Importing references from library databases using email

Accessing RefWorks

Importing references from library databases

• From a text file
• From email
• Using Direct Export

Importing references from NUcat

• Searching NUcat through RefWorks
• Importing NUcat search results

Entering references manually

Organizing your references

Creating and formatting bibliographies and reference lists

RefWorks-compatible databases available at Northwestern

Login to RefWorks

RefWorks Online Tutorial

RefWorks Quick Start Guide

Importing a text file from Expanded Academic ASAP

Expanded Academic ASAP does not offer the option of saving your search results to a text file. However, you can send search results by email, and the email message you receive is in a text format that RefWorks can understand.

1. Connect to Expanded Academic ASAP and conduct your search.
2. Select the article references that you want to save by checking the box next to a citation in the results list.
3. Click on the link marked “View mark list” on the left side of the browser window to pull up your list of marked records.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the list and locate the section labeled “E-Mail Delivery.” Select the radio button next to “Full article (if available).” Enter your email address and click “Submit E-Mail Request.”
5. Open your email program and retrieve your new messages. Each article citation you emailed from Expanded Academic ASAP will arrive as a separate message.
6. In another browser window, log into RefWorks and click the Import button near the top of the screen.
7. Set the Import Filter/Data Source menu to “Northwestern University” and then select “Expanded Academic ASAP (Full Text email) [GALE InfoTrac]” from the Database menu.
8. Switch over to your email and open an Expanded Academic ASAP citation message. Highlight the entire contents of the message and copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl+C for Windows, Apple key+C for Macintosh, or use the Copy command from your browser’s Edit menu).
9. Switch back to RefWorks. Click in the text box marked “Import Data from the following Text” and paste the message that you copied from email (Ctrl+V for Windows, Apple key+V for Macintosh, or use the Paste command from your browser’s Edit menu).
10. Click the Import button near the bottom of the screen. (Do not click the Import button at the top of the screen! That will reset the page you’re currently looking at.)
11. The import process begins. When it is finished, you’ll see the message “Import completed - 1 reference imported.” Click “View Last Imported Folder” to see your new reference.

Alternate method: If you are importing a lot of citations from Expanded Academic ASAP, it might be easier to copy each email message into one long text file using the Windows Notepad or TextEdit on a Mac. Make sure to insert a blank line between citations, and make sure you save the file in a plain text format. Then follow steps 11-13 under the instructions for Academic Search Elite to locate and import your text file.