Your personal online database and bibliography creator --- Online Tutorial

RefWorks is an online bibliographic management program that allows you to create your own personal database of references.

RefWorks allows you to…

• You can automatically import references from a search performed in an online database, such as HELIN, Academic Search Premier, First Search, SilverPlatter et al., or enter references manually.

• Organize and create a personal database online – no more index cards to write out and organize. Everything is done automatically as you import the reference into RefWorks.

• Format bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds for papers and bibliographies in a variety of output styles, including APA, MLA, Turabian and Chicago.

• Searching tools within RefWorks enable you to easily navigate your database and search for references.

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Creating Your RefWorks Account

When you first visit RefWorks, you will be prompted to set up your personal account. When you are ready to transfer records from your database search results, use your personal RefWorks username and password to open your bibliographic database. Salve's "Group Code" is RWSalRegU

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Creating Your RefWorks Database and Bibliography

In RefWorks you can create a bibliography from a list of references, without creating a manuscript.  The list may be your entire database or you can select a specific folder from which to create the bibliography.  Click on the Bibliography button and select the appropriate Output Format from the drop down list. Be sure the Base Bibliography on Reference List button is selected.  Select the file format you wish to create (Text, HTML, RTF (Rich Text), Word for Windows (97 or later), or Word for Mac (98 or later).  Select either All References or a particular Folder and click on Create Bibliography.  Follow your browser's instructions for viewing the file and be sure to save the document to your hard disk before closing.

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Organizing your Folders

To use RefWorks efficiently you can organize your references into different folders.   This especially useful if you are working on more than one paper at a time.

Just click on the Organize Folders button at the top and then choose Create New Folder.  Name the folder whatever you want.

Once created you can choose to view the references in that folder, import new references into that folder and create bibliographies for the references in a particular folder.

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Importing References into your RefWorks database

There are two ways for Salve patrons to import references into your RefWorks database:

1. Save references from another database to a text file and use the RefWorks Import feature (Export/Import).
See Exporting from Data Services below.
2. Manually type references into RefWorks.

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Searching RefWorks

Once you've created your database, you can search for references in your RefWorks database via the Quick Search or Advanced Search mode:

• Quick Search searches all fields, including abstract, and all search terms are connected by the Boolean operator OR.
  
• Advanced Search allows you to select the fields in which you want to search: author, title, periodical, keyword, abstract, publication year, volume, or Ref ID. You can combine your search terms with the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT.
  

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Adding Text Citations / Creating a Bibliography in Your Paper

When writing your paper, simply insert the RefWorks ID number where you want to cite a reference. RefWorks will reformat the citations within the paper and create the formatted bibliography. Output formats are easily changed and selected from a drop-down list. You can also use RefWorks to create a bibliography from a list of references.

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Exporting from Data Services and Importing into RefWorks

Below are instructions for importing references from various databases into RefWorks.

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HELIN

1. Run your search in HELIN and find titles on your topic
2. Mark the titles that you want in the little box to the left of the title.
3.  Click on Saved Marked Records at the bottom of the screen.
4. Now export your saved list using the Export Saved Search Button at the top of the HELIN Catalog screen.
5. Choose from the Format area either Full Display or Brief Display and then Save to a Local disk as a text file.
6.  Go into Refworks, click on the IMPORT button at the top.\
7. Choose Innovative Interfaces INNOPAC as your Import Filter/DataSource. 
8. Choose CLIC(net) Full Display as your Database.
9. Choose the folder you want to import your references into. (optional)
10.  Make sure the Import Data from the following Text File button is selected and browse for your text file on your local disk.
11. Click Import button that is located below the text box and your references will be imported into your RefWorks file.

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Ebsco (Academic Search Premier)

1. From the search results page, check the references you want to import and click on the Save button.
2. Select Bibliographic Manager format and click Save.
3. Using your browser's Save As function, navigate to the local drive and directory to which you will save the file.
4. Select text as the file type.
5. Click Save to save the screen image to your local drive.

Go into RefWorks and click on Import.  Select Ebsco as your Import Filter and the appropriate database based upon your search in Ebsco.  Browse for and select the file you just created.  Click on Import.  The progress in importing is measured by * for each reference imported.  RefWorks will notify you when the import is complete.

