Managing Your References

RefWorks provides you a number of tools to organize, edit, and view references in your database. There is no limit on the number of folders you can create within your RefWorks account.

Creating Folders:

  1. From the pull-down menu Folders, select Create New Folder.
  2. Enter a name in New Folder Name; click OK.

Helpful Hint: The Last Imported folder contains only references from your most recent data import that have not been filed in other folders. References that were unfiled from previous imports are still available in your primary database. To view them go to View > Folder > “References not in a Folder.”

Putting References into Folders:
You can sort references immediately after importing them, which would mean selecting sources from the  “Last Imported" folder or you can perform a search to retrieve references already in your RefWorks database to put in a folder.

  1. Either perform a search or go to "Last Imported" or "References not in a Folder."
  2. Mark desired references from the search results page, then click the "Selected" button. The selected references feature works on a page-by-page basis; this means that you must add the selected references to the desired folder before moving to the next page. Alternatively, you can mark All in List or all on a Page.
  3. Select folder from the Put in Folder drop-down menu.
  4. References will automatically be added to the indicated folder.

Helpful Hint: References can be assigned to more than one folder.

Sorting References:

  1. From either the View or Folders pull-down menu, select a folder or group of references. 
  2. Using the pull-down menu Sort by, located on top right hand side of the page, choose to view references by various fields within your database.

Globally Editing References:

  1. From the View pull-down menu, select All References or a folder of references. You can also globally edit references from search results in RefWorks.
  2. Select the references you wish to edit.
  3. Click on Global Edit.
  4. Choose the specific field to edit from the drop-down list.
  5. Type in the data you want to add to the field in the Change Field to: box.
  6. Select the appropriate option for handling the field — Append to Existing Data; Overwrite Existing Data (what you currently have in the field will be gone); Leave Existing Data Alone (if the field contains data the edit feature will skip over that particular reference).
  7. Click OK.

Helpful Hint: This feature is particularly useful for adding information to records imported from online databases missing key fields necessary for a specific bibliographic output style.

Viewing Your References:
When viewing All References, references in a Folder, or references within any search results, you can choose several different ways to display them. Note: The display is customizable under the Tools pull-down menu, Customize. 

  1. From the View pull-down menu, select All References or select one of the folders that you created.
  2. Go to the Switch To pull-down menu, select the output style for your selected references.

You may have up to 6 styles in the pull-down menu. Options available:

  • Standard View (includes Author, Year, Title fields)
  • One Line/Cite View 
  • Full View (all fields within record)
  • 3 customizable output style views (i.e. APA, MLA, or Chicago)