Honors Project Seminar (Humanities)

• Keep a record of all of the books, articles, and websites that you think you MIGHT use.  This will save you lots of time when you need to write a reference list for an assignment. it's always better to have an article that you don't use than to have to go back and find one you should have saved.
• Use the email records feature in the library catalog. If you send the records for useful books to your email account, when it comes time to write up the bibliography, you will have all of the details you need.
• Make sure that you record the source details when you make photocopies of book chapters or encyclopedia entries.
• When you are searching within databases "mark" relevant records and send the citations to your email account.
• Use citation generators in a database, but remember to double check them against a trusted style guide.
• Develop a filing system and be systematic with your storage of journal articles, e.g., keep journal articles for a particular subject or assessment task in a common folder. Staple articles together so pages don't get lost.
• When you download online journal articles, apply a consistent files name protocol, such as author's name and year. eg. Jones_2009.pdf. Keep all of the files for one paper in a single folder on your flashdrive.
• Make back-up copies of your work - whether that means your notes or your final product.
• Email yourself a link to all of the websites you plan to use, or consider using a web based social bookmarking tool to organize online resources - this means you can access your favorites anywhere. Sometimes it can be hard to find a site the second time around.
• Use a citation generator website such as Noodletools to manage your bibliography online.

Source: University of Melbourne University Library and Jefferson Community and Technical College Library