Documentation Help Needed

[Paul Ross]

In my classes, I ask students to become familiar with  both APA and 
with sci/tech or numbered formats -- and then my warning is that you 
have to do what your professional organization, publisher, or boss 
demands.

In previous discussion, I did not notice if you have access to 
RefWorks or similar products.  At UW, many library databases are 
linked so that you can do an automatic export of blbliographical 
information to your RefWorks folders.  Then you can have RefWorks 
generate reference lists and (with a word processor add in) in-text 
citations according to almost ANY format you want.   It's not perfect 
-- but it takes most of the drudgery out of the documentation process.

RefWorks is provided free at UW through the  library;  many of our 
students use it and are quite happy with it.   When you leave  campus 
or cease to be a student, you can "outload" all your RefWorks 
information to your own system, so your research is not "trapped."

I'd  be interested to hear if others are finding this a useful tool 
to help fight the documentation battle.

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Paul Ross
Technical Communication Program
Engineering Professional Development/College of Engineering
1550 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Office: M1050D (mezzanine level), Engineering Centers Building
Phone:  608/262-5171 -  Fax: 608/265-4734  -   E-Mail:  pross at engr.wisc.edu