diff --git a/src/js/apps/discovery/navigator.js b/src/js/apps/discovery/navigator.js
index 50d1738b8..9a016fecf 100644
--- a/src/js/apps/discovery/navigator.js
+++ b/src/js/apps/discovery/navigator.js
@@ -342,8 +342,7 @@ define([
 
             // is a special case, it opens in a new tab
             if (options.onlySelected && storage.hasSelectedPapers()) {
-
-              widget.renderWidgetForListOfBibcodes(storage.getSelectedPapers(), format);
+              widget.renderWidgetForListOfBibcodes(storage.getSelectedPapers(), { format : format });
 
             }
             //all records specifically requested
diff --git a/src/js/widgets/export/widget.js b/src/js/widgets/export/widget.js
index ba4f6a0a5..46fcc0ddf 100644
--- a/src/js/widgets/export/widget.js
+++ b/src/js/widgets/export/widget.js
@@ -195,12 +195,15 @@ define([
       },
 
       /**
-       * Export data directly - use the supplied query (must be supplied)
-       * @param info (object with apiQuery, numFound, and format params)
+       * Export data directly - uses the widget's cached query
+       * @param info (object with numFound, and format params)
 
        */
       renderWidgetForCurrentQuery : function(info) {
 
+        if (!_.isObject(info)) throw new Error('info must be an object!');
+        if (!info.format || !info.numFound) throw new Error('info must contain the keys "format" and "numFound" ');
+
         this.model.reset();
 
         //navigator hands off these values
@@ -247,6 +250,8 @@ define([
       // @param {object} data
       renderWidgetForListOfBibcodes : function(recs, data) {
 
+        if (!_.isObject(data)) throw new Error('data must be an object!');
+
         this.model.reset();
 
         if (!_.isArray(recs)) throw new Error('Identifiers must be an array');