RefWorks Tutorial: Sharing information

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RefWorks Update User Info dialogSharing information about references with others

There are two important reasons to share information in a RefWorks collection: to allow colleagues or instructors to work with your references, and to make backup copies of your own work.

Setting up read-only access to your references

You can set a read-only password for your RefWorks collection, allowing colleagues or instructors to view, copy, and create bibliographies from your references.

  1. Click the link Update User Info at the top of the page.
  2. Enter a read-only password
  3. Click Update

Now, users can log into RefWorks using your Login Name and read-only password to view your sources (see example).

Right: Refworks dialog for updating user information


Exporting information about references

Exporting information allows you to:

  • Make a backup copy of your references
  • Import RefWorks references into another bibliography manager (such as EndNote)
  • Save RefWorks information in a "neutral" format that can be manipulated by spreadsheets, databases, etc.

The most important reason is to make copies of your work. We strongly advise Northwestern users to back up reference collections frequently to a file on their own computer so that the chance of information being lost during the eventual migration to a local Northwestern server is minimized.

  1. In RefWorks, click Export (see example)
  2. Select the appropriate format
    • RefWorks Tagged Tormat for saving a copy of your work.
    • Bibliographic Management Software for sharing with EndNote, et al.
    • Tab Delimited for inserting into spreadsheets and databases
    • Citation List for a simple, stripped-down, text file that gives only the basic information about your references
  3. Click Export to Text File

Exporting backup copies of your references is cheap insurance. Reference collections saved in RefWorks Tagged Format can be imported back into RefWorks using the same procedure for importing references from databases.

  
 

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