[Dickinson College] Waidner-Spahr Library

Click on the RefWorks logo to access an existing account.

Frequently Asked Questions
Click on the FAQ link above to access a complete list from RefWorks

Here are some FAQs specific to Dickinson users and those who have not yet used it:
      Can I convert my references from EndNote to RefWorks? (Yes!)
      How can I access RefWorks from an off-campus computer?
      Can I export references directly from online databases to my RefWorks account?
      What do I do if I'm exporting from an OCLC FirstSearch database and nothing happens?
      Can I import catalog records?
      How do I export citations from PubMed into RefWorks?
      How do I export citation from Web of Science in RefWorks?
      How do I export citations from POPLINE into RefWorks?
      I’m working on a group project. Can we share a RefWorks account?
      What is Write-N-Cite and what does it do?
      Can I print an unformatted list of my references so that I can see the abstracts and notes?
      What happens when I graduate or if I leave Dickinson?

Converting your References from EndNote

RefWorks has a feature that will allow you to upload your EndNote version 8 library directly into RefWorks. All other versions of EndNote will require you to export the records from EndNote and import them into RefWorks (see instructions at the end of this section).

EndNote 8 or higher only:

Go into RefWorks and from the References menu select Import EndNote V8 Database.
Browse for and select your EndNote library (.enl). Note: Currently there is a 25 MB import limit on the size your EndNote library.
Specify a folder to import your records into (optional).
Click on Import at the bottom of the Import window. The progress in importing is measured by * for each reference imported. RefWorks will notify you when the import is complete.
Your records should automatically appear in the Last Imported folder.

EndNote Version 7 or lower only:

Note: When importing large amounts of references, it is recommended to import no more than 2500 records (or 3MB of files) at a single time. This will ensure a successful import.

From EndNote, select the correct Output Style for the export. Under the Edit menu select Output Styles.
From the list of output styles select RefMan (RIS) Export select it. Note: If you do not see this format, open the Style Manager and check the RefMan format. Close the Style Manager and repeat steps 1 and 2.
Select the references you want to export.
Under the Reference menu select Show Selected (or Show All if you wish to export the entire database).
Under the File menu select Export.
A dialog box appears for you to select the location where you want to save the file. Type a file name and select a location for importing into RefWorks. Select Text as your Save As type and click Save.
Go into RefWorks and from the References menu select Import.
Select Desktop Biblio. Mgt. Software as your Import Filter and EndNote (Ref Man RIS Format) as your Database. Make sure you select the appropriate Mac or Windows version.
Browse for and select the file you just created from EndNote.
Click on Import at the bottom of the Import window. The progress in importing is measured by * for each reference imported. RefWorks will notify you when the import is complete. View the Imported References.
Your records should automatically appear in the Last Imported folder.

How can I access RefWorks from an off-campus computer?

Go to the RefWorks home page.
Enter your Dickinson Webmail (alpha) username and password or your Dickinson network username and password and log in.
Enter your usual RefWorks Login-ID and Password.

Can I export references directly from online databases to my RefWorks account?

Yes. Many databases allow results of your searches to be exported directly to RefWorks, so you don’t have to download or e-mail them. Look for the "Export" options in each database as you view individual articles or when you mark records to save. For a complete list of data vendors with direct export to RefWorks, click here: http://www.refworks.com/DEList.asp.

What do I do if I'm exporting from an OCLC FirstSearch Database and nothing happens?

If you use Firefox as your browser and nothing happens when you attempt to export a reference from an OCLC FirstSearch database, it may be due to your pop-up settings. Under the “Tools” menu, select “Options” and “Content”. Click on “Exceptions” and insert these URLs into the address box:

http://firstsearch.oclc.org/

http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

Finally, click “Allow” and then “Close”. You should now be able to export references.

Can I import catalog records?

Yes, but not directly from the catalog (tricky, huh?).

In order to import catalog records, you actually need to go into your RefWorks account.
From there, you need to go to the “Search” option on the menu bar and use its drop down menu to get to “Online Catalog or Database”.
On the next screen, use the drop down menu to select “Dickinson College Library”
Then do either a quick search or an advanced search for a particular title, or topic, of interest.
Select any titles that look relevant and then click the red import button.
These records will now be located in your account.

