Subject Librarian
Citation Basics
When instructors ask you to write in a particular "style," they usually do not mean writing style. They are referring to the standardized editorial style researchers in your discipline have adopted to present written material in the field. This editorial style consists of rules or guidelines that a researcher observes to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written material. The field of theology commonly uses either Chicago style or SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) format citations. Instructors will usually indicate which citation style they would like followed for a given paper or assignment. If your instructor has not specified a particular style, be sure to ask which one to use.
Citation Management
What is RefWorks?
RefWorks is an easy-to-use citation manager. In other words, it will help you keep track of the citations you collect while researching. You can access RefWorks using any device that connects to the internet, and it creates complete bibliographies in a matter of a few clicks.
What you can do with citations in RefWorks:
- Import citations from research database
- Organize your citations in folders
- Create citations from scratch
- Compile bibliographies/works cited
- Share your citations with other RefWorks users
- Create multiple accounts (useful for group work and collaborations!)
- RefWorksThe above web page link provides guidance for using RefWorks, and access to a new version of RefWorks available for Loyola Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni.
Copyright Information
Understanding what copyright is, which information is covered by copyright, and how you can fairly use copyrighted information, is an essential skill when doing and publishing research. To help you out, here are a few handy tools: