A How-to Guide for Creating Citations Welcome to the s guide for using NoodleTools. This online resource is a great tool in assisting you to format your papers and create bibliographies using either APA, MLA, or Chicago style. You can access NoodleTools by visiting the your college library s website (NCC s Library can be found at http://www.nwicc.edu/about/resources/library/). Begin by setting up a free account. Click on Create a Personal ID. *If setting up a new account off-campus, you will need the NCC library password. You may find all of the database passwords by logging into My Place and clicking on the library tab. After your account is set up, you can access it from anywhere. Already have an account? Enter your information and click Sign In. For new users, you ll be prompted to create an account on the next page. Enter your information and click Register.
Once logged in, you will be brought to the Projects page. From here, click on Create a New Project (found in the upper, right-hand corner). To begin, select the Citation style (MLA, APA, or Chicago) and the Citation level (choose Advanced for college-level work) preferred by your instructor. Give your project a Description name (this will only be for personal use) and click Create Project. The Dashboard offers you tools for organizing your paper, recording your thesis statement, or creating a To-Do List. The tool most used by students can be found here too: creating a bibliography. You can access this two ways: 1. Click on the Bibliography tab at the top of the screen. 2. Click on the References (APA) or Works Cited (MLA) link in the Components section on the left-hand side of the screen.
Select the appropriate citation type for the item you will be citing from the drop-down list and click Create Citation. The next page will confirm your choice click Continue. Complete the following form with as much information about your resource as you can. You can find this information on the title page of books, the cover of magazines, or in the item description for online resources. See any yellow triangles? NoodleTools is alerting you to a possible error. Hover over it for tips to correct it. Your instructor will let you know if you need an annotated bibliography. You can add an Annotation on this page. When finished, click Submit. Remember, you can always edit the citation later if you see mistakes.
You will now be directed back to the APA References / MLA Works Cited section. From here, you may add other citations (click on the Create Citation button), edit your citations (click on the Edit link on the right-hand side) or see how to use the citation in your paper. To see an example of an in-text citations, locate the reference you d like to cite in your paper. Click on the In-text reference link located on the right-hand side. A pop-up entitled APA / MLA Parenthetical Reference will appear. NoodleTools will create a customizable example of a parenthetical reference for your resource. Highlight it, copy and paste it right into your paper.
When you ve created citations for all of your resources, NoodleTools will also create an APA Reference page or an MLA Works Cited page for you. From this section, click on the Print / Export tab and choose an option (this example uses Print / Export to Word). If your computer has a pop-up blocker, give permission to download the file by clicking on the yellow bar at the top of the page and select Download File. Open the file when it s complete and you ll have an alphabetized reference page listing all of your references. You can either print it or copy and paste it into your paper. And remember, when pasting into a Word document, the formatting or font may change double-check your work! Additional questions? See any of the librarians for further assistance! Contact us at 1-712-324-5061. Molly Galm, Director mgalm@nwicc.edu, ext. 116 Nancy Filkins, Coordinator nfilkins@nwicc.edu, ext. 287 Holly DeGrote, Coordinator hdegrote@nwicc.edu, ext. 212