RefWorks Bibliographic Software: Tips and Resources

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Access Refworks

News Alert

Update your Write-N-Cite software today! The new version saves time and adds functionality. Read more below.

Windows users can now write and format a paper completely offline with this new version of Write-N-Cite. Simply download your RefWorks database from within Write-N-Cite while online, then feel free to disconnect from the internet.  Full Write-N-Cite functionality is available inserting temporary citation placeholders, viewing reference information, using the citation editor even formatting your paper in the output style you choose.  All without accessing the internet.  Details are available in the online help section Working Offline.

Register for a Refworks Account

http://www.refworks.com

View this 2 minute tutorial titled, "How to Register for a Refworks Account." Use your U.Va. email address when registering as U.Va. has a site license and RefWorks will be free.

What are Refworks and RefShare

RefWorks and RefShare are software applications that enable you to...
  • Download citations from databases and put them into a personal RefWorks research database
  • Format bibliographies and citations automatically in over 400 styles including APA, MLA, etc.
  • Use in conjunction with WORD to write papers, dissertations, etc.
  • Access your RefWorks account from any computer, anywhere
  • Create a database and share it with colleagues around the world

Tips

Backing up Folders


Tutorial: Backing Up and Sharing Folders

Obtaining Access to an Article Full Text

Click on the Find@UVa button to see if an item in your reference list is available full text. These links work on-Grounds and off-Grounds, however, when you are off-Grounds, you must be using UVa Anywhere or the Proxy server.

RSS Feeds

There are several varieties of RSS feeds, for example: 1) RSS feeds that provide the Table of Contents for a journal and 2) RSS feeds for a specific search strategy that you have set up in a database. For example, if you run a search in the EBSCO's ERIC or PsycINFO databases for all articles by the author Robert Pianta, the results will display. On that results page, you should also see the link, "Create alert for this search." If you click on that link, the URL for that RSS feed will display (it is marked SYNDICATION FEED). A RSS feed URL will display. they will provide you will all articles by a given author, you could save that as an RSS feed and you will get a URL for that RSS feed.

Once you have a URL for a RSS feed you can login to RefWORKS, go to the RefWorks menu, click on SEARCH and then, click on RSS FEED. You then past in the URL in the box labeled: RSS Feed URL and click on the button, "Add RSS feed. If for example, you used an RSS feed URL for the table of contents for a jjournal, the new URL will be displayed below the box and when you click on the URL, RefWorks will show all the new articles from the table of contents, To get them into RefWorks, click on the blue URL link for the individual article that appeals to you, and you will be taken to the article and you would then look on the page for the EXPORT to RefWorks link.

You can find RSS feeds in a variety of ways, for example: 1)by going to a journal publishers website and looking for the orange RSS icon. If you see it, right click on the RSS icon and save the RSS feed URL. Then, follow the instructions in the paragraph above. 2) by going to this web site featuring RSS feeds 3) locating the RSS feed URL in an article, or 4) using google to try and locate URLs.

RefWorks Write-N-Cite

Download Write-N-Cite logoWrite-N-Cite and you can use it in conjunction with WORD to create a bibliography of the citations in your manuscript while you write it. Write-N-Cite tutorial

Searching within your RefWorks folder ...

For greater search functionality in your RefWorks folders, consider entering standardized terms in the NOTES field such as PURPOSE, PARTICIPANTS, METHODOLOGY, DESIGN, EFFECT SIZE, CHART, DEFINITION, MATRIX, QUOTATION, PROBLEM, ANALYSIS, RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, STATISTIC, TEST, THEORY, FUNDING SOURCE. etc. You can then enter notes after the appropriate standardized term, for example, I enter the word METHODOLOGY followed by a colon and then I type in what type of methodology is used. I would then type PURPOSE: and key in the purpose, next PARTICIPANTS....

METHODOLOGY: quantitative
PURPOSE:
PARTICIPANTS:


so that when go to the MENU bar on RefWorks, you can select, SEARCH and then select ADVANCED. Then, you could search in the first search box in the NOTES field for METHODOLOGY and in the second search box in the NOTES field for QUANTITATIVE. This would give you a list of all articles that you tagged as quantitative.

Mac Users

Mac users who want to access any of the H. W. Wilson databases from off-Grounds must use a browser other than Safari.

Mac Users

If you are working in the areas of biological sciences, biomedical research, or medicine; HubMed's citation finder can be helpful in the situation in which you have the citations in a reference list (for example, in WORD) and you want to put them into RefWorks database.

Go to www.hubmed.org
Click on the "Citation Finder" link
Paste the bibliography into the box.
Click submit
Agree or disagree with the splitting of the references
Revise unmatched citations or delete and click done (repeat until records appear).
Select records for export
Use the export button to export the citations in RIS format.
Use RefWorks Import page with Datasource and database menus set on RIS Format to import the RIS formatted citations.

 

Tutorials

How to Export RefWorks files to EndNote

Online tutorials created by the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Online tutorials created by RefWorks - RefWorks Quick Start or RefWorks Tutorial

Graduating from U.Va.? Transfer your RefWorks account to...

Graduating RefWorks Users

Choose one of the three options below to save your Refworks data. If you are graduating, please note that you must backup or export data before June 30th or you will lose it.

Remember that access to full text through U.Va. (the U.Va Find It button) will no longer be available.

  1. If you are moving to another institution that provides access to RefWorks, transfer your U.Va. account to another institutional account.
    • Back up your RefWorks database.
    • After establishing your new account, restore your RefWorks database. (Note: If you want a viewable copy of your references before your new institutional account is activated, you will need to export your data or restore it to a RefWorks trial account.)
  2. Transfer your UVa RefWorks account to an individual account.
  3. Export your references.
    Export your references to your computer in one of a number of formats (described on the linked page). Formats include one that imports into other bibliographic management software (such as EndNote, Reference Manager, or ProCite) and a tab-delimited format compatible with Excel.

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