Category Archives: Referencing

Resource of the week: New RefWorks

October 16, 2017 Rachel Leave a comment

This week’s Resource of the Week is the new version of RefWorks.

RefWorks has recently gone through an upgrade to imporve the interface and also add some extra features. You can continue to use RefWorks (Legacy) or feel free to give RefWorks (New) a try. Some new features include being able to read documents within RefWorks and the ability to highlight and add notes to these documents

RefWorks is a web-based tool that is free to use for all staff and students. It will help you to capture, save, organise references and create bibliographies using a range of different referencing styles. You can also link it to Word and Google Docs so you can insert citations as you type and also create your bibliography within your essay.

How do I access it?

Go to the Citing and Referencing Tab on your subject guide
Click on “New RefWorks” from the drop down
Create an account (you must use your College email address)

If you have used the previous version of RefWorks and would like to migrate your content to RefWorks (New) you can watch the short video below to find out how.

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

You will then see the option to save to RefWorks Legacy or RefWorks New, ensure you select RefWorks New.

RefWorks creates a database of your references and you can organise these by folder.

Use RefWorks to generate an automatic bibliography. You can insert citations and bibliography directly in your assignment using the Write and Cite tool for Word and Google Docs.

Further Help

Training sessions run throughout the year. The next session is on Monday 23rd October
Email library@rhul.ac.uk or contact your Information Consultant
Visit the RefWorks You Tube Channel

Referencing, Study Skills

How do I cite a Kindle book?

October 11, 2017 Kim Leave a comment

Other e-readers are available…

We were only able to find guidance for a couple of the popular referencing styles, but hopefully this will give you an idea of what to do next! Link to any good resources in the comments, and we’ll tweet them.

APA referencing:

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success [Kindle DX version]. 
 Retrieved from Amazon.com

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/how-do-i-cite-a-kindle.html

Harvard:

Patterson, M. 2012. Lost places in dreams. [Kindle DX version] Transworld Media. Available at: Amazon.co.uk <http:// www.amazon.co.uk> [Accessed 9 June 2012].

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

If you use another e-reader, put details of the version you have read in the [square brackets] instead.

What about in the text?

APA:

In the text, however, citation can get confusing because e-books often lack page numbers (though PDF versions may have them). Kindle books have “location numbers,” which are static, but those are useless to anyone who doesn’t have a Kindle too. To cite in text, either (a) paraphrase, thus avoiding the problem (e.g., “Gladwell, 2008”), or (b) utilize APA’s guidelines for direct quotations of online material without pagination (see Section 6.05 of the manual). Name the major sections (chapter, section, and paragraph number; abbreviate if titles are long), like you would do if you were citing the Bible or Shakespeare.

Gladwell’s book has numbered chapters, and he’s numbered the sections in the chapters. An example direct quotation might be this:

One of the author’s main points is that “people don’t rise from nothing” 
(Gladwell, 2008, Chapter 1, Section 2, para. 5)

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/how-do-i-cite-a-kindle.html

Harvard:

If you include a quotation from an ebook without page numbers, use the section heading or chapter heading as a guide to locating your quotation, if available.

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

Citation Managers, Classics, Department of History, Earth Sciences, English Literature, Geography, Library Updates, Referencing, Study Skills

Spring Term Library Workshops

January 29, 2015 Kim Leave a comment

Happy New Term! And with it comes new training workshops from the Library.

Last year, in the Autumn Term we saw 6547 students – that’s equivalent to all of the students in the Arts and Sciences faculties put together!

We’ve had some really nice and positive feedback on our sessions too…

[I] would definitely like to attend more of these workshops after attending this one

[The Librarian] who gave the workshop was very articulate, concise and knowledgeable.

this course showed me how to navigate [the Library website] efficiently to get to the parts that I need.

I thought everything we covered was of use.

But that’s not all – we’re always looking to improve the workshops, so we’re keen to hear suggestions for more sessions, or changes we can make too.

I would be interested in attending a workshop on the more advanced features of EndNote.

So the workshops are great, but what’s on offer this term? All of our training can be found on the Training page of your subject guide, and you will need to register to attend (but this is free and easy to do – email us if you have any trouble).

