Welcome to St George’s to all our new students and welcome back to everyone who is returning to their studies with us. After the flurry of Freshers Week and the first weeks of classes, now is a good time to start familiarising yourself with the library’s resources and the services we offer.
We are here to help you and support you in your studies.
Each guide includes information on which resources we recommend for your subject, including revision and e-learning resources and databases, if you are doing complex literature searches. In the guide, you can also find information on how to reference correctly and who to contact to get further help. A little tip: it’s generally a good idea to email liaison@sgul.ac.uk for help with finding information and referencing.
On Canvas you can find a range of self-directed library research based tutorials that you can take at your own pace when you are ready. They each include some videos, explanations and short quizzes so you can test your knowledge as you go along.
Have you ever wondered how to Google like a librarian? Or how to select the best-quality information for your assignments? Give our Finding and Evaluating Information tutorial a go.
If you need to use Harvard referencing in your assignments (and it is very likely that you do as it is the institutional referencing style), you will find our Referencing Essentials tutorial helpful. It covers the basics of referencing, explains what in-text citations and references consist of and guides you through the reference layout of the most commonly used resources.
Once you have completed the tutorial, why don’t you take our referencing quiz to see how well you can apply Harvard referencing? A little tip: you might find our Cite Them Right video helpful to answer the questions.
Liaison Librarians
We have a brand-new service this year! There is an expert ‘on-call’ librarian available every weekday between 10am-2pm you can talk to in person about any research or referencing concerns. All you need to do is let us know at the library helpdesk and we’ll take it from there.
Every subject at St George’s has a specialist librarian, in fact librarians, so you are sure to get the specialist support you need for what you are studying. You can find out who your librarians are on your subject’s libguide.
You can also email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk if you’d like any help with research, systematic literature searches, finding information in Hunter, referencing or RefWorks. For more in-depth enquiries we can make an appointment with you, either online or in person, depending on availability.
Reading for pleasure collection
Regular breaks from studying and revision are important, which is where our collection of fiction, poetry and popular non-fiction comes in. Not all our books are medical and healthcare-related textbooks. We have a range of books you might expect to find in a public library!
The Library also supports the Big Read. This is an exciting shared reading project, which is now in its third year at St George’s. We have all the shortlisted books from the last years, going back to the project’s origins at Kingston University, and of course all the winners, in the library available for you to borrow. You can find the Big Read books listed here.
Academic skills
Last but not least, you might be looking for help with academic skills, such as essay writing, revision skills or note taking. You can find information on these topics and many more on the Study+ page on Canvas.
You can also get one-to-one support by booking an appointment with the Academic Success Team. You need to book via the Study+ page on Canvas. Appointments can be in person or online.
We hope you find these resources will support you in your assignments, dissertations and learning. Don’t hesitate to email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk with you
Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new ‘On-Call Librarian service’ where library users can get on the spot help with finding information and using library resources. No need to book, just come to the library helpdesk between the hours of 10am and 2pm, Monday to Friday and ask to speak to a librarian for help with literature searching, referencing and more. This service replaces our now closed Research Enquiries desk – we hope you like it- email your feedback to library@sgul.ac.uk
In the upcoming months we will again be offering a variety of library skills training sessions. There are different sessions suitable for your level of expertise or year of study, for students, academics and NHS staff.
Below you can find out more about the different training sessions we offer and the dates for these sessions. To book, please visit LibCal and register for the session you would like to attend. These sessions are all held online, via Microsoft Teams.
Don’t forget, we also continue to run our Library Research online drop-ins, Monday to Friday 12-1pm. At our drop-ins we can help you with getting started with finding information for your assignment, doing in-depth literature searching projects and referencing enquiries.
Visit our website to find out more or email liaison@sgul.ac.uk.
Training sessions on offer
My Learning Essentials: Hunter & Harvard
Wednesday 26th May, 1-2pm Tuesday 22nd June, 1-2pm
This session is suitable for SGUL or FHSCE undergraduate or postgraduate students who have specific referencing or literature searching enquiries relating to their assignments. You will be able to discuss your query with the librarian, and receive guidance on how to effectively use Hunter to find academic books and articles and how to use CiteThemRight to ensure your referencing complies with SGUL’s specific Harvard Referencing Style.
