The Ohio State University

RefWorks is a Web-based bibliographic management product free to OSU students, faculty and staff to manage their research citations.  Access began January 2005.

• RefWorks can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.

• Off-campus access requires signing-in, see Create a RefWorks Account below for details.

• Users' files are stored on the RefWorks server.

• Users must create an account on the RefWorks server. 

• The RefWorks Write-N-Cite plug-in allows you to create footnotes and bibliographic citations as you write your paper using Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer on a Windows or MAC computer.

• The RefWorks One Line/Cite View feature is available for Netscape users.

• For system requirements for Windows, MAC and Sun computers see the OSU Site Licensed Software site RefWorks entry.

When OSU users leave the university they can ask RefWorks for an individual subscription or they can output their files in a format that can be imported into one of the desktop bibliographic management products. 

Accounts that have been inactive for a year will be deleted annually (usually in the summer). Users will be emailed in advance. The first group of inactive accounts were deleted March 2007.

Create a RefWorks Account

• To create an account connect to RefWorks via OSU Libraries' proxy.  Once you have an account you can connect via the proxied link or directly to www.refworks.com, where you must enter the OSU Subscriber Group Code number included in the RefWorks confirmation e-mail. 

• Click Sign up for an Individual Account.

• Complete the registration form.  

• RefWorks will send a confirmation email that includes your username/password and the OSU Subscriber Group Code number needed to access RefWorks and Write-N-Cite from off-campus. Keep this message. If you do not have this information connect to RefWorks, click Forgot your login? and enter your e-mail address. RefWorks will email this information.

• You can create a RefWorks account and share the username/password with others working with you on a project or class. Everyone with access to that RefWorks account will be able to add, edit and delete references.

• View Xavier University's instructions for creating a RefWorks account. Scroll past any Xavier Library Web site screen shots and follow the instructions for the RefWorks screen shots. 

Write-N-Cite

The RefWorks Write-N-Cite plug-in allows you to create footnotes and bibliographic citations as you write your paper using Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer on a Windows or MAC computer.

• Connect to RefWorks and enter your account username/password.

• In the Tools menu select Write-N-Cite, then the Windows or MAC version.

• View Xavier University's Write-N-Cite instructions on downloading and installing the plug-in. Scroll past any screen shots from the Xavier Library Web site and follow the instructions for the RefWorks screen shots. 

• For Write-N-Cite system requirements for Windows, MAC and Sun computers see the OSU Site Licensed Software site RefWorks entry.

• Netscape users must use One Line/Cite View which works similarly to Write-N-Cite, but works cross-platform with any word processor and browser. For information on One Line/Cite View see RefWorks Help or the RefWorks Tutorial. 

• See University of Wisconsin-Madison's Write-N-Cite Help document.

RefGrab-It

RefGrab-It works with your browser to capture bibliographic information from web pages giving you the option to import that data into your RefWorks account.  If an ISBN number, PubMed ID or DOI exist on the web page, RefGrab-It will automatically search various web resources to get supplemental information that may be of interest to you.  RefWorks may also locate RSS feeds related to that web page.

When you use RefGrab-It on a web page, it automatically opens a "temporary results page" in a new window.  You can view the information and additional resources first, then decide if you want to import the data.

Internet Explorer

• Log into into your RefWorks account.

• Open the Tools menu and select RefGrab-It.

• In the RefGrab-It instructions right-mouse click on the RefGrab-It link and select, Add to Favorites.  Locate the Links folder and select it. 

• RefGrab-It will appear in the Name area, click on OK.  When you want to use RefGrab-It in your browser select Favorites, Links, RefGrab-It.

Firefox

• Log into into your RefWorks account.

• In Firefox, make sure your bookmarks toolbar is selected and displayed (View, Toolbar, Bookmarks Toolbar).

• Open the Tools menu and select RefGrab-It.

• In the RefGrab-It instructions right-mouse click on the RefGrab-It link and select Bookmark This Link.  In the "Create in:" box select Bookmarks Toolbar, click OK.

Netscape

• RefGrab-It is not currently compatible with this browser.

Using RefWorks with Research Databases

RefWorks has been tested with the research databases listed in the table below.

• Search the research databases using the database interface. Many databases have an option to export records directly into RefWorks. For other databases you must export the records to disk and use the RefWorks import function.  The appropriate method for each database interface is described in the database instructions accessed from the table below.

• Direct export from the research database to RefWorks works if off campus access was via the OSU Libraries' proxied link or OSU's RefWorks Subscriber Group Code.

• Direct export may not work if the browser pop-up blocker is ON; turn OFF the pop-up blocker.

• Locate the database name in the table below and click the vendor name in the right column to view Xavier University's  instructions for exporting records from that database interface and importing them into RefWorks. The instructions assume you know how to search the database and show how to mark/export records. Print these instructions for easy reference as you search the database you want to use.

• Connect to OSU research databases via the OSU Libraries' Research Databases Web page.

• The OSU Libraries may not subscribe to the specific database used in Xavier University's instructions. However the OSU Libraries has other databases from that vendor and exporting database records and importing them into RefWorks works as illustrated in Xavier's instructions.

• For databases not listed in the table below you can manually add citations to RefWorks. On the RefWorks toolbar open  References and select Add New Reference.

• RSS Feeds can be saved in your RefWorks account and run from RefWorks.  In the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center and PubMed you can save a favorite search or journal alert as an RSS feed, copy the URL for the RSS feed and paste it into the RefWorks Search menu RSS Feed option. (March 2007)

Help

• RefWorks Quick Start Guide.

• RefWorks Tutorial.  Excellent overview; good way to review specific RefWorks functions.

• RefWorks PowerPoint presentation.  Detailed information on using RefWorks.

• Email a question to OSU librarians. 

EndNote, ProCite and Reference Manager Users

Users of these desktop bibliographic management applications can export their databases from these desktop applications and import them into RefWorks, instructions.  ProCite users should first download the RIS-Endnote.pos filter and save it to their ProCite/Styles directory.

Databases

The following databases have been tested with RefWorks.