UMN subscribes to RefWorks, an online reference-management system. We can share articles and references if you are working with me on a project or taking a class with me.

Quick links

• Geog account
• Finding articles
• Combining Endnote and Refworks
• Sharing articles with Dr. Manson

Geog Account

We use a shared account called 'geog' that has the password 'geog'. This account has general, read-only access.

Creating your own account. While you are free to use the 'geog' account, you may find it easier to have your own account as well. You can import references from the 'geog' account to your own.

Keeping track of references. Given the number of people using the account for different reasons, we use keywords (RefWorks calls them descriptors) and folders to keep track of individual references.

• Course references. Students in my classes can find citations for material used in class. Search on the descriptor for the class using the stem "geog" and the class number (e.g., geog5561, geog5563, geog5565, or geog8292).
• Projects. If I am working with you on a project, we will use a descriptor specific to that project (e.g., they SYPR project uses "sypr" or the Multifunctional Agriculture Project will use "mfa")
• Individual students: If I am working with Jill Smith on bird habitat, she and I will add references and include the descriptor "@" + her UMN x500 ID (in other words, the unique part of her UMN email address). Now, when Jill wants to see what she added for references, she can search on the "@smith001" descriptor and bring up all of the references she needs for her project. We can also use general descriptors to keep track of pertinent references (e.g., articles with "bird" and "habitat" as separate descriptors can be searched for jointly).

Folders. If you are doing a lot of bibliography work, create a folder in your account that stores the pertinent references. Folder are a 'logical' construct in that multiple folders can contain the same reference and deleting a folder does not delete the references contained therein. It is just another way of organizing references.

Bibliographies. One advantage of using RefWorks is that you can insert a citation into a MS Word or WordPerfect document as you are working on it with the "Write-N-Cite" program. Then you can create a bibliography automatically in a range of styles. This means that you only have to enter the citation once and then you never type it again. See below for similar functionality in EndNote.

Finding Articles

Locally: We have copies of many references found in the RefWorks database. A RefWorks record will have one of two descriptors:

• A descriptor of "@PA" denotes that we possess an analog (e.g., paper) copy either in Dr. Manson's office or in the HEGIS lab, 420 Blegen.
• A descriptor of "@PD" denotes that we possess a digital copy, one of 900 articles available in digital format from our FTP server. Contact me for the login ID and password. The 'Pubs' subdirectory has copies of any document in RefWorks with the @PD descriptor. If you find a better version of a file, send it to me and I will make the substitution.

UMN and beyond: We have access to articles at electronically and in analog format through several mechanisms:

• Take a look at the literature review page for information on finding articles in general.
• When looking at references in the 'standard' view in RefWorks, you can click on the "FindIt" button on the far right of each record/reference and find out where at UMN you can find the reference (although see if we already have a copy in the ftp server).
• If you find a new reference, please track down the paper so that both you and others have access to it. If you can get it as a digital version (best choice) send it to me and I will make sure it joins the others on the FTP server. If it is not available digitally, please make a double-sided copy and then let me borrow it for a few days so that I can have a shared copy made. I will return your copy ASAP.

Combining Endnote and Refworks

Endnote is a stand-alone reference management system that is fuller featured than RefWorks and lets you work offline, but it is expensive. If you want to use Endnote you can use one of two routes. Either way, treat the online RefWorks bibliography as the 'official' bibliography and your Endnote version as a copy.

The first is the standard way of transferring references but it is less than perfect because it messes up book sections. It is straightforward, however.

• Export the references from RefWorks as Refman Format.
• Import the references into a temporary EndNote library with Refman(RIS) as your import filter
• Sort on the 'label' field, and then copy all the references from the temporary library into your final library.

The second way of getting RefWorks references into EndNote is to use a custom filter I have created. No guarantees, but it seems to work so far, and preserves all reference types.

• Copy the filter file below into C:\Program Files\EndNote 9\Filters
• Select aaRefworksTaggedFormat.enf as a filter option with Edit | Import Filters | Open import filter manager
• Export the references from RefWorks as Refworks Export Tagged Format.
• Import the references into a temporary EndNote library with aaRefworksTaggedFormat.enf as your import filter
• Sort on the 'label' field, and then copy all the references from the temporary library into your final library

I also find it easier to enter new references into EndNote (e.g., especially if you are automatically importing it from a web search site). You can then use the EndNote output style of Refman(RIS)', copy selected references with Ctrl-K, and then import references directly into RefWorks as text from the clipboard.

Sharing articles with Dr. Manson

If you are an RA for Dr. Manson or working with him on project, you may be collating citations for entry in to the geog RefWorks account and collecting their associated articles.

When entering citations, bear the following general principles in mind:

• Enter citations into your own RefWorks account or an Endnote bibliography. Dr. Manson will import this library into the geog account once you are finished a major round of citations. Take a quick pass through the list or a complied bibliography for any last minute changes, which are better made now than discovered later in an article proof.
• Double check that each citation does not already exist in the main geog account (see Finding Articles above). In addition to saving effort, once imported, duplicates must remain in the geog account, which wastes space and makes for a tough time citing articles because there may be more than one to choose from.
• If you discover a duplicate in the geog account, let Dr. Manson know. Existing duplicates are marked with a DUPLICATE descriptor and have DUPLICATE appended to their titles. These are replaced by other references over time.
• As noted above, if you are tracking down an article, try to get the electronic version. If we do not have electronic access, consult with Dr. Manson before getting the paper copy or sending off for an interlibrary loan.
• If you accessing an article online, see if they give you the option of importing the article directly into EndNote or RefWorks (often via a RIS file, which EndNote can open automatically or RefWorks can import).
• Related to the use of .RIS files and the like, cut and paste where possible! Minimize the amount of typing you do - it takes more time and produces more mistakes.

When entering citations into EndNote or RefWorks, keep in mind the following formatting issues:

• Author: Author names should be entered last name first (e.g., Manson, S. M.; not S. M. Manson). RefWorks does better this way. If you are working in EndNote, give each author name its own line. Again, this makes it easier to import into RefWorks.
• Title: Articles and book sections should be in sentence case (capitalized first word, remaining words in lower case save for proper names and so on). Book and report titles should be in title case (all letters capitalized, save for short words like and, or, it, etc.) Do not have trailing periods in titles (i.e., do not end the title with a period unless that is the author's intention).
• Volume/Issue/Pages: do your best to have the volume, issue, and page range for an article - a citation is not much good without these elements. For a book section, produce the page range.
• Text: Use the standard ASCII alphabet. For now, although it is unfortunate and incorrect for many language, get rid of accented characters in author names or titles. The formatting of these and other UNICODE or foreign alphabets get messed up in both RefWorks and EndNote.
• Abstract: get the article abstract - you can usually cut and paste from the original citation or online abstract.
• Descriptors: be sure to enter a few appropriate descriptors, including the @PA or @PD tag (see Finding Articles above).
• Page numbering: it's a pain, but do not use the 'Other page' field in RefWorks. RefWorks stores the pair of page numbers that denote the start and end of an article (e.g., pp. 3-11) in two separate fields, "Start page" and "Other page". Most other bibliographic packages just use one field, however, so store the entire page reference (e.g., 3-11) in the "Start page" field and ignore the "Other page" field. The only drawback to this approach is that RefWorks will not as effectively deal with page numbering (e.g., it won't convert 112-119 to 112-19) but it is worth the cost of making RefWorks play nice with other programs.