February 2017

Academic writing is a vital skill to master at University and the library has lots of resources available to help you develop this skill.

Books and Ebooks

The library has a large collection of books and ebooks relating to academic writing and other study skills. You can use Library search to see what titles we have available, or click on this link to see a list of useful titles.

The library has a wide selection of study skills books and can help with areas other than academic writing e.g. Critical thinking (click this link to access the ebook “Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument”), subject specific study skills books, critical reading and much more.

Online Resources

We also have a number of online resources that can help with academic writing skills. One particularly useful resource is “Study Skills Success”, this has lots of useful information about various types of study skills e.g. academic writing, research and critical thinking. You can find a link to this resource via the library’s E-Resources A-Z list

CeDAS – Centre for the Development of Academic Skills

CeDAS provides a great deal of support for all students in the development of their academic writing and oral communication skills. They offer workshops, lectures, courses and 1-1 tutorials. To find out more about this department, visit their website.

This week’s Resource of the Week is RefWorks.

RefWorks is a web-based tool that is free to use for undergraduates and taught postgraduates. It will help you to capture, save and organise references, create bibliographies in a range of difference styles that can be used in a range of Word processing tools. You can access it on- and off-campus, from any PC which has internet access.

How do I access it?

Go to the Citing and Referencing Tab on your Subject Guide OR the Citing and Referencing Guide.
Click on the RefWorks Link.
Create your account:

When you first use RefWorks you will need to register. From off campus you may be required to enter a Group Code which is RWRoyalH. Then fill in your registration details as follows:

Your name
Your email address
Choose your login name and password (we recommend using your RHUL IT username e.g. abcd123)
Select your user type (e.g. undergraduate)
Select your focus area (e.g. humanities)
Select ‘register’ to finish

Using RefWorks

You can import information on resources from databases like Library Search, JSTOR, Science Direct and many others. Most databases will have an export to RefWorks option, for websites you can use the Ref-GrabIt tool.
RefWorks creates a database of your references and you can search it, and organise it into Folders.
Use RefWorks to generate an automatic bibliography
You can also insert citations and reference directly into your assignment using the Write and Cite tool for Word

Further Help

Training sessions run throughout the year. The next session is on Friday 24th February at 13:10-13:50, Computer Centre, PC Lab 5
Email library@rhul.ac.uk, or contact your Information Consultant
Visit the RefWorks You Tube Channel for lots of video tutorials