Political Science Research Guide 

RefWorks is an online bibliographic management system that allows you to import citations from over 800 databases and the WU library catalog.

What can I do with RefWorks?

1. Create and manage bibliographic citations in your personal RefWorks database.

2. Export your citations in multiple formats (MLA, Chicago, APA...)

3. Import citations from over 800 databases and the WU Catalog.

4. Search and retrieve citations from your database.

5. Share your references online with other researchers.

RefWorks Login Page

Quick Start Guide

RefWorks Help

Tutorial

FAQs

Sign up for an Individual Account to begin using Refworks (No cost) 
Tutorial on logging into RefWorks

Off-campus users must authenticate through the library proxy server. To access RefWorks through the proxy server, you can:

• always access RefWorks from links on our library web pages
• create a bookmark or shortcut to the following address:
  http://libproxy.wustl.edu/login?url=http://www.refworks.com/refworks/

Note: When logging in from off-campus via the proxy server, you will receive a security certificate error. This is because the security certificate is being read as www.refworks.com.libproxy.wustl.edu when you log in through the proxy server. Accept the exception/click OK (depending on your web browser) to continue to RefWorks.

There are a number of ways to add citations to your RefWorks account:

• Use the direct export feature found in many databases and the WU Catalog
• Import from saved text files
• Add references manually
• Convert to RefWorks from other bibliographic formatting programs including: EndNote, Reference Manager, Pro Cite, Papyrus

Import instructions for specific databases (i.e., JSTOR, Google Scholar, PubMed)

There are a couple of ways to get citations from the WU Catalog into your RefWorks account:

• export the citations from the catalog, and import them into RefWorks (see below), OR
  
• search the catalog directly within RefWorks.  That's more straightforward, but there are fewer search options to locate what you want in the catalog.  The process is described on this RefWorks help page.

If you want to do the export/import process: 

1. Search the catalog to find the citations you want, and mark each one (click the Save Marked Records button on any results screen, or the Save Record button on the record for an individual item). 
   
2. Click the View Saved button, and then Export Saved button on the next screen. 
   
3. Choose Full Display for the format, and Local Disk for the 'Send List to' option, then click Submit.  You can open the text file, or save it (someplace you can find it again!). 
   
4. Log in to your RefWorks account
5. On the toolbar, choose References, then Import.
6. Choose 'Washington University, St. Louis, MO' for the Import Filter/Data Source
7. Choose 'Washington University Catalog (Full Display)' for the Database
8. Then either Browse to your saved file (will be called export.txt), or copy the text from the text file, and paste it into the 'Import Data from the following Text' box and click the Import button.
9. You can then View Last Imported Folder to see the citations you just imported.

There are four ways to create output in RefWorks. You can:

• Use Write-N-Cite to format your paper from within Word
• Use the One Line/Cite View to cite references
• Create a Reference List
• Use RefWorks to format your paper

Additional 'Help' can be found within RefWorks under 'Output and Formatting'

Using Write-N-Cite

Most people prefer using Write-N-Cite for creating formatted references and bibliographies. There are a few preliminary steps to take to use this part of the RefWorks program

1. Download Write-N-Cite
2. Install Write-N-Cite

Important tip: Using Write-N-Cite off-campus

Off-campus Write-N-Cite (WNC) users need to make one quick change after downloading and installing WNC:

For Windows:

1. Select the Start Button-->Programs-->RefWorks-->WNC Configuration Utility
2. Paste in the following URL:
   http://libproxy.wustl.edu/login?url=http://www.refworks.com/refworks/
3. Click OK
4. WNC should now be configured. You will be prompted for your Log-in Name and Password when WNC starts

For Macs:

1. Open Write-N-Cite--> From the toolbar at the top of the screen, select the Write-N-Cite menu (toolbar maybe hidden by the WNC window)-->Preferences--> Select Proxy
2. Paste in the following URL:
   http://libproxy.wustl.edu/login?url=http://www.refworks.com/refworks/
3. Restart Write-N-Cite
4. WNC should now be configured. You will be prompted for your Log-in Name and Password when WNC starts

Contact your Subject Librarian for more information

For technical assistance contact Sarah Bombich, Arc Technology Center Manager sbombich@wustl.edu

Workshops (tbd)

Web site: http://www.refworks.com/

Email: Info@refworks.com