Off The Shelf

As you accumulate research from quarter to quarter, especially if you’re working towards a dissertation, you might find it’s difficult to keep track of the research you have used. I spoke with one learner at a recent colloquia who described a complex system of labeled shoe boxes in her dining room. The boxes were filled with index cards for each resource she had used or found interesting and wanted to save for later. The individual cards had the citation as well as notes about the resource. While her effort was admirable, I could tell she needed something more sophisticated and, well, more space efficient.

The good news is that the Capella library is now offering RefWorks accounts to all Capella staff, faculty and learners. RefWorks is a Web based citation manager, which you can use to:

• Import citation information directly from Capella library databases,
• Organize your research into folders by class, project, or theme,
• Create APA-formatted bibliographies in simple steps

An official announcement will be going out to all learners soon via e-mail, but you can find a link to RefWorks right now on the Library web site. Just go to the Databases A-Z page and scroll down the list to RefWorks.

If you’re not yet familiar with services like this, I especially encourage you to check it out. In particular there is a RefWorks Tutorial and some FAQs that will further explain the advantages. Enjoy, and let us know how it works out!

-Emily