Literary Research  Tags: literary_research writing_an_english_paper surfing_the_web literature  

Documenting papers well and knowing the precise format for citing print and electronic resources demands attention. Check with your professor for the preferred bibliography style. It is likely that the requisite style will be that of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or perhaps the Humanities version of The Chicago Manual of Style.

Online guides for documenting papers include the following:

• Documentation Styles (The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)
• Bedford/St. Martin's Citation Styles
• MLA (UNC Chapel Hill)
• MLA Citation Guide (Ohio State University)
• MLA Citation Style (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Writers' Workshop)

• RefWorks is a Web-based bibliographic citation management tool that assists users in creating personal collections of citations by easily importing references from online databases. These references can then be inserted into papers and RefWorks will automatically format the footnotes and bibliography in numerous styles including MLA, Turabian and Chicago.
  
  
• RefWorks also has a utility called Write-N-Cite which allows Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer users to insert cited references directly into their manuscripts with the click of a button. The utility installs a Write-N-Cite icon on your desktop as well as an Add-in to your Word toolbar and a menu option under Tools for launching Write-N-Cite.
  
  
• Learn more about RefWorks and how to set up a RefWorks account. The following Frequently asked questions about RefWorks are also useful.