Working on a dissertation or essay? Come to our Search Our Stuff and Find It Faster workshops on 17th and 26th February and practice search techniques.

New to referencing and bibliographies? RefWorks is a great resource for undergraduates, and EndNote is a powerful postgraduate referencing tool – come along on 28th January or 5th February to find out more. And if you’re already using RefWorks, but have questions, come to our Question and answer session on 11th March.
If you’ve only got half an hour to spare, or think RefWorks and EndNote aren’t for you, come to Bedford Library on 3rd March and get acquainted with free Zotero referencing. Researchers might find our half hour session on social referencing site Mendeley useful too.

Every Tuesday throughout Spring Term, Bedford Library room 2-03 hosts our Bitesize, subject specific workshops.

Something missing? Send an email to library@rhul.ac.uk and request a session!

Referencing

How do I cite a Tweet?

December 4, 2014 Kim Leave a comment

So you’ve found a tweet that will be really useful in your dissertation, or essay…

But how do you reference it?

APA:

Author/Organisation [Twitter handle]. (Year, month, day of tweet). Full text of tweet [Tweet]. Retrieved from url of tweet. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/10/how-to-cite-social-media-in-apa-style.html

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery [RHULGallery]. (2014, December 3). It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! [Tweet]. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/RHULGallery/status/540106703199813632

Chicago:

Author/Organisation, Twitter post, Month day, year of tweet, time of tweet, url of user’s twitter profile. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0164.html

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery, Twitter post, December 3, 2014, 11:34 a.m., https://twitter.com/RHULGallery

Harvard:

Author/Organisation, Year. Full text of tweet [Twitter]. Day/month tweet written. Available at: <URL> [Date accessed]. http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery, 2014. It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! [Twitter]. 3 December. Available at: https://twitter.com/RHULGallery/status/540106703199813632 [3 December 2014]

MHRA:

(a) Twitter @handles and #hashtags should be preserved where given. Care should be taken to identify the original rather than an echo such as a retweet. Postings should be identified by the writer and date, but time of day is unnecessary, and no URL need be given. The writer should be identified by both real name and, in round brackets, the username or handle being used, unless the handle alone is identifiable as it stands. http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery (@RHULGallery) It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! 3 December 2014.

MLA:

Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author’s real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone.
Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message and the medium of publication (Tweet). http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweet

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery (RHULGallery) “It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays!” 3 December 2014, 11:34 a.m. Tweet.

Citation Managers, Referencing

Reference managers – something to suit everyone.

October 17, 2014 Helen Leave a comment

Reference managers – something to suit everyone.

Reference managers or bibliographic management systems look after the references to all the information you need for your work – books and book chapters, journal and conference papers, newspaper articles, web pages, film and sound recordings, manuscripts. They store these, ensure that you do not mislay any, and when you need to, create your reference lists in the style you are required to use. They can save time and are an essential academic tool.

In this post I am comparing the five best known systems, with the aim of bringing out the particular advantages of each one.

This table summarises it all:

	Endnote	RefWorks	Zotero	Mendeley	Endnote Basic
Installation	Installed on public PCs in College, and can be installed on any College owned PC or Mac.	This is a web service which is not installed, but will work on any machine with an internet connection and an up to date web browser.	Installed into Firefox, Chrome or Safari, or as a stand-alone program. Runs on the local computer, but can be synced to the cloud.	Both stand-alone and on the web, but for the full capability the software needs to be installed.	A web version of EndNote, which an be used on its own or as an add-on to a full EndNote installation.
Home use	You have to purchase a copy to use it on a privately owned PC or Mac, but a large discount is available to RHUL members.	There is no charge for RHUL members to use RefWorks on any machine, and alumni can continue to have a free account.	Free with 300Mb of cloud storage, larger stoirage amounts require a subscription.	Free with 2Gb of cloud stirage	Free with capacity for 50,000 references.
Use with databases	Results from all of our databases can be imported.	Results from all of our databases can be imported.	References on any web page, including our databases, can be imported.	References from all of our databases can be imported..	References from all of our databases can be imported.
FindIt button	No	Yes	No	No	No
Organising references	Can have any number of Groups	Can have any number of folders	Can have any number of groups.	Can have any number of groups.	Can have any number of groups within the 50,000 reference limit.
Citation formats	Over 6,000 recognised styles	500 recognised styles	6,750 styles, selected and downloaded from an online repository.	Thousands of cloud-sourced reference styles are available.	Many of the most popular reference styles are available but not quite as many as Endnote.
Citing references	Can control the numbering and formatting of citations in a long document	Can insert citations into a document and format them, while you are connected to the internet.	Can insert and format references, whether or not you have an internet connection at the time.	Can insert and format references, whether or not you have an internet connection at the time.	Depends on an internet connection to insert and format references by itself.
Main distinguishing feature	EndNote is the most powerful, locally based program for formatting lengthy documents.	RefWorks provides the full power of a reference management system from anywhere on the internet , on any machine, requiring no installation.	Zotero is exceptionally quick and neat at importing and exporting single references from the web.	Mendeley’s social features enable it to suggest new references building on ones which you have already stored.	EndNote Basic can be used on its own or as an ideal adjunct to using the full EndNote on a computer, enabling you to use it anywhere, and then sync with EndNote on the College PCs to do your writing.