Tuesday 18th May, 11.00-12.30pm Tuesday 15th June, 11-12.30pm
We know databases, like Medline (aka PubMed) and CINAHL, can be daunting, but with a little help and guidance, we are short you will get to grips with them in no time. If you have a longer research project, like a dissertation, or you just want to impress in your assignments, this session is for you. You will learn how to effectively run a literature search in a database relevant to your subject. The sessions are suitable for St George’s and FHSCE staff and students.
In this session, we will introduce you to the reference management software RefWorks. We will show you up to set up an account, add references, manage them and how to use RefWorks Citation Manager (RCM), a Microsoft Word Add-in.
Thursday 20th May, 12.30-1pm Tuesday 15th June, 11-11.30am
Library induction for NHS staff, introducing you to the range of services and resources on offer to those working for St George’s Hospital, Queen Mary’s Hospital and other community-based sites.
Finding top-quality evidence is a priority for health care practitioners. This session will introduce the high-quality resources available to you, as well as provide training in how to use them effectively to support evidence-based clinical practice or decision-making.
The session will cover: The range of evidence-based healthcare resources available, including: NICE Evidence, the Cochrane Library and BMJ Best Practice.
How to use the NHS databases effectively and identify the most appropriate database for your need. This includes how to create and plan a search strategy using subject headings and keywords and how to combine searches and apply limits to focus your results; how to access full-text articles where available or locate articles through St George’s journals page; and how to save your searches and set up alerts.
Systematic Reviews: finding and managing the evidence
Wednesday 28th April, 1-3pm
Tuesday 25th May, 11am-1pm
Thursday 24th June, 11am-1pm
This course will focus on in-depth literature searching for systematic reviewers and how to manage your results. It will provide you with an overview of the systematic review process, the know-how of creating effective search strategies, systematic searching of the literature, managing your results and documenting the search process.
The focus of this blogpost is literature searching, specifically for longer research projects such as dissertations, and it is aimed at St George’s students.
Your expert Liaison Librarians are able to support you with every step of the way so don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing liaison@sgul.ac.uk. We are able to advise on how to plan and carry out a complex literature search in a variety of databases. We can also recommend which databases are most suitable for your topic.
You can email us for an individual appointment or come to one of our online drop-ins. Monday to Friday between 12-1pm you can chat to a Liaison Librarian directly. Click on the relevant link on the day you want to drop by.
Here we provide tips and tricks, no matter which stage of the process you are currently at.
If you are…
…just getting started
Do a scoping search in Hunter. Even if you already use Hunter to locate books and journal articles in our collection, our Hunter video might teach you another thing or two about how to really make the most of its search functions.
If you aren’t familiar with the planning stage of literature searching or you usually skip this bit to get stuck in straight away, now is a good time to change that. When it comes to dissertations and research projects, you need to be much more systematic in your work, including when you formulate your research question. Have a look at our Canvas unit on this topic. It gives you more information and by the end, you will have a research question ready to start searching with.
If you are worried about how to structure your dissertation or academic writing, you can make an appointment with the Academic Success Centre team. Their details are found on the Study+ section in Canvas. We also have a number of books in our collection which can help with academic writing, including how to approach a literature review, dissertation or research paper. They are listed on our Writing for Assessment Wakelet.
If you need specific software to do your research, such as SPSS, have a look at what is available to you through St George’s University and request it here.
And finally, a little tip on how to get started. If you know of a paper which covers the area you are interested in already, have a look at which articles they reference and perhaps you find some relevant papers in their reference list for your project. While this is not a systematic method, it can help you get started and add to your search strategy (e.g. which alternative terms to use).
…ready for an in-depth literature search
If you are a little overwhelmed by the prospect of doing a complex search in multiple databases (and who can blame you), you need to start by familiarising yourself with how to build a complex search, what alternative terms are and how to include them and how to use advanced search strategies. We have a libguide that takes you through the whole literature searching process. For those of you who are working on a systematic literature review, have a look at our relevant libguide, which highlights what you need to consider to turn your literature review into a systematic literature review. Watch the following videos to find out more about identifying keywords and alternative terms.
We have introductory videos on Ovid (Medline), Ebsco (Cinahl) and Internurse to get you started. Once you have familiarised yourself with the basics, watch our detailed video tutorial on how to search in Ovid/Medline using advanced search techniques.
Have a look at our Databases A-Z list to see which databases are available to you. Your subject guide will tell you which databases are most relevant to your course.
