Subject Research, Course Guides, Documentation: RefWorks: Importing

Adding Material to RefWorks

There are several ways to enter bibliographic information / documents into RefWorks:

Be aware: in most of these instances, you are importing merely bibliographic information into RefWorks, not the actual document itself.

Importing bibliographic information from Primo (the Library search engine)
- In Primo, select sources, click the three dots, and choose RefWorks
Importing bibliographic information from databases
- In your database, select sources, click Save or Export (depending on database), and choose RefWorks.
- As the methods vary from DB to DB, see the Common Database Import Methods box below for methods of importing from specific databases.
Importing bibliographic information from Google Scholar
- Click the Quotation Marks (") under the Google Scholar search result of interest. Then, click the RefWorks link
Importing bibliographic information via RefWorks' Search Databases feature
- In RefWorks, choose Search Databases. Then, in the drop-down menu in the upper left, start typing in the database that you wish to search for (not all are available) and select the right option. Then, enter your subject keywords in the search field or choose Advanced Search for more control. To search, click the magnifying glass. When you have results, select those you are interested in, and click Import to put their bibliographic information in your library.
- UPDATE (4/13/20): Primo can be accessed through RefWorks' Search Databases feature. To do so, in the drop-down menu in the upper left, start typing in Union College and select it when it appears.
Uploading a bibliographic file (such as a .RIS or BibTex file)
- In RefWorks, click the + / Add, and choose Import References
Uploading a document (such as a pdf or docx)
- In RefWorks, click the + / Add, and choose Upload Document
- Beware: if the document's bibliographic information is not clear to RefWorks, that info will be misread--so when uploading documents be sure to double check whether the bibliographic information is correct, and edit where necessary
Entering reference information by hand
- In RefWorks, click the + / Add, and choose Create New Reference

Common Database Import Methods

Import references from:

ACS publications:

Select the checkboxes next to the articles/chapters you want to download on any Search Results page or Table of Contents lists.

Click the Download Citations button.

Select RIS format. Select the form of citation (with abstract, references, etc.) Select Download Citations. Using your browser's Save As function, navigate to the local drive and directory where you want to save the file. Click Save.

Select ACS Publications as the data source and RIS Format as the database. Browse to find the text file you saved to your computer.

Click Import. Your records should appear in the Last Imported Folder.

Inspec/BIOSIS/Web of Science:

Mark your records, select the fields to include in the export, select Save to other Reference Software in the drop-down and select “Save to Plain Text.”

You will be prompted to save a .txt file to your computer. Click Save and choose an appropriate drive and file name. Click Save, then Close.

Select Thomson Reuters as the data source and Web of Science or Inspec as the database. Browse to find the text file you saved to your computer.

Click Import. Your records should appear in the Last Imported Folder or the designated folder of your choice.

PubMed:

Mark the records you wish to export.

Click on the Display Settings link and select Medline and click the Apply button.

Your results will be displayed in a tagged format. Using your browser's Save As function, navigate to the local drive and directory where you want to save the file and save the file in the text (. txt) format.

Select NLM PubMed as the data source and as the database. Browse to find the text file you saved to your computer.

Click Import. Your records should appear in the Last Imported Folder

SciFinder Web:

From the search results page select the references you want to import.

Click Export (from the top of the results list).

In the Export options, select All or Selected.

Name your file. Select Tagged Format (*.txt) as the file type. Click Export.

Select CAS SciFinder as the data source and CAPlus as the database. Browse to find the text file you saved to your computer.

Click Import. Your records should appear in the Last Imported Folder.

Schaffer Library LibGuides

RefWorks: Importing

Adding Material to RefWorks

Common Database Import Methods