RefWorks

Organize your research using . . .
How to: Easily create bibliographies and maintain a database of citations
Why Because you want a place to store your research that you can access online
Access RefWorks
Go to the library website (my.simmons.edu/library) and select RefWorks Bibliographic Citation Manager
from the Choose Your E-Resource (A-Z List)
Create an Account
If it is your first time using RefWorks, you must register for an account:
1. Click on “Sign up for an individual account”
2. Answer all their questions (name, login, password, etc.) and click “register”
Note: If you are using RefWorks from a computer off campus, you will need to verify your Simmons’
status with your Last Name and Student ID #.
You will also need to “Login using your Group Code” and then enter the group code: RWSimmonsC
Manage your Citations
Before adding citations, create folders to manage your database
1. Point to the “Folders” menu at the top
2. Click on “Create New Folder”
3. Type in the name of your new folder then Click “OK”
4. You will see “successfully created the folder” then Click “OK”
5. Verify the new folder was created by pointing to the “Folders” menu and then pointing to “View”
Add Citations
To Add Citations from any type of source Manually
1. Point to the “References” tab and then click on “Add New Reference”
2. Select the citation style (i.e. APA) you would like to use with “View fields used by” This adds green
checkmarks next to fields that you should use in this citation style.
3. Add to a folder through “In folder” (See How to Manage Citations)
4. Choose a “Reference Type” (i.e. Journal Article, Book)
5. Choose a “Source Type” (e.g. Print or Electronic)
6. Click on “Save Reference”
To Add Citations from the Library Catalog or Library Databases through Direct Export
1. The Library Catalog allows you to export the citation information from items in the catalog in to
RefWorks. When you are in the record you would like to export, click on the red “Add to RefWorks”
and RefWorks will pop up in another window. Sign in and assign the item to a folder (See How to
Manage Citations)
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2. Most Simmons Databases have a feature to export the citation information for articles and you
should click on export directly to RefWorks and RefWorks will pop up in another window. Sign in
and assign the item to a folder (See Managing Citations)
3. If the Direct Export feature is not available, you can import from a Saved File. Follow the
instructions in the database to save your selected items as a text file. Click on References and
Import within RefWorks. You will need to know the vendor for that database, which is usually
located in the upper left corner (i.e. EBSCO, Proquest). As always, please contact a librarian if you
need assistance.
To Add Citations from a Website using RefGrab-It
RefGrab-It is a link that you can bookmark that captures the citation information from a website. It
can be downloaded from RefWorks by pointing to “Tools” and then clicking on “RefGrab-It” From
there it functions the same way as Direct Export.
Note: When exporting information to RefWorks or using RefGrab-It, double check that all of
the required information is correct
Search your Database
Searching by Author or Descriptor – Point to “Search” then click on “Look up by Author” or “Look up
by Descriptor”
Create your Bibliography
1. Click on “Bibliography”
2. Select your “Output Style” (i.e. APA, MLA)
3. Select a “File Type to Create” (i.e. HTML, Word for Windows, Word for Mac)
4. Choose References from Folder and select a folder (otherwise your bibliography will contain all of
your citations, not just the ones for this specific research project)
5. Click on “Create Bibliography”
6. Double check your bibliography to ensure that everything looks right
Write N Cite
Write-N-Cite is a custom Add-In for Microsoft Word
1. Select “Write-N-Cite” from the “Tools” menu
2. Install the Add-In for Windows or Mac
3. This will install the Add-In in Word and add a shortcut to your desktop
4. Write-N-Cite allows you to use RefWorks within Word to cite your sources as you write.
Online Tutorials
There are some great online tutorials for RefWorks!
The Simmons library has information on the How-To section of the Research Guides Wiki:
http://libfs2.simmons.edu/researchguides/index.php/Category:How_To
RefWorks offers fantastic tutorials at the RefWorks website, found under the Help menu:
http://0-www.refworks.com.library.simmons.edu/tutorial/
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Collaboration and RefShare in
There are two ways to share resources using RefWorks, each allowing different levels of access to the
collaborators.
Group Accounts
What are they: Shared RefWorks accounts with a group login and multiple users
Ref Works does not limit the number of accounts users are able to create, so you are able to easily
create a new account to share among group members.
All collaborators have full access, use, and rights to the RefWorks user database and can add, delete,
move, and edit individual citations.
RefWorks has added fifteen notes fields defined as ‘user’ to each citation to serve as a ‘comments’
section for multiple users.
Group Accounts work just like individual accounts, and can be created using the same e-mail
address as your own individual account. You will need to enter a unique username and password
for the new account.
RefShare
What is it: A way to share lists of resources with anyone on the Internet
RefShare allows users to share their resources with anyone, even users who do not have a RefWorks
account.
Located under the ‘Share Folders’ option in the RefWorks ‘Folders’ menu, users are able to share all
of their folders or select only specific folders to share.
Sharers control whether or not users are able to print, export or create bibliographies, enable or
disable user comments on resources, create an RSS feed of the folder for others to access, and
specify the output style of the folder.
RefShare creates a custom URL to share with other users; this is how others gain access to the user’s
shared folder.
Users viewing the resources are unable to edit the folder or its contents in any way, but are able to
view real time changes in the folder contents.
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