Don’t forget – you can also ask a Liaison Librarian for help by emailing us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk or coming to one of our daily online drop-ins. We can recommend which databases are most suitable for your topic.
We strongly recommend you don’t use reference generators such as Cite This for Me as we find that generally the references produced by such tools are wrong. You end up spending longer correcting and double-checking your references than you would have done writing them from scratch. If you find the resource in Hunter, you will notice a “citation” option for each record. This has been formatted to match the requirements of Harvard Cite Them Right but it is not always correct. Make sure you compare it to Cite Them Right and correct it if necessary.
For a longer project, we encourage you to use reference management software as it helps you to deduplicate your search results, manage your references and create in-text citations and references. At St George’s, we support RefWorks, which is a web-based software. You need your St George’s login to access it and create an account. To get started, have a look at our RefWorks libguide. Additionally, our detailed video tutorial covers everything from how to get started to how to create references and in-text citations from within Microsoft Word.
We can also help you with your references, so if you are unsure about anything please email liaison@sgul.ac.uk or come to our drop-ins.
The Easter holidays are just around the corner, but whether you’re planning to spend the next few weeks close to St George’s or a little further afield, we hope that our online services and support will make you feel that help with your studies is never too far away. Below we’ve put together some quick reminders of just some of the help and resources you can access no matter where you are.
Online books and articles
Our search tool, Hunter, is the best starting point for discovering e-books and journal articles that you can access from anywhere using your St George’s login and password.
to find articles, select Articles and more from the dropdown menu
to find e-books, select Books and more from the dropdown menu. Then use the filter options to limit your results to Online Resources.
E-learning tools
Your St George’s login also gives you access to our collection of online learning tools, many of them using video, quizzes and other interactive features to help you master topics. Try out some of our new and popular resources from the links below, or view a full list here.
*New*Complete Anatomy – a powerful 3D anatomy platform that also features lectures, quizzes and more. Install the app from the app store on your device, then use our activation code to set up your free account.
LWW Health Library – a large, searchable collection of key texts, videos, cases and self-assessment questions. We have access to all content in the Medical Education and Occupational Therapy collections.
BMJ Learning – hundreds of accredited and peer-reviewed learning modules.
Complete Anatomy is our newest online learning tool. Find instructions to install it on your device here.
Having trouble logging in to view an e-book, article or online resource? Our PDF guide or short video on offsite access may be able to help. Otherwise, email us at journals@sgul.ac.uk and we’ll try to resolve the issue.
Help with writing assignments and referencing
We have a large collection of books that can help with planning and writing assignments, both on the shelves and as e-books – this search in Hunter brings together lots of these titles. (Use the Online Resources filter on the left to show just e-books that you can access straight away). Our Writing for Assessment collection brings together resources on academic writing, study skills and dissertations and much more.
For a refresher on referencing, have a look at the Referencing Essentials unit in the Library Module on Canvas (login required). This includes a helpful guide to using Cite Them Right, the book and website that show you how to reference in the style used at St George’s. You can access the online version of Cite Them Right here.
If you’re working on a longer project or dissertation, you might be thinking about using a reference management tool to help organise your sources. St George’s supports RefWorks, and you can learn more about this web-based software and how use it in our blog post, RefWorks LibGuide or series of RefWorks videos.
Don’t forget your Liaison Librarians can answer any research or referencing enquiries you might have. Get in touch by emailing liaison@sgul.ac.uk or coming to one of our daily online drop-ins.
Easter weekend opening hours
Over the long Easter weekend from 2nd April to 5th April, the library and computer rooms will be open 9am to 9pm. There will be self-service only with security staff on hand. The helpdesk will not be staffed during this time. We will reopen on 6th April at 8 am. After Easter, we resume normal opening hours, 8am to 11pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 9pm Saturday and Sunday. The helpdesk will be staffed 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Should you have any questions about opening hours or our service, please email library@sgul.ac.uk. Don’t forget to check our website about our current capacity on our Covid-19 response page.
Getting all your citations and bibliography right can be a daunting prospect – especially if is for a longer research project, an article or your dissertation. In moments like that, it can be helpful to make use of reference management software, which eliminates some of the stress and hassle of referencing correctly.
