your Sources - MLA Style. And Ellen authored a similar one on the other most popular citation style, Citing Your Sources - APA Style. Need an introduction to those two scholarly bib styles? Take a look.

I've also done a few guides that might be worth consulting:

Citation, Style Manual, and Grammar Resource Guide links to RefWorks and NoodleTools but also details print and online guides related to bibliography-building and to useful materials on grammar and usage.

Citation Tools in Sawyer Library Databases describes the handy tools available in quite a few of our databases that actually create the citation for you! Although the computer-generated cites should always be checked against your particular style manual, these database tools can be incredible time-savers.

And Full-Text Journal Articles: How to Track Them From a Citation shows you how to move from a bibliographic reference to the full-text of an article found at the Library. So, the next time a teacher tells you to go find this or that article from the Harvard Business Review (or some other periodical), you'll know how to do it.

We create these resources for your benefit, so we hope you make use of them!