1

Guide to RefWorks

RefWorks is a powerful online research management, writing and collaboration tool

designed to help users at all levels to easily gather, organize, store and share all types of

information and to instantly insert citations and generate bibliographies / reference lists in a

preferred citation style.

Pages

Create an account 2

Create folders and managing your references 3

Adding journal references from library databases - Import directly - Import indirectly (save as a text file) - saving file attachments, eg. full-text

4 6 8

Adding a reference manually 9

Adding references from the Library Catalogue 10

Adding references from Google Scholar 11

Saving web pages using RefGrab-It 12

Importing from RSS feeds 13

Create a bibliography instantly with your Citation Style 14

Write-N-Cite (Proquest for Word) - separate handout

DCU Library October 2014

2

Create an Account

Go to the Library homepage, Quicklinks box, click on RefWorks

Click on Sign up for a New Account

Step 1 – account information

Fill in all fields on the form

NOTE: use your email for your Login Name

Click on Next to proceed

Step 2 – user information

Fill in all fields on the form

Click on Create Account

My RefWorks Login Name ______________________

My RefWorks Password ______________________

3

Create Folders & Managing your references

A good way to stay organised is to create your own folders and file your references in them as soon as they are imported.

Click on the New Folder button

Name it Training and click Create

To View your Folders

Click on the Organize & Share Folders tab

You can edit them here – rename, add subfolders, clear and delete – by right clicking on name of folder

Putting References into Folders Select Reference by ticking box

Click on put in folders icon and select folder from drop-down menu

NOTE: references can be put in more than one folder

You can edit your references by clicking on this icon beside your reference.

NOTE: The Last Imported folder contains only references from your most recent data import. References

4

that have not be assigned a folder are held in the Not in Folder folder. You can view these folders in the

Organize & Share Folders tab.

Adding Journal References from library databases

1) Export directly from a library database

Go to Academic Search Complete, Click on A in the A-Z Databases tab on Library homepage

Do a simple search, eg. computer networks

From the list of results select 3 references by clicking on Add to folder icon beside each reference

Click on the Folder on top of the screen

This will bring you to a screen with your selected references from your search

Click on Select all

Then click on the Export button

5

At the next screen you need to select “Direct Export to RefWorks” (this appears bottom in the list). Click on Save.

The references will automatically be exported to your RefWorks account.

The Import References window will open in your RefWorks account

Click on View Last Imported Folder to make sure your reference(s) have imported correctly. Next we will move these references to your Training folder that we created earlier.

Select the references you wish to move to your Training folder

Click on Put in Folders icon and select Training

6

2) Export indirectly (save as a text file) from library database

Most databases allow direct export to RefWorks. Some databases allows you to import indirectly which saves your references as a text file on your desktop and then you can upload the text file to your RefWorks Account.

Saving References from DCU Library Databases - is a list of all library databases showing if they are direct or indirect exporting to RefWorks,

which is available on the RefWorks page on the Library website

ACM Digital Library – go to library website > Databases A-Z > ACM Digital Library

You should have your RefWorks Account open also

Do a simple search for cloud computing

View a reference you wish to save in full format by clicking on title. If you have multiple records you want to import, copy and paste the results into a Document and Save As a plain text . txt file.

Click on BibTex in Export Formats

7

Click on download

Save File and press OK

From you RefWorks Account select References from bar menu and choose Import

Select BibTex as the Data Source and ACM Digital as the Database

Browse to find the text file you saved to your computer (usually in download)

Click to Import

Your reference will appear in the Last Imported Folder

8

Saving file attachments (full-text journal articles)

When you are saving references to your RefWorks account you are only saving the bibliographic data.

In RefWorks you can save the full-text as a file attachment to the reference. The Check for full-text icon is

shown after each reference, when you click on this RefWorks checks if the full-text of this article is available

from the online databases that the Library subscribes to.

Click on Check for full-text

Click on PDF Full Text to view the full-text of article

Save the PDF onto your computer

Go back to your reference page

Click on the Edit icon

At bottom of reference, Attachements, click on Choose File. Download the PDF of journal article your just saved.

A PDF icon will appear with a link to the pdf

A PDF icon will appear with a link to the pdf

9

Adding a Reference Manually

From within RefWorks, select New Reference

First select your reference style in the View fields used by –using the drop down menu

Harvard DCU Library [updated date] is the Harvard Reference Style that is used in DCU

Choose your folder using Add to folder

Ref Type – is the type of reference you want to add, eg. Journal article, thesis…

this will determine what fields you have to fill out

Save Reference before you add an attachment. After you add an attachment don’t forget to Save

Reference again

10

Adding References from the Library Catalogue

Search Library Catalogue from search box on library homepage. Enter your keywords and press Search

Click on title of book you want to add to your RefWorks account

Click on Save to My List

To add one reference - click on RefWorks

To add several references - create a New list (books) and click on Save to my list. You can add several references to this list

Click on at top of page

Click on Export as Refworks at bottom of page

Click on Export

See these references in the Last Imported Folder in your RefWorks account and save them to a folder

11

Adding References from Google Scholar

www.schoolar.google.com

From the Google Scholar search

screen click on

At the bottom of the Scholar Settings page, in Bibliography Manager select RefWorks (drop-down menu) in Show links to import citations into

Press Save to retain settings

Search results will now display an Import into RefWorks link

12

Saving Web page data using RefGrab-It

RefGrab-It is an optional feature for capturing bibliographic information from web pages. It can be downloaded from your RefWorks Account as a bookmarklet in Internet Explorer and Firefox. Chrome you can click on RefGrab-It in the Tools menu and use as explained below. Firefox.

Download RefGrab-It as a Bookmarklet

From yourr Refworks account and select Tools - RefGrab-It

Saving a web page

Go to the webpage you wish to save

Click on Bookmarks and choose RefGrab-It.

RefGrab-It will save the bibliographic information.

Click on Import to RefWorks to save it.

13

Importing from RSS feeds

Keeping up to date with the latest news, blog posts, journal articles

RefWorks has integrated an RSS Feed Reader so you can easily add your favourite RSS Feeds from

publishers and websites, view the information and import references into your RefWorks Account

Locate the RSS Feed you wish to include, eg from a journal publishers page.

RSS feeds icons are displayed as follows…

Right mouse-click on the RSS Feed icon or link and select Copy Link Location

From your RefWorks Account, click on Search and select RSS Feeds

Paste the Copy Link Location into the text bar and click the Add RSS Feed button

• Confirm the addition of the RSS Feed by clicking OK.

• Your feed results will be displayed in a new window. Select the references you wish to import into your RefWorks account and click Import.

• You can keep as many feeds as you wish and the publishers will update the links.

Tutorial on the RefWorks YouTube Channel

3. RefWorks Advanced features

3.2 Adding references to RefWorks using RSS feeds

14

Create a Bibliography 3 Options: - format your bibliography from a list of references - Write-N-Cite (Proquest for Word) – in a separate handout - One Line/Cite View Paper, if you don’t have Word – information on RefWorks page on library website

Format your bibliography from a list of references

First choose your folder of references you wish to create a bibliography

Click on Create Bibliography

Select the Output Style Harvard DCU Library [Sept 2013]

Select File Type from drop down menu eg. Word for Windows

Click on Create Bibliography

A Reference List/Bibliography will be created with your references in the correct Harvard Style