25 Flavors of Exported Citation Lists
By Andy Havens
By Andy Havens
If you use WorldCat.org regularly, you probably already know that you can easily cite materials using the “Cite/Export” button on the detailed record page for any item. Clicking on that button brings up a box (Figure 1), allowing you to select from five popular citation formats: APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA and Turabian. You can then either click on one of the “+” buttons to see the citation text in that format (great for copying/pasting directly into another application), or export the citation to RefWorks, EndNote or EasyBib.
But did you know that you can use WorldCat Lists to perform advanced citation functions? Many people use WorldCat Lists for bibliographies and project materials, and citations are a perfect way to store and share that information.
Here’s how it works.
1. Create and/or view a list of WorldCat.org items.
2. While viewing the list, click on the “Citations View” tab.
3. If you want to select everything in the list, click on the “Select All” button, or manually choose the items you want to cite.
4. Select one of the five citation styles you want to use from the drop-down box.
5. Select how you want to export the list from the “Export selected references” drop-down menu.
6. Click on the “Export” button and specify the file/location.
That’s all there is to it.
You can export your citations as:
- An HTML file. Perfect for creating a hyper-bibliography. Copy the HTML file into a blog or Web page and the embedded hyperlinks pointing to detailed WorldCat.org records for each item provide viewers with a way to get to the resources you've identified.
- Rich Text format. Good for moving a long bibliography into a word processing document, complete with italic formatting where appropriate.
- Export into RIS, EndNote or RefWorks. If you’re already working in one of these popular systems, your file will be available for use with minimal extra effort.
No matter which citation style you use and which export function, the ability to create a variety of citation files from WorldCat Lists is a powerful way to share resources with peers, students and other information seekers.