How do I export citations from PubMed into RefWorks?

While viewing the record(s) you want to save, change the “Display” option to “MEDLINE”. (Do this using the pull-down menu in the upper left of the screen – the default may read “Summary” or “AbstractPlus” depending on which screen you are looking at.)
Using the “Send To” pull-down menu, select “File”.
A popup should appear inviting you to save the file. Click “Save” and put it on your desktop or in a temporary folder. You can rename the file, but it must have a .txt extension.
In RefWorks, select "import" and choose NLM PubMed at the Import Filter/Data Source and the Database from the pull-down menus. "Browse" to the Notepad file you saved and select it. The records, including abstracts, should import smoothly into RefWorks.

NOTE: Once in RefWorks, the GetIt button will appear for citations imported from PubMed. You will also see special “pubmed links” above the citation in record that link the record back to the PubMed database, including the ability to find related articles without returning to PubMed.

How do I export citations from Web of Science into RefWorks?

Select any records of interest and click the "Add to Marked List" button
When you have finished selecting and adding records, click the "Marked Links" hyperlink
On the following page: In step 1, you can either leave the fields included alone, or add additional fields. In step 2, you will want to leave the format as "field tagged" and you will hit the "save to file" button.
You can either open and then save this file, or save it to disk.
If you go into your RefWorks account, go to the References tab and select "Import"
In the Import option, the Import Filter/Data Source will be ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) and you should specify that the Database is Web of Science. You will then want to go to "Import Data from the following Text File" and browse to find the file you just saved. Then hit "Import".
From the next screen, you will want to click "View last imported folder" and you should see all the records you selected from Web of Science.

How do I export citations from POPLINE into RefWorks?

After completing your POPLINE search, select the "Checkbox Display" from the drop down menu in the upper left corner of your screen.
Check the records you want to import and click the "Submit" button.
If you want to import all the records from your search, select "FullRec-ShortLabels" from the menu to display the records in the correct format.
Copy and paste the records into Notepad. Since POPLINE only displays 100 records at a time, if your search returns more than 100 records, you will have to click on the "Next 100 records" button. Once they display, copy and paste them into your Notepad document. Repeat as needed.
When you have copied all of the records into Notepad, save the file (with a .txt extension) and close it.
In RefWorks, select "import" and choose Popline at the Import Filter/Data Source and the Database from the pull-down menus. "Browse" to the Notepad file you saved and select it. The records, including abstracts, should import smoothly into RefWorks.

NOTE: Once in RefWorks, the GetIt button will appear for citations imported from POPLINE.

I’m working on a group project. Can we share a RefWorks account?

Yes. RefWorks does not limit the number of accounts you create. Every account can have two types of access – full and read-only. Full access requires everyone to log in with the same login name and password. Read-only requries users to log in with the login name and a read-only password that has been established. Read-only access allows people to search, export and print bibliographies, but not add, edit or delete references. In addition, each record in a database has five empty fields (User Defined 1 thru 5) that can be used to record comments from group members.

What is Write-N-Cite and what does it do?

Write-n-Cite is a feature which allows you to access your references in RefWorks while working within Microsoft Word. Write-n-Cite allows you to insert citation placeholders and when you are ready to add a bibliography to the end of the document, Write-n-Cite will create a bibliography and format your in-text citations based upon only those references that have been inserted into your Word document.

The Using Write-n-Cite help file has more information on using this feature.

Note: If you are using Write-n-Cite from off campus, you will need to activate the "WNC Proxy Configuration Utility". After downloading Write-n-Cite, just click "Start", and in the "Programs" menu, locate "RefWorks", and then click on the "WNC Proxy Configuation Utility". In the window that pops up, enter this URL and click "OK":

http://envoy.dickinson.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.refworks.com/refworks

Can I print an unformatted list of my references so that I can see the abstracts and notes?

Under “View”, display the contents of a particular folder or all of your references. Then, in the drop-down menu beside the selected folder's title or “All References” (depending on what you chose), select “Full View” and, from your web browser's “File” menu, print the screen.

What happens when I graduate or if I leave Dickinson?

You can convert your Dickinson account to an individual subscription that you must then pay for yourself. You can also export your reference data in several formats using one of RefWorks Export options.