Fordham faculty and students are now able to build and organize research references online with RefWorks, a Web-based database available through the University’s library home page.
The bibliographic management tool is designed to help researchers collect, manage, store and share information as they write. Researchers can create a database with references to citations, export those citations and even format bibliographies and footnotes instantly in a variety of styles particular to a field or even a publication, according to Jan Kelsey, head of reference at the Walsh Family Library.
“It really facilitates the management of things,” Kelsey said. “You may return to a source and wonder, ‘Why did I like this article so much?’ With RefWorks, you can store articles, mark pertinent paragraphs, add notes, comments and cites.”
One of RefWorks’ chief time-saving features is its ability to create the needed style format in hundreds of peer-reviewed journals: Whether it be Nature, the Journal of the American Medical Association or the Academy of Management Journal, RefWorks creates the proper style bibliography, Kelsey said.
“Laboring with the minutiae of punctuation and styles—APA or MLA—can be one of the most tedious tasks of creating research papers,” he said.
With RefWorks, people collaborating on research can create group accounts and access each other’s work online, Kelsey added.
RefWorks has about 300 users on the Fordham campus and is available to students, staff and faculty through a simple registration process. The program offers an online tutorial and Kelsey is also available to answer questions at (718) 817-3574 or [email protected].
