Legacy RefWorks: Home

Check out Zotero as an alternative or see what other citation managers can do:

• Zotero Info
• Citation Manager Comparisons (University of Wisconsin)
• Comparison of Citation Managers (Wikipedia)
• Reference Manager Overview

In addition, an article published in in Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship in 2011, "Reference Management Software: a Comparative Analysis of Four Products" discusses a comparison of Cite-ULike, Mendeley, RefWorks, and Zotero.

A number of resources are available that provide assistance with using RefWorks are are listed below:

• RefWorks Seminars
• RefWorks Quick Start Guide
• RefWorks LibGuide
• RefWorks Community
• RefWorks YouTube Channel
• RefShare Fact Sheet
• RefWorks 2.0 Help
• Resource Center

Questions can also be directed to libraryquestions@baylor.edu

NOTE: This guide provides information for using the legacy version of RefWorks.  Use the New RefWorks guide to learn about migrating to and using the new version of RefWorks.

RefWorks is a web-based tool (comparable to and compatible with EndNote) that builds a personal database of citations found through research by importing the citations from online resources including: the online library system (OneSearch), online databases to which the Baylor Libraries subscribe, web pages, and  RSS Feeds. Citations can be collected from online resources or added manually, organized in folders, incorporated into research papers, and automatically formatted for endnotes or footnotes or bibliographies using specified styles (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.).

RefWorks uses a rich database structure which gives users the ability to add detailed notes and other information to individual citations.  Because this informaiton is stored in a database, a researcher's RefWorks account becomes her personal research database, which can be searched for needed information. 

Additionally, thru the use of RefShare, all or part of a RefWorks account can be shared with others -- including individuals not affiliated with Baylor University -- with whom a researcher may be collaborating.

To get started with RefWorks, all you need to do is set up an account:

1. Go to http://www.refworks.com/refworks/. 
2. If you are off campus, you'll need to provide the RefWorks "Group Code" to identify Baylor University as your institution affiliation.
3. Click on “Sign Up for an Individual Account”.
4. Complete the information requested.
5. Click on the “Create Acount” button.
6. Congratulations you now have a RefWorks account!!

In the future, you can login to RefWorks using your newly created user name and password.

Note, you can have more than one account in RefWorks.  Some reasons for having multiple accounts include:

• Students collaborating on a project can set up a RefWorks account for the project, using a user name and password they all know.  This way, they can each log on to this specific account and add resources to the account for the project.
• Instructors may want students to gather research on specific topics and build a common knowledgebase for the class as a whole.  The instructor can create a RefWorks account for this purpose, create folders appropriate to the topics to be investigated, and give the students the user name and password so they can add content to the class RefWorks account.
• Students may be working on a major research project (thesis or dissertation).  A separate RefWorks account for that specific project may facilitate the management of the resources gathered for that project.

Once you have created your account, you can adjust the default preferences to better meet your needs.  To set these preferences, from the "Quick Access" menu, select "Customize".  Some changes you might consider making include:

• Change the number of citations that displays on a page from the default (25) to any number up to 500.
• Select up to 3 output styles which can be used to view your citations while in RefWorks -- as opposed to using the one of the RefWorks views ("Standard", "One Line/Cite View", and "Full View").  With this option customized, it means that you can look at a list of citations in the RefWorks environment displayed according to the style you select.  If it's a style you use often, this feature enables you to see very quickly if there are any problems with the way the data displays in the selected style.
• Make sure you can see the folders associated with references by setting "Show Folder Information For Each Reference" to yes.
• Define a field for a specific kind data that you will be collecting that doesn't fit any of the predefined fields in a record.  There are 15 user-defined fields available.