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OCLC (First Search Databases- Articles First, Arts & Humanities Index, Basic BIOS, etc.)

1. From your search results mark the references you want to import and click on Marked Records.
2. On the Marked Records screen select Detailed as the display format.
3. Using your browser's Save As function, navigate to the local drive and directory to which you will save the file.
4. The page URL will display as the default name; assign a name that will help you locate the file later on.  Type the file name to be saved.
5. Select text as the file type.
6. Click Save to save the screen image to your local drive or click Cancel to abort the save.

Go into RefWorks and click on Import.  Select OCLC as your Import Filter and the appropriate database based upon your search in OCLC.  Browse for and select the file you just created.  Click on Import.  The progress in importing is measured by * for each reference imported.  RefWorks will notify you when the import is complete.

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PubMed

After you do a search and are looking at the references do the following to export the data:

1. Change the Display drop down from Summary to MEDLINE.
2. Click on the Display button.  The references will now appear in the MEDLINE tagged format.
3. Click on the Text button.  A window will open with just the references in MEDLINE format.
4. In the newly opened window, go to the File menu and choose Save As.
5. Select the folder and specify the name of the file to save the references into and click Save.

You have now saved the references in a text file that can be imported into RefWorks using the PubMed Import Filter.

Go into RefWorks and click on Import.  Select PubMed as your Import Filter and database.  Browse for and select the file you just created.  Click on Import.  The progress in importing is measured by * for each reference imported.  RefWorks will notify you when the import is complete.

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SilverPlatter(Criminal Justice Abstracts, Social Works Abstracts)

After you have performed a search and are looking at the data, do the following to export to a file:

1. Mark the references you want to export and click on the Save icon.
2. Under Save These Records select Marked to export the references you selected.
3. Under Save These Fields select Complete Record to save all fields including abstract.
4. Click on the Save button and save the file to your computer.
5. Select the location in which you want to save the file and type in the name you want to save it as.
6. Click on Save and the file will be saved to your computer under the name you specified with a .dat extension.

To import the file, go into RefWorks and click on Import.  Select SilverPlatter as your Import Filter/Data Source and the appropriate database based upon your search in SilverPlatter.  Browse for and select the file you just created.  Click on Import.  The progress in importing is measured by one * for each reference.  RefWorks will notify you when the import in complete.

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Using the Import Log

RefWorks imports references based upon Import Filters that have been created using data samples from various service providers and databases.  Because we cannot foresee every possible format, there will occasionally be data that is not imported or data that is imported into an incorrect reference type or field.  Any data that is not recognized will be reported in the Import Log.  You can view the log immediately after import by clicking on the View Log button before viewing imported references.  You may see any of the following messages:

Reference type identifier not found; Use default reference type

This indicates that the Reference Type (i.e. Journal, Report, Map etc.) was not defined for the database and RefWorks will import the data using the type which has been set as the default.  The default will be the type most common for that particular database.
 

Tag not defined; Not imported

The data in the field was not imported because the filter did not recognize the tag.
 

Source format not found; Import into Notes

The Source field generally contains several pieces of information such as Volume, Issue, Page Number(s), Year of Publication, Periodical name, etc.  The format of this field will vary a great deal and each format must be specifically defined to ensure RefWorks puts information into the correct fields.  If RefWorks does not recognize a particular source line format it will take all of the information as it is in the database and import it into the Notes field.  For this information to be used correctly for bibliography generation the data will need to be put in the appropriate fields manually.
 

Author pattern not found; Import as is

RefWorks attempts to import author names in a specified format so that the names will be used correctly in bibliography generation.  Common formats such as John Smith or Smith, John will be imported into RefWorks correctly.  If an author format is not recognized it will still be imported into the Author field but may not be in a format that will be correct when you generate a bibliography.  If possible check the author field for the reference and put it in the format required.  (See New Reference for Author name entry requirements.)
 

Database identifier in header not found; Use database identifier in reference

Import Filters are based upon the service and the database.  When importing, RefWorks looks for a database identifier to direct it to the appropriate filter.  Some databases put the database name in a header file and others put it in the reference itself.  The message indicates that the identifier for this reference was found in the reference itself not the header file.
 

Database identifier in reference not found; Use default database

If RefWorks cannot find a database identifier in the reference it is attempting to import it will use the Database you selected on the Import screen.