At St George’s, we support RefWorks, a web-based application which supports you in collecting, storing and managing your references. As part of RefWorks, you can also make use of RefWorks Citation Manager (RCM) which is a Microsoft Word Add-in. With RCM you can create citations and bibliographies within your documents.
While RefWorks is a really useful tool for students and staff at St George’s, it requires learning how to use it before tempting to get started on your references. This is where our new RefWorks video series comes in handy.
RefWorks video series
We have created 9 short videos that guide you through the process of using RefWorks. You can find the entire series on our YouTube channel and on Canvas, as part of our RefWorks unit. If you want to get a quick overview, check out this video.
RefWorks can be a big help in getting your references done quickly, but you will find that there are mistakes in your references. You are responsible for making sure that when you submit your assignment all your citations and your bibliography are correct, so do double-check each reference in line with Cite Them Right, the correct version of Harvard to use at St George’s.
If you are new to referencing, work your way through our referencing unit on Canvas before you start using RefWorks.
Further help
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by emailing liaison@sgul.ac.uk with any questions about RefWorks that you might have. While RefWorks is generally straight-forward to use, at times users experiences issues for example with creating an account. We can help with you with that.
If you prefer getting a proper training session on RefWorks, please visit our website to sign up for a session that suits you. Our RefWorks training is part of a number of generic training sessions, including literature searching for your dissertation.
We also have a Libguide on RefWorks and reference management, which gives you a quick overview of what you need to know to sign up and add references to RefWorks. Our Libguide also includes helpful screenshots if you get stuck and information on Legacy RefWorks.
Even with these resources, it’s easy to make mistakes. The Liaison team regularly meet students with referencing enquiries and over the years have identified a series of common citation and reference list mistakes we see in written assignments. So based on our experiences – and feedback from teaching staff – we’ve compiled for you here (in no particular order) a breakdown of the most common referencing mistakes and some useful advice on how to avoid them!
Read on for the full article, or use the links below to navigate to the sections that most interest you:
(Please note that any links to Cite Them Right online may require your SGUL username and password if you are reading this post off-site, i.e. not connected to eduroam or the SGUL network)
1) Using et al. incorrectly
A common issue we see at the Research Enquiries Desk is the incorrect use of et al. To remind you, this stands for ‘and others‘ and it can be used in both in-text citations and your reference list to indicate a work has multiple authors.
However, it should only be used if the source you are referencing has four or more authors.
If the source has one, two or three authors they must all be named.
The problems we see most often include et al. being used to replace just two or three authors; inconsistent use of et al. between corresponding citations and references and incorrect formatting and punctuation.
How can you avoid it?
Follow the guidance in Cite Them Right. The page on Setting out Citations provide comprehensive guidance on how to cite one, two, three and four or more authors, but you’ll also find examples of using et al. in entries for individual resources; including books, journals etc.
Remember: St George’s doesn’t require the naming of all authors in your reference list. You can use et al. in both your in-text citation AND the full reference at the end of your work.
Also:et al. should always be written in italics, with a full-stop at the end. Check over your work to ensure you have done this consistently throughout your writing.
2) Numbering reference lists…
The Harvard style of referencing is all about the author of a publication and the date it was published. It’s these pieces of information that dictate the order that your references appear at the end of your work: you should list them in alphabetical order, by the author’s surname:
Cottrell, S. (2019) The study skills handbook. 5th edn. London: Red Globe Press.
Dimond, B. (2013) Legal aspects of midwifery. 4th edn. London: Quay Books.
We regularly see students who have unnecessarily numbered their references in an otherwise exemplary alphabetical list, or have listed their references in the order they appeared in the body of their work.
How can you avoid it?
This is an easy one – just don’t number them! In all seriousness though, it is always a good idea to double check that your references are in alphabetical order. The sample reference list in CTR can give you an idea of what a complete reference list might look like. The troubleshooting page provides additional guidance on what to do when you have multiple works by the same authors, or authors with similar names and initials.
3) …and using numbers as in-text citations
Similarly, we also regularly see people mixing up different referencing styles in their work. For example, the Vancouver style uses numbers as in-text citations which correspond to a numbered reference list.
This is incorrect: Harvard is an Author-Date style of referencing which requires both of these pieces of information within your in-text citation.
As we mentioned above, Harvard is an Author-Date style of referencing, so your citation should contain, funnily enough, the author’s surname(s) and the year of publication: e.g. (Williams, 2017)
However, we regularly see people also including the author’s first name(s) or initials within their citations: e.g. (Williams, R., 2018). This isn’t required in Harvard. You do, however, need to include initials within the full reference in your reference list.
