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Depending on how many windows you have open at the time you may sometimes find the process of dragging and dropping sources from the library window to the material “sources” panel cumbersome. Don’t forget you can always use tried-and-true “copy and paste” to put sources in the associated sources list. Just right click to see the options available on the drop down menu.

To copy sources from the library to the dashboard side panel select the sources on the library list, right click and select “Copy” from the drop down menu options. Then move to the Sources side panel on the dashboard window. Right click within the dashboard side panel and select “Paste Sources”. For more information take a look at our Citing Sources video on our website under the Tutorials link. Go to the Materials section and click on Citing Sources video.

I just finished reading How to Write by Richard Rhodes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and other great works. I thought I’d share a passage from this book since writing–the act, the art, and the struggle–is our focus.

“Whatever your purpose, the best remedy for fear of writing is the Knickerbocker Rule: Apply ass to chair!” (p. 9). Conrad Knickerbocker was Rhodes’ manager when he worked in the Hallmark public relations department.

“If you are afraid you can’t write, the answer is to write. Every sentence you construct adds weight to the balance pan. If you’re afraid of what other people will think of your efforts, don’t show them until you write your way beyond your fear. If writing a book is impossible, write a chapter. If writing a chapter is impossible, write a page. If writing a page is impossible, write a paragraph. If writing a paragraph is impossible, write a sentence. If writing even a sentence is impossible, write a word and teach yourself everything there is to know about that word and then write another, connected word and see where the connection leads. A page a day is a book a year. Listen to that again: a page a day is a book a year” (p. 10).

I hope this refreshingly basic view of writing from How to Write lends a little inspiration to whatever task you are challenged with today!