EndNote

EndNote is a powerful program running on PCs and Macs. It can import references from nearly all internet information services, such as databases and library catalogues. The recent X versions also have a viewing pane where full texts .pdf of the reference, if available, can be viewed alongside the reference. There is a plug-in for Word on both PCs and Macs which enables references from EndNote to be imported directly into a piece of writing as itis written, and the program will reformat even lengthy documents from one referencing style to another in front of your eyes. Over 5,000 different reference styles are available. With such a long established commercial system, the online help is slick and comprehensive.

Royal Holloway has a site license for EndNote, and the latest version, EndNote X7, is installed on all public machines. It can be installed on any other College owned machine on campus. For installation on privately owned machines it is necessary to buy a personal copy from Adept Scientific at a discounted price, which amounts to a discount of about two thirds on the public price.

For more help with Endnote see the pages on our subject guides.

EndNote Basic

EndNote Basic is a web based version of EndNote, produced by the current owners of EndNote, Thomson Reuters. It requires no installation, has a clean and simple interface, can import references from any service whioch will export to EndNote (which is almost everything), and provides free storage of up to 50,000 references. There is a plug-in for Word on PCs and Macs to enable you to insert citations into your writings.

EndNote Basic is ideally used as a travelling assistant for an EndNote installation, with which it readily synchronises whenever your EndNote computer is connected to the internet. Thomson Reuters have to be careful not to spoil the market for their premium product, so the range of reference styels available is limited to the few most popular ones. Howevr, these will be enough for most users, especially students, and it is a likeable system with a particularly clean and simple interface.

For more help with Endnote Basic see the pages on our subject guides.

RefWorks

RefWorks provides full strength features in any fairly up to date web browser, from any machine anywhere on the internet. It imports references singly or in long lists from other information sources by direct “push”, and nearly all the e-resources we subscribe to support it. Without any installation, references can be added from a RefWorks account to your work on any machine and in any word processing software, and then formatted in any of over 500 referencing styles over the internet. If you do have Word on your own PC or Mac, there is a plug-in which can be installed in these to give a local service very like EndNote’s.

For more help with RefWorks see the pages on our subject guides

Zotero

Zotero was developed as a free add-in to the Firefox browser, but there is now also a stand-alone desktop version, and connectors to enable it to be used with Chrome and Safari. It adds an icon to the browser toolbar, which can be clicked to extract references from a web page. It is quick, simple, and very effective for grabbing references one at a time. although based in a browser, Zotero natively stores references in a folder on your computer, it can now synchronise your library with its own cloud server, which allows Zotero installations on different computers to be kept in sync, but installation on each computer is required to use it. Storage of up to 300 Mb, enough for many thousands of references without full text attachments, is provided free, but larger amounts of storage, necessary if it is desired to keep the full texts with references, have to be paid for at between $20 and $120 per year.

For fomatting references, Zotero has some 6,750 styles availabe in an online repository. It makes inventive use of the clpboard for exporting single references in the selected style: just copy an unformatted reference from your collection, and it will be fully formatted when pasted into any other program. Complete bibliographies can be generated in .rtf format whoich any word-processot will accept. There are now the usual plug-ins to give an experiencve like EndNote in Word for PCs or Macs, OpenOffice and LibreIOffice.

