RefWorks is an online program to help organize your research. You can create an account through the library’s homepage, or by following this link. Using RefWorks, you can easily put citations you find in different academic databases, like Academic Search Premier and JSTOR, into a single, personal RefWorks database. You can organize your research within RefWorks using folders, and can add notes to different sources. RefWorks can also help you create a bibliography for your paper–you can select individual references, or a folder full of references and create a bibliography in several different styles (including APA and MLA). RefWorks also provides some additional tools, RefGrab-It and Write-N-Cite, which help making citations within your papers even easier.
Getting Started with RefWorks
To create an account, simply follow the link to RefWorks on the library’s homepage (or click here). From the login screen, you can create an individual account. Once you’ve finished creating your account, you’ll be taken to your new RefWorks database.
RefWorks 2.0
If you’ve just created a new account, it will already be in the newest version. However, if you already have a RefWorks account, you will have to shift to RefWorks 2.0. You can access it by selecting ‘RefWorks 2.0′ in the upper right hand corner of the screen. It’ll ask you to confirm that you want to switch, and then you can get started in the new interface. (It’s a MUCH friendlier interface than RefWorks Classic, so I would recommend giving it a shot–and you are able to switch back to RefWorks Classic if you’re not a fan).
Once you’ve shifted over to RefWorks 2.0, you’ll notice three buttons near the top of your screen (New Folder, Bibliography, and New Reference) and two tabs below them (References and Organize & Share Folders). These will be your primary tools for navigating and organizing references.
For a quick guide about navigating RefWorks, you can view a video here, or check out this handy .PDF file.
To add references to your RefWorks database, you can enter them manually, by hitting the ‘Add Reference’ button…or you can import them from a database using DirectExport.
For a quick guide about adding references to your RefWorks database via DirectExport, you can view a video here, or check out this handy .PDF file.
Additionally, you can use one of RefWorks’ tools, RefGrab-It, to add items from the web easily.
You can organize your references into folders to make keeping track of what you’ve used in different papers easier–and you can use these folders to quickly create bibliographies.
For a quick guide about using folders in RefWorks to organize your references, you can view a video here, or check out this handy .PDF file.
Finally, RefWorks offers many advanced tools and features to finely hone how your resources are sorted, and to help you get your reference works cited quickly and easily. Write-N-Cite, for instance, creates a bibliography for you as you write your paper. Take a look around RefWorks and explore, or stop by the reference desk for help. We’re happy to show off some of the cool features of RefWorks! You can also e-mail ColeReference@cornellcollege.edu with questions!