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Vol. 2, No. 2 Spring 2005
APA (or MLA) the Easy Way
- RefWorks
Charles Lockwood, Digital Librarian
Susan Cooperstein, Instructional Coordinator
There was a time - a time most undergraduates will not remember - when writing a term paper meant
locating a working typewriter, a stack of typing paper, and a full container of Wite-Out ™ or Liquid
Paper™ to surgically paint over any number of typos. Those inevitable mistakes would multiply when one
got to typing the Notes and Bibliography pages, which were frequently typed one-handed while the other
hand held open the book showing the proper way to format notes or bibliography in APA or MLA style. For
the typical paper writer, this process was about as much fun as, say, cleaning your room or taking an
8 AM class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The word processor, of course, has eased some of the pain. But it didn't help with the bibliography.
Now the library is providing a solution to bibliography woes with a subscription to RefWorks, an online
bibliographic management service. Those who have used other bibliographic managers, such as ProCite or
EndNote, will see some resemblance, but will probably like RefWorks even better because it is Web-based.
RefWorks works like this: as you locate good articles for your research paper using the library's
site, you simply import the citations (and links to text) into your personal RefWorks folders for
safekeeping. A downloaded plug-in for Microsoft Word called Write-N-Cite will let you simultaneously add citations as
you write your paper. When the time comes to create a bibliography, press a button, and voila! A
probably perfect bibliography is automatically created. More time can be spent honing your thoughts,
positions, and theories, and less on the demands of citation formatting. Gone will be the headaches from extended examination of APA style guides, or from the fumes of typewriter correction fluid.
For those interested in learning more, click
here
or attend one of the instructional sessions advertised on the main library page.
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