Mendeley

Mendeley is a newer and increasingly popular system with some novel features. The software is free and versions are available for Windows, Macs, Linux, and iPads. In use it looks very much like EndNote. Your personal database can also be accessed and added to in a web version, and a comfortable 2Gb of storage is available online. Fully formatted bibliographies can be generated in .rtf format, and there are plug-ins to enable easy citing in Word and LibreOffice.

The unique attraction of Mendeley is its social features. If you agree, your references are added (anonymously, of course) to a vast open database which enables them to be seen and shared by others. Whenever you add references to your Mendeley database, Mendeley will on request suggest other references which other users of your reference have also added. These can be added with a click, without having to locate them oneself.

And there’s more.

There are so many systems now that this will not be finished if we attempt to cover all of them. Papers and RefME are other newer arrivals. BibTeX is used quite widely, especially by physicists and mathematicians, as it works with the LaTeX system for producing documents that includes complex formulae. If you need it, the chances are that nothing else will quite do the job.

Spoilt for choice?

It is remarkably easy, once you are using one system, to switch to another if you decide that you prefer it. All of them will export references in the standard .RIS format that any other reference manager will import. If you can’t decide which system to try, just start with any of them. Any one will be better than keeping your references in a Word document or a spreadsheet, let alone a notebook, and having to format them y ourself every time you use them.

Library Loves, Referencing

Referencing essentials: RefWorks

April 8, 2014 Kim Leave a comment

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 also need our 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 books, journal articles, webpages from databases like LibrarySearch, or using 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

Insert footnotes or references into your dissertation, or assignment.

What if I have questions?

Training sessions run throughout the year
Download the booklet and teach yourself
Email library@rhul.ac.uk, or use Ask a Librarian
Visit the RefWorks YouTube channel for lots of video tutorials.

Library Loves, Other libraries, Referencing, Study Skills

Library loves…Dissertations

April 1, 2014 Kim Leave a comment

April is the final push to many dissertation deadlines, and we know that this is a very busy time. For those of you finishing, or even for those of you just starting, this month is about all things dissertation (not forgetting projects and portfolios too!).

Here’s a list of things the library can help with:

More Books: if you need a book, just fill in the book suggestions form. In the Autumn Term we bought over 100 individual titles based on your requests, and it’s never too late to ask.

Visiting other libraries: if you want to borrow/visit another UK university Library, SCONUL is a great national scheme that allows you to do so for free. Fill in the online form, and take your approval email with your RHUL RCS card to other libraries taking part in the scheme and you’re in!
Inter-Library Loan: did you know you can request to borrow books, journals, journal articles, even doctoral theses from other libraries? There’s lots of information here, and if you’re after something in particular, this can be great.
Referencing and bibliographies: referencing is important, but it can be time-consuming. We know you’d rather spend that time reading up and writing, so don’t forget that the Library can help with referencing styles and referencing tools – in fact, we’ve a whole guide dedicated to it! Keep watching the blog for in depth information on the different tools available so you can choose the best one for you and your dissertation.

"Bibliography" by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr. — “Bibliography” by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.

Opening hours: Bedford Library is already open 24/5 (8.30 Sunday – 21.00 Friday, 8.30 – 21.00 Saturday) but from Sunday 20th April to Friday 30th May the library will be open 24/7. This is a very busy time for us, so please take care of the space, and yourselves: keep things clean, free up study spaces for others if you don’t need them, keep the noise down, and remember to go home from time to time!
Space to Study: if you’re looking for another place to study on campus, be sure to check the Space to Study webpages. We’ve teamed up with departments across campus to free up more study space you can use when inspiration strikes, and the list will continue to grow!
Your Librarians: every subject has its own librarian, and our job is to help you find information, get hold of the right books and journals, and help you with those tricky bibliographies. Drop us an email, or pop into Bedford Library for a chat – it’s what we’re here for!

And finally – don’t forget that there’s another department dedicated to helping you write the best essays and build the best study skills. Visit the Academic Support webpages for access to the online skills4studycampus course, help with time management, essay structure, and much more.

Follow the #librarylovesdissertations hashtag and click on librarylovesdissertations tagcloud on the blog for further updates.

Best of luck!