Reference Management: RefWorks

How can I get help with RefWorks?

See links below for various options for getting help and support with RefWorks.

Support from the Library

The University of Huddersfield librarians are always happy to help!

• Email us: library@hud.ac.uk.
• Book an online appointment (note: these are held online, via Teams. If you need a face-to-face appointment please email us to arrange).
• Library Live: Online training from the library. We hold regular online training sessions on referencing and reference management, among other topics. See this page for upcoming events, and recordings of previous training.

Support from ProQuest

ProQuest, the company that owns RefWorks, provides comprehensive guidance and technical support.

• RefWorks online user guide.
• RefWorks YouTube channel.
• Report a problem or request technical support.

RefWorks is a cloud-based tool that gives you an online library of references you can access from any web browser. You can store and manage your references online, and generate automatic citations and references to copy and paste.

There is also a plugin for Word, RefWorks Citation Manager (RCM), that allows you to insert citations and references automatically as you write. This plugin is already available in the University's Office365 version of Word.

The video below was made by ProQuest, the owners of RefWorks, to demonstrate the key features:

What is RefWorks Reference Manager? [YouTube link]

Setting up a RefWorks account

The University of Huddersfield has a subscription to RefWorks. You do not automatically get an account; you must register first before you are able to use it.  

To sign up:

• Go to RefWorks ProQuest.
• Select ‘Use login from my institution’ and start typing ‘Huddersfield’. Select ‘University of Huddersfield’ from the list.
• On the next screen, enter your institutional email address (@unimail.hud.ac.uk for undergraduates and @hud.ac.uk for staff and researchers) and click “Check”. On the next screen, click “Sign up”.
• Confirm the activation link in the email sent to your email account.
• The link will take you to RefWorks, where you can accept some cookies and fill in some profile information about your role at the University.

You’re now all signed up and ready to start adding things to your RefWorks library!

Adding references from Summon

You can save items from Summon either individually, or in a group.

Individually

• Next to the result, click on the three small dots, which is labelled ‘More Actions’
• Select RefWorks from the dropdown.
• Follow the steps to import. You can either import it to your library, or sort it straight into a folder.

Group save

• Click the bookmark ribbon icon next to the result(s). It is labelled ‘Save this item’. This will save it into a temporary folder, visible at the top of Summon. 
• Click as many items as you wish to save at the same time.
• Once you have selected all the items you wish to export, click the bookmark folder at the top right of the page.
• Click on ‘Export to…’ and select RefWorks, then go through the process as before.

Adding references from other sources

You can export to RefWorks from Google Scholar, and other academic databases. Most scholarly databases will have an option to "export", "download", "cite", "reference", or similar language. RefWorks also has a web clipper to enable you to save webpages and other online content. See video below for instructions.

• Saving references from Google Scholar, other databases, and websites [video].

Creating citations and reference list

Note: The University of Huddersfield’s referencing style is APA 7th. RefWorks has a few slightly different versions of the style available. We recommend you choose the following:

APA 7th - Sentence Casing, DOI: https://doi.org/  

This style will automatically turn any titles into “sentence case” (only the first word of the title, and first word of a subtitle, starts with a capital letter). This will mean if there are proper nouns in the title then you will need to correct these back to having capital letters. 

RefWorks has two options to generate citations and references to copy and paste into your assignment. There is also a built-in referencing tool for Word, called RefWorks Citation Manager.

Quick cite

• To create a citation, click on the ‘Create Bibliography’ button and select ‘Quick cite.’
• Choose your APA 7th style (see note above) and click ‘Continue’.
• Select the source you want to cite, and you can copy and paste it into your work.

Create bibliography

• Click the check box next to each resource you want in your bibliography, or choose ‘Select All’. You can do this in your main library or in folders.
• Click on ‘Create Bibliography’, then choose your APA 7th style (see note above).
• This will generate your full bibliography in alphabetical order. You can then copy and paste it into your work. 

RefWorks Citation Manager (RCM)

RefWorks Citation Manager (RCM) is a plugin for Microsoft Word. It allows you to quickly insert and edit citations and is available for Word 2016 and above. It is already installed on University computers and laptops. If you are using the University of Huddersfield version of Office365, downloaded from your UniMail, RCM may also be pre-installed. 

• In Microsoft Word, select "Add-Ins" from the Home tab on the ribbon.

• If you are using the University’s Office365 licence, click “Admin Managed” and then click “RefWorks Citation Manager”. 

• If using your own version of Office365, click “Store” and search for RefWorks. Select RefWorks Citation Manager, and click 'Add' to Install. 
• RCM will now be installed in your tool bar on Microsoft Word.

Click the RCM tab on the ribbon, and it will open a pane on the right side of the document. It will prompt you to sign in with your RefWorks account, which syncs your library, and your references will appear. You can use the institutional login option here, or sign in with a username and password if you have created one.

For instructions on using RCM in Word, see this video guide.

For other common tasks within RefWorks, please see the links below.

• Organising references with folders [video].
• Editing and tagging references [video].
• Deduplicating references in your library.
• Importing a PDF into RefWorks.