RefWorks Tutorial: Northwestern-specific information

Important information for Northwestern users of RefWorks

When creating an account, use your NU netid as your Login Name, but choose a different password

You should give your RefWorks account a different password than the one you use to access your NU email and other netid-accessible services.This is important! When you access your RefWorks account, you are making an unencrypted connection to a server that is not managed by Northwestern. It is possible for an unencrypted password to be intercepted, which would be very bad indeed.

Using your Northwestern netid as your Login Name will save you the bother of creating a new account later when Northwestern starts running its own local RefWorks server. For safety's sake, you should make copies of your references to insure that your data is not accidentally lost during the transition between the old and new servers.

To access your Northwestern RefWorks account, you must be connected to the Northwestern network or use group code RWNorthwesternU

You can access your RefWorks account from any computer that is connected to the Northwestern network (either directly or using a dialup connection). If you are using another Internet Service Provider, you will need to set up a Virtual Private Network session. Or, you can specify the group code RWNorthwesternU.

When importing references from NUcat, the NU library catalog, the name of the import filter is "Endeavor Voyager"

It is not immediately obvious which filter to use when importing sources from the library catalog. "Endeavor Voyager" is the name of the software used by Northwestern and other universities to run their library catalogs.

• Select Endeavor Voyager from the list of filters (screenshot)
• Select Northwestern University (long view) from the list of databases

Not all database search results can be imported directly into RefWorks. The list of available import filters is subject to change.

RefWorks currently supports many of the indexes and other databases available through Northwestern's library website. A complete list of available filters is being prepared. If you are having difficulty working with a particular database, please contact us.

What database search results can be imported into RefWorks?

• NUcat
• OCLC databases (Article First, WorldCat, Medline, etc.)
• EBSCOhost databases (Academic Search Elite, etc.)
• Silverplatter databases (MLA bibliography, etc.)
• OVID databases (PsychINFO, etc.)
• Others

What database search results can NOT be imported?

• InfoTrac (EXAC)
• ProQuest (supported by RefWorks, but the ProQuest web interface does not offer option to export)
• Lexis/Nexis (Academic Universe)
• Others

Back up your reference collections

We strongly advise Northwestern users to back up reference collections frequently to a file on their own computer using Export so that the chance of information being lost during the eventual migration to a local Northwestern server is minimized.

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