How can you avoid it?
It’s as simple as following the guidance in Cite Them Right, either in an individual resource page or in the Setting out Citations section.
5) Forgetting to include page numbers in citations
We’ve often found that there is some confusion over where and when to include page numbers within in-text citations. This is what Cite Them Right has to say on the matter:
If you are quoting directly or using ideas from a specific page or pages of a work, you should include the page number(s) in your citations. Insert the abbreviation p. (or pp.) before the page number(s).
(Pears and Shields, 2019, p. 7)
How you set out your citation depends on the flow of your writing or the idea you are trying to communicate. Follow the advice of the Setting out Citations and Setting out Quotations pages for more information.
When it comes to your reference list, you only need to include page numbers for chapters in edited books and journal/magazine/newspaper articles. The Elements that you may need to include in your references page discusses the various types of bibliographic information required for effective referencing in more detail.
How can you avoid it?
You might be sensing a theme if you’ve read this far – follow the guidance in Cite Them Right! As linked above, the Setting our Citations page will be most helpful here, but we’d argue that it’s just as important to be thorough and methodical in recording the bibliographic details of the sources you are using in your work. Whether it’s in a notebook, a tool like OneNote or Evernote or a Word document on your device, keeping track of these important details will help you produce more accurate citations and references.
6) Using footnotes
In another example of mixing up referencing styles, we’ve seen plenty of examples of written assignments that use footnotes to display references or expand on a point in the text. Unfortunately, footnotes are not used in Harvard (or other Author-Date styles of referencing) so you should avoid using them in your written work.
How can you avoid it?
You should ensure that all of your citations appear in the body of your written work and that your references are listed in alphabetical order on a separate page at the end of your assignment. If you are having trouble succinctly paraphrasing or synthesizing information in your work, have a chat with the Academic Success Centre advisors who can help you develop your academic writing.
7) Using ibid. or op. cit.
In another example of mixing up referencing styles, it’s fairly common for us to see the terms ibid. (referring to an immediately preceding cited work) or op. cit. (referring to previously cited work) in place of the correct author-date style of in-text citation. These terms are broadly used to save on space (or your precious word count!) but as with footnotes, neither of these terms are used within Harvard (Cite Them Right) referencing so you should avoid using them in your written work.
How can you avoid it?
If you aren’t sure about how to set out your in-text citations, or have a question that the Setting out Citations page can’t solve, just ask your Liaison Librarians for advice. Email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk or drop by and see us at the Research Enquiries Desk (open Mon-Fri 11am – 2pm) where we’d be happy to help. The Academic Success Centre can also advise on the flow of your writing.
8) Missing/incorrect dates
We’ve mentioned this a couple of times already, but with Harvard being an Author-Date style of referencing, you need to include a date! This is usually the year of publication, but what do you do if you can’t find one? Cite Them Right advises you to simply write no date in full in both your citation and reference: e.g. (Cancer Research UK, no date).
Websites are probably the most common references we see that are missing their vital bibliographic details. If you find that lots of your sources are missing dates, ask yourself if you might be able to find a better, more reliable source for your work. eBooks are just as good, if not better than, websites for background information and have the benefit of including all the necessary bibliographic information at the beginning of the book.
The key to successfully referencing a chapter in an edited book is to ensure you are recording both the author(s) and title of the chapter you have read as well as the editor(s) and title of the book as a whole. A common mistake we see usually involves including only one of the other.
You also need to remember that in your in-text citation you should include the author of the chapter and the date, not the editors of the book.
How can you avoid it?
Follow the guidance in Cite Them Right. There are also examples here and in our Harvard helpsheet. As ever, you can also email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk or drop by and see us at the Research Enquiries Desk (open Mon-Fri 11am – 2pm) where we’d be happy to make sure you’re getting it right.
10) Pesky Punctuation
Arguably the trickiest – and most tiresome – thing about any kind of referencing is ensuring your references are formatted correctly, with all the necessary punctuation in the right places. If you’ve got an errant full-stop, or a missing comma, you are likely to be marked down.
How do I make sure my formatting is correct?
Attention to detail is key: following the exact layout of the examples provided in Cite Them Right – whatever the source – will help you achieve referencing perfection.
