Digital Literacy

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Database Tutorials

Tutorials: Refworks

Self Paced Tutorial

This tutorial will introduce you to RefWorks, a tool that collects, stores and organizes citations from books, articles, web sites, and other sources. It can automatically format those citations into a bibliography in a multitude of different citation styles. Refworks is provided by the Library and CITES without charge to UIUC students, staff and faculty.

Videos: Creating an Account | Creating Folders | Importing Citations (CSA) | Importing Citations (ASP)

Importing Citations (Library Catalog) | Creating a Bibliography

Why should I use RefWorks? What is RefWorks?

RefWorks is a web-based bibliography manager, currently available to those affiliated with UIUC by going through through our Online Research Resources page at: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/orr/notespopup.php?instid=424609.

The purpose of RefWorks is to simplify the process of documenting sources in a research paper, dissertation, or other project requiring references. Users can create and manage collections of references using a web browser, import references from a number of online databases, and create bibliographies that can be inserted into word processing documents. RefWorks is similar to Endnote, but uses a web browser rather than a standalone software package.

More dramatically, RefWorks allows you to quickly get this...

Finkelman, P. (2001). Slavery and the founders: race and liberty in the age of Jefferson (2nd ed.). Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe.

out of this, a book citation from the catalog at the University of Illinois...

Author, etc.: Finkelman, Paul, 1949-
Title: Slavery and the founders : race and liberty in the age of Jefferson / Paul Finkelman.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Armonk , N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe,
Date: c2001.
Type of material: Book
Description: xii, 296 p. ; 24 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-265) and index.
Subject (LCSH):
Slavery --Law and legislation --United States --History.
Slavery --United States --History.

ISBN: 0765604388 (alk. paper)
0765604396 (pbk. : alk. paper)

...in seconds with a minimum of fuss while still preserving all of the detailed information about a source for future use.

Using Write-N-Cite

The citations that you have stored into RefWorks can be easily inserted into the body of your paper if you use the Write-N-Cite feature . You can insert citations, generate bibliographies, and perform some other RefWorks functions (such as editing a specific reference)

Please note: Write-N-Cite for Windows is only compatible with Microsoft Word 2000 and up, Windows 98 and up, and Internet Explorer 5.0. Write-N-Cite for Mac is only compatible with Microsoft Word 98 and up and Mac OS 10.3 and up.

Write-N-Cite is a widget for Microsoft Word that makes it easier to insert references from RefWorks into a Word document while writing. It consists of a template and macro for Microsoft Word 97 and 2000 (Windows) that can be downloaded from the RefWorks website and installed. Once installed, a button will be added to the toolbar. Clicking the button lets you log into RefWorks and insert references without typing double curly-brackets by hand.

To Download Write-N-Cite

Go to the Write-N-Cite download page.
Follow the installation instructions provided by the program.
A Write-N-Cite icon will be added to your desktop for quick citation access.

To Begin Using Write-N-Cite

After you download, you should see a Write-N-Cite icon on the upper right hand corner of a Word document. As you write your paper and come to a point where you want to insert a reference, click on the Write-N-Cite icon. You will be brought into your RefWorks account, and you will see a list of all the citations that you have imported into the database. Below is the folder for Social Networking.

Inserting Citations into Papers

To select the citation that you want to insert, you can scroll through your list of citations, do a quick search, or select a folder of citations that you want to work with.
The previous page shows a list of citations from a selected folder.
Simply click on cite, and the citation will be placed in the body of your paper. Don't worry about the curly brackets and format for now. Those will be formatted when you complete the process.
When you are finished click on Bibliography on the Write-N-Cite window and the Output style (APA, MLA, etc.) and your paper will be reformatted.

(For FOOTNOTES or ENDNOTES, use the Microsoft Word footnote formatting feature, inserting references (again using the steps described above). )

When you have finished inserting all the footnotes/endnotes, save and close your Word document.

Next, log in to RefWorks if you are not already logged in and click on Bibliography in the bar at the top of the screen
Select the Output Style (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago Style Manual, ACS Journals, etc).
Select Format Paper and Bibliography .
Browse to locate your paper.
Click on Create Bibliography button.
A new window will open with the re-formatted Word manuscript containing the bibliography. Note: the file name is the same as your original Word document except "Final" has been inserted in front of the file name.
Save and retain both versions of your Word document. If you need to revise your manuscript later, you must do it using the original document, not the final saved version.
There are several ways that you can get assistance with Refworks.
Frequently Asked Questions from the UIUC RefWorks Page

Ask-A-Librarian

If you have other questions about RefWorks, please Ask A Librarian at UIUC or call 217-333-2290. Someone will either respond immediately to your question or get back to you with an answer.

Additional Guidance

* Tutorials, Quick Start Guides, and Online Help for RefWorks are available within Refworks (choose the Help) button.

Library Links

Quick Links