Remember the adage garbage in, garbage out? That idea very much applies to a person’s use of the citation tool, RefWorks. Even though RefWorks is an amazing tool, it must be emphasized that nothing replaces a researcher’s understanding of the elements of a journal or book citation, the basic rules of a citation style like APA or MLA, nor the format for a bibliography or list of works cited.
You may recall that the university and the library are providing for you the ability to build an account in RefWorks, the web-based citation tool. What RefWorks actually does is to help you manage the citations you find in your research and to build a bibliography with those citations.
However, librarians fully recognize that users still need to understand the basics of author, title, journal title, volume, issue, pages and date — the elements of a citation. Users will need to be able to spot typos, either their own or those of database indexers. And users must understand how to use parenthetical references in a paper and how to build a bibliography, for sometimes we need to override some quirk in a citation. After all, RefWorks is only a machine, a tool.
Therefore RefWorks is not at all a "dummying down" of users or researchers. Its value is in being a helpful tool in the hands of faculty, staff, and students, making the whole process easier.
Librarians welcome the opportunity to talk with you or your classes about how to use RefWorks. Please feel free to stop by the Reference Desk on the main floor of the library, call 342-1668, or email us by clicking "Ask a Librarian" from the library’s homepage.
Please remember that each UWP department has a division librarian assigned to help instructors with collection development and library instruction.
Visit the library’s Collection Development web page for contact information for your department’s division librarian.
Periodicals/Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Department, First Floor
Are you having problems logging into ILLiad, the library’s Inter-Library Loan (ILL) system? If you experience problems, one of the following reasons could be the culprit:
If you experience any problems logging into ILLiad, please contact the staff at the Periodicals/ILL Desk on the first floor the Karrmann Library for assistance. Please stop by and ask for Lori Wedig between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., call 342-1648, or e-mail: wedigl@uwplatt.edu
Reviewed by Regina Pauly
Curriculum Librarian
What Makes Racial Diversity Work in Higher Education: Academic Leaders Present Successful Policies and Strategies Edited by Frank W. Hale, Jr.
Shelved on the Third Floor with the call number LC3727 .W43 2004
This title is a collection of 18 essays, all written by people working in the field of diversity, on what has worked on their campuses. A few essays stood out, including one essay by William B. Harvey which depicts his experience as a dean at a university. He requested that search committees look for diversity in candidates. When no candidates of color were recommended in any of the six current searches, he realized that the instructors didn’t get the message about the importance of diversity (p. 296). He then cancelled all six searches and tried again the following year, after the need for diversity became better understood.
UW-Madison’s campus is used as another example. Linda S. Greene and Margaret N. Harrigan wrote about then chancellor Donna Shalala’s "Madison Plan" and funding for diversity. She devoted $1.6 million to encourage hiring 70 minority candidates. Each department hiring a minority candidate received $67,500 for a tenured faculty. Other incentives were offered over the five years of the plan, providing more than $2 million annually — 110 tenured faculty, 43 assistant professors, and 51 women in underrepresented areas were hired.
Joanne Moody’s essay describes good practices for retaining minority graduate students — orientations, financial aid, study groups, peer mentors, and gatherings for faculty and students - practices that would actually likely benefit all students, staff, and instructors.
This book promotes the idea that change can come about in institutions, but it takes determination and support of the effort to be successful. As the book and Gandhi remind us, "Be the change agent you wish to see in this world".
Kay Young, Editor
608.342.1134
young@uwplatt.edu