Giving yourself time is also important! Leaving referencing to the very last minute often means forsaking accuracy in an effort to turn your assignments in by the deadline. Marks for correct referencing are easy to earn and easy to lose, so give yourself the best chance and try to reference as you go and keep track of the bibliographic information of your sources too.
A quick word on referencing generators
Another barrier to successful referencing is the use of online, automatic reference generators. We don’t recommend that you use them, although we realise they can be tempting. It’s worth bearing in mind that the references they produce are only as good as the data you feed in – so if anything is missing, you’ll get incomplete, inaccurate results. Even with ‘official’ referencing management software like RefWorks, we always caution that you should check your work before you submit it.
This is something we see a lot at the Research Enquiries Desk (RED) and while it can feel like these generators save you time, unpicking the errors and formatting of these references usually requires more effort than it would have taken to write the reference using the support in Cite Them Right.
If you’re in doubt, come and chat with us at the RED – as ever, we’re always happy to help.
We know that was a bit of a long read, but we hope it was worthwhile. If you are an SGUL student, please feel free to share this with your peers and help them avoid these common pitfalls!
References
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: the essential referencing guide. 11th edn. London: Red Globe Press.
Do you find literature searching laborious? Does Harvard Referencing ruin your day? The library can help.
In response to recent student feedback, the library is offering a new series of workshops to support you with your academic work. These sessions are over lunchtime so you can fit them into your busy schedule and they will give you a head start for your assignments.
My Learning Essentials: Hunter & Harvard Drop-In
Tuesday 25 February 1-2pm
Monday 23 March 1-2pm
Do you have a burning question about referencing or finding academic sources through Hunter? These drop-ins give you the opportunity to speak to a librarian and find a solution. There’s no need to book, just turn up on the day!
Literature searching
We know databases, like Medline (aka PubMed) and CINAHL, can be daunting, but we’ll let you into a little secret: Librarians LOVE them! So, not only will you learn how to effectively run a literature search on a relevant database, you’ll also make a librarian’s day!
There are two versions of these Lunchtime Learning sessions. One specifically for medical students and one for other St George’s University (SGUL) and Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education (FHSCE) students…
Literature searching for your Audit, QI project or Research (medical students)
Wednesday 1 April 11am-12:30pm
Suitable for Medical students, T Year and above, who are undertaking a literature review as part of an audit, QI project or research for publication.
Students BEWARE! Free, online Citation Tools can be inaccurate and unreliable. Learn how to manage and store your references using RefWorks – the only Citation Tool supported by the library.
RefWorks is available with your SGUL username and password. Come along to find out how to import references to RefWorks from various databases. You’ll also get a chance to use Write N Cite to create in-text citations and generate bibliographies in Word.
Suitable for any students undertaking extensive pieces of academic writing such as dissertations, theses etc.
New to academic study and confused about referencing? You are not alone! It is understandable to feel overwhelmed by how to reference correctly, especially if you are not used to the referencing system used at SGUL.
As we know that referencing can be a little dull and feel overly complicated, we have put together a quiz, which covers the basics and gives you some practice using Cite Them Right. The quiz is available on the Library module on Canvas. You can find it by navigating to “Quizzes” (part of the menu on the left-hand side). You can also access the quiz here.
It is intended for beginners. The first few questions cover some of the basics of why and how we reference. The rest allow you to learn how to do in-text citations and references correctly. The quiz is also suitable for intermediates, so any second-year or third-year students who feel like they could do with a refresher should also give it a go.
Referencing at SGUL
Here at St George’s we use a version of Harvard, a common referencing style, based on the guidance in a book called Cite Them Right by Pears and Shields (2019). The book is currently in its 11th edition and there is a useful accompanying website too. As there are many different versions of Harvard, you can ensure you are referencing correctly by only following the guidance in Cite Them Right or resources produced by St George’s Library.
Cite Them Right
This website is available to you through SGUL and allows you to see at a glance how to reference books, journal articles and websites. The publisher even has included an example of a NICE guideline. If you are not using a University PC or the Wifi, you have to login with your SGUL login details. You can find Cite Them Right through Hunter and most Libguides include a link to the website too. For those of you who prefer to use a physical copy, we have Cite Them Right (2019) as a book available for you to borrow in the Library.
