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Sebastian Tyrrell

A quick guide to MyReferences

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Edited by Sebastian Tyrrell, Thursday, 29 May 2014, 11:09

Introduction

This does not replace the MyReferences description in the computing guide, or the Library's how-to on RefWorks. It is just intended to give a really quick overview of a couple of key features - creating a reference, creating a bibliography and automatic import of references - for the student in a hurry.

The MyReferences tool can be found in the "Tools" section on the left hand side of your StudentHome page

I suggest opening it in a separate tab and keeping it open while you work. The first time you access it you may have to set up your refworks account: just follow the instructions.

The page you get includes some general description, but look in the bar on the left hand side where you will see two important areas. First

gives you the key tools; while further down you will see this

Apart from the support and guidance links the key thing here is the access to your refworks account.

Create a reference.

If you click on "create reference" you will get a page like this

 

Simply select the appropriate reference type and then fill in all the data you can find. Really important data are author, title, year of publication and for electronic documents date you accessed the document (this is important because online resources can change or move). Note that in the case of a book there is a database lookup option: by entering the ISBN of the Renewable Energy book and clicking "Get data (ISBN)" I get:

- so some, though not all, fields are filled in for me (how many depends on the information in the database).

Create list of references.

Once you have your references you will want to create a bibliography or list of references. Here you click "Create bibliography" and choose the references you want to include - if only using MyReferences for a single document such as an EMA just tick "include  all references", otherwise the easiest option is to create a folder and include the references you need there.

 

Make sure you select the output style "Open University (Harvard)". Click on the "Create bibliography button" and you will get something like

The first entries (above the line) are the appropriate citations you should use in your document, with the second part being the full reference you put in the References or Bibliography section at the end. (References are resources you have used and cited directly, Bibliography is used more for background material - additional reading if you like.

Now you could use the export function to create an RTF but I just keep the window open and copy and paste directly.

Automatic import

To use the automatic import you need to be logged in to RefWorks. The easiest way to do this is to right click on the link "Access your account" under the heading RefWorks in the left hand bar in MyReferences.

Google (scholar or books)

Using Google scholar to find a book or paper, I will get a slightly different format of search results:

Note the "cite" button at the bottom. If I click this I get

Since MyReferences is powered by RefWorks, you need to select the RefWorks option and click this. If you are not already logged in you will be asked to log in, otherwise click "Import into RefWorks" and, the occasional gremlin aside, a new RefWorks tab will open and the message below will appear after a few seconds:

And that's it! The reference is now in RefWorks and accessible through MyReferences.

From the main page of a publication or the library.

In the OU library, once an article or paper has been selected, there is a toolbar on the right:

Here again, you choose "cite"

Choose the link "export to bibliographic management software"

Then choose "direct export to RefWