Organising references
When you have collected lots of references, it's convenient to organise them in folders. You will probably also want to move references from one folder to another, eliminate duplicates, search amongst your references, and possibly share your references with colleagues.
Moving references between folders
Eliminating duplicate references
Folders and subfolders
You can organise your RefWorks references by putting them in folders and subfolders. To create a folder:
- Link to the <New Folder> button, near the top left corner of the screen
- Enter a name for the new folder
- Link to the <Create> button
You will then see a list of your folders on the right-hand side of the screen under the green "Folders" banner. If you right-click on one of your folders, several options are presented. These include:
- Creating a subfolder
- Renaming the folder
- Clearing the references out of the folder
- Deleting the folder
If you clear the references out of a folder, they are transferred into a "Not in Folder" folder.
Moving references between folders
Sometimes when you collect references, you don't have an option to put them directly into a particular folder and by default they go into the "Last Imported" folder. When this happens, you will want to move them into the relevant folder as soon as possible. The new version of RefWorks (RefWorks 2.0) makes this easy.
- Start with the "References" tab displayed
- Check that the "Last Imported" folder is displayed
- Mark the references you wish to move
- Note that the "Selected" radio button is highlighted
- Link to the relevant folder in the folders drop-down menu
If you want to temporarily work on a group of references from different folders, you might find it convenient to move them into the "My List" folder, which appears at the top of the folders drop down menu.
Eliminating duplicate references
If you collect references from two or three databases, you will probably find that you collect some duplicates. It's easy to eliminate duplicate references, but caution is necessary if any of the references are already included in bibliographies you have created with RefWorks. Best practice is to eliminate any duplicates, before you use the references in a bibliography. To deduplicate across all your references:
- Link to <All References> from the View drop down menu
- Link to <View/ Duplicates>
- Link to either <Exact Duplicates> or <Close Duplicates>
- Review the list and delete duplicates as appropriate
Exact matches are usually duplicates, whilst close matches are usually different documents.
Searching for references
The search features within RefWorks become very useful, if you collect hundreds of references. You can do simple and advanced searches and there are also three browse options (author, descriptor and journal). There is a simple search box in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The advanced search and the browse options are available from the "Search" drop-down menu.
Editing records
You might want to add your own index word(s) to a record to help you find it more easily, or you could want to add a personal note. To edit a record:
- Display the record
- Link to the <Pencil icon> at the far end of the reference bar
- Edit the record as required, e.g. add your own index words in the descriptors field
- Link to the <Save Reference> button
Sharing references
You might want to share your references with colleagues in a research group. There are two options for doing this.
One option is to create a new RefWorks account and then give the login name and password to research group members. This way all members of the research group can view the references, add new references and edit references. If you are doing this, it's recommended that you create a separate RefWorks account, rather than share the details of your personal account. All research group members should be based at Brunel.
A second option is to use RefShare to share selected folders. This way other research group members can view the references in the folders you have opened up, but they cannot edit them or add new references. Using this option, the other research group members don't need to be based at Brunel.
- By default, the "References" tab is displayed
- Link to the adjacent "Organize & Share Folders" tab
- Link to the <folder with green arrow icon> corresponding to the folder you wish to share
- Link to the <Share> button
- Link to the <Save> button
- Right click on the <folder with RefShare icon>
- Link to <Email this share>
- Enter e-mail addresses of recipient(s)
- Link to the <Send Email> button
