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Referencing tools

This guide will outline the most commonly used referencing tools. Mae'r dudalen hon hefyd ar gael yn a Gymraeg

Introduction & access

FINDit is the USW, one-stop search for books, e-books, articles, DVDs and more. It has a range of personal features including My Favourites. My Favourites allows you to save and label your resources in SAVED RECORDS.

Access

Click on the FINDit link on the Library Services website. In the top right, click on SIGN IN and this should allow you to Sign in using: Students & staff of University of South Wales login.

Collecting references

You can collect resources and store them in one place in FINDit by using the Favourites pin. These can be grouped and labelled in your Labels area. These labelled collections can be exported into the refencing tool of your choice.

Organising the references

Open the labelled collection you want to export. Click on the tick box to choose all the items. Click on the ••• "Push to" actions and the exporting options are displayed.

  • Export RIS - RIS is a standard format that allows you to upload data into a number of reference tools. 
  • EndNote - you can export this list directly into EndNote software or EndNote online.

Creating a reference in FINDit

You can use the citation tool in FINDit to help create citations for the resources you discover. Citation supports:

  • MLA (7th edition) - Not used at USW.
  • APA (6th edition) - APA is the referencing style required for Psychology students. The USW guide is based on APA (7th edition).
  • Chicago/Turabian (16th edition) - Not used at USW.
  • MLA (8th edition) - Not used at USW.
  • Harvard - the main recommended referencing style at USW. 

These styles may or may not conform exactly to the USW guides for your referencing style, so please check and edit the reference when needed to comply.

The citation function can be accessed from the brief list display by clicking on the ••• Show actions options or from the detailed full record display by clicking on the CITATION link. This allows users to create citations for resources using one of the specified citation styles. 

From the detailed full record display, click on the CITATION link, choose a citation style in the left panel (APA or Harvard) and then select COPY CITATION TO CLIPBOARD. You can then paste it into your document.