Help available
If you are still feeling unsure about how to reference correctly, please email us at liaison@sgul.ac.uk. The Research Enquiries Desk, located in the Library next to the silent study areas, is staffed every weekday 11 am to 2 pm with Librarians who can help you with your referencing dilemmas. For those of you who are interested in using reference management software, we have a RefWorks libguide and we will be running training sessions on RefWorks in the new year. Check out our training pages for dates.
If you are interested receiving updates from the Library, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
You might be about to embark on a research project, perhaps a dissertation, a case study or longer assignment which requires you to collect, store, manage and use a large amount of references. Or you might be a second-year student realising that as you are progressing through your degree you are expected to use more references. If you are, there is no need to panic as there are some handy tools available to help you manage all this information.
There are many different types of reference management
software, each with its own special features. In practice, whichever tool you
use, it can substantially increase the speed and efficiency with which you
manage your references.
Here at SGUL, we support RefWorks, which is perfectly suited
to those preparing longer pieces of academic writing. This term we have moved
away from using Legacy RefWorks to (new) Refworks! RefWorks is freely available to all SGUL
students and staff. We also provide training to people who want to learn how to
use RefWorks effectively and efficiently. There is a lot of online support
available too, like our recently updated Libguide.
What is RefWorks?
RefWorks is one of the most popular reference management
applications and it allows users to:
collect references – no need to type details in manually
store references
organise references
link to full text, web pages and documents
cite your references and create bibliographies in different styles
How does it work?
Unlike other reference management tools, RefWorks is a
web-based software, so no need to download anything!
Go to http://refworks.proquest.com and
click on “Use login from my institution”. Then, under Shibboleth find or search
for “St George’s, University of London”. All you need is your SGUL username and
password to log in.
The first time you do this you have to fill in some
information about yourself and then you’re all set to start collecting
references.
There are multiple ways to populate your RefWorks account
with reference data. Depending on the search tool or database(s) you are using,
there are different ways to add references:
Direct export from a database
Downloading and importing a text file from a
database
Drag and drop PDFs into RefWorks
Adding references manually
Use the ‘Save to RefWorks’ browser extension
For more information on how each of these options work, have
a look at our RefWorks
Libguide.
Be sure to always check if the information that was added is
correct and complete! As you start adding more references, you will want to
organise them so that they stay manageable. You can for example assign references
to different folders and subfolders. You can also deduplicate them, if you are
in the habit of adding big batches of references in one go.
Top tips
Quality check your references by looking at citation view, that way you can see what details are missing. Make sure to select Harvard – SGUL & FHSCE and save this as the default setting to ensure that you are using the right citation style. It is a good idea to double-check your reference in citation view immediately after adding it, so you can compare it to the original document without having to retrieve it.
Refworks can generate an in-text citation in the correct style for you and it can create a bibliography too. Just click on the “Create Bibliography” icon at the top of the page. Follow the guidance on the screen and copy/paste what you need, done!
Much easier and more effective is using Write-N-Cite which is a small separate programme you can download which connects your Refworks account to Word. An equivalent is available for Word on Mac devices as well. On SGUL computers, this programme is built into Word so no need to download anything!
Legacy RefWorks vs (New) RefWorks
The new RefWorks is intuitive to use and has better functionality
than Legacy RefWorks. However, if you have used RefWorks before, you will have
created a Legacy RefWorks account. If you are interested in migrating your references
from the old to the new version, please be aware that it is currently not
possible to edit documents in new RefWorks if they have previously
been used in Legacy RefWorks.
We recommend that you continue to use your Legacy account
until you have finished the projects you are currently working on. More
information on migrating from Legacy RefWorks can be found here.
Referencing styles at St George’s
We have also updated our guidelines around using the Harvard
referencing style, which is the referencing style used across St George’s, in
line with the recent new edition of Cite
Them Right (2019). Although the new edition doesn’t contain big
changes, it includes a lot more examples, including of a NICE guideline and a
systematic review published on the Cochrane Library. For more information, have
a look at our user
help sheet for Harvard.
Many of you will receive RefWorks training as part of your
degree, but if you want to get ahead or missed out on training, get in touch by
emailing liaison@sgul.ac.uk
to book a session with us in which we cover the basics of using RefWorks.
For general research and referencing questions, be sure to make use of the Research Enquiries Desk (RED) located in the Library and staffed every weekday from 11 am to 2 pm.
St George's Library blog 