Okay! Now that you have Citation installed and have a basic idea of how it works, let's get started with your own research materials.

In this lesson, we're going to create a database and enter a few records. It's incredibly easy, so it won't take long. We've added links so that if you're puzzled about a term (like record, for instance, or field) - you can click to a page with definitions. Remember, if you get stuck or have questions, just write me an email or give me a call.

Here's the first thing to do: find a couple of books or articles you've read recently. (You're going to find it's easier to enter a record in Citation than it is to type a formatted reference into your word processor.)

Got the books & articles? Good. Let's create a database and enter Citation records for them:

1. Start your word processor, and then click Tools, Citation.
2. On the Citation menu, click File, New.
3. The Select Form dialog will "ask" you what type of source work you'd like to enter. Find the form name that fits one of the articles or books you've found - and click OK. Citation will add a blank form.
4. In the blank form, enter the bibliographic information from the article or book, in the appropriate "fields."

   Here's a few rules you'll want to follow when you are entering bibliographic information in Citation. Enter information like this:

   	     Name(s):      Smith, James L.; Riggs, Constance
   	     Titles:       Vanishing wetlands: a look at 
   	     Pages:        223-229 (all digits)	
   	

   Simple rules, but they'll help Citation figure out what's what when it comes time to write your references.

5. Next. If you like, you can enter keywords and an abstract - a short description of the significance of this work to your research. Keywords are great because they let you group records on similar subjects easily. Or - you can go back and add keywords and abstracts later.

And there you have it! You've started your Citation database!

Before we add more records, let's save your datafile:

1. On the Citation menu, click File, Save.
2. Give the database a name, and click OK.

Now that you have your own database, let's add one or two more bibliographic records for the other source works you've gathered up for this exercise:

1. On the Citation menu, click Edit, Add record.
2. Choose the appropriate form for the type of source work, and fill in the fields.

If you have trouble figuring out which form to use, or what type of information should go in the fields, just use the Citation Styleguide.

Over the years, we've compiled hundreds of examples from the major styleguides (MLA, APA, AAA). Originally we developed the styleguide to check to make sure Citation could handle all the different types of source works - but it's now available as a resource for user. In our styleguide, you should be able to find an illustration of just about any type of work you need to enter in your database.

You can store the titles of potential source works you locate on the internet or are recommended to you (or that you find mentioned in the footnotes of a book or paper you are reading) in Citation, and build a reading list!

When you enter the record (you can leave some of the fields blank if you have only the author and title of a work you want to read) - just put the word "read" in the keyword field.

Before you head to the library, you can use Citation to print out a reading list:

1. Open a blank document in your word processor.
2. On the Citation menu, click Generate, Bibliography.
3. Set the style to Reading List, and click OK.

Nice and organized - just the way you want to be when you are researching a topic.

When you're ready to stop entering records, click File, Save, and then File, Close.

I always tell people to make a copy of their database every so often (just as you would a paper or anything else on your computer that contains valuable information).

Now that you know how easy it is, you can take a moment here and there over the next few weeks to build your Citation database of all the books & articles you've read recently.

Don't forget where the books and articles we just entered are, because next we're going to work on entering research notes.

Tips
You can watch Citation format the information you are entering into a record as a reference! Just click View, Preview box, and set the Style option to the format (MLA, APSA, Chicago) you use most often for your references.

When you're ready to move on - here are the next lessons in the EasyGuide:

Lesson 2: Working with research notes
Lesson 3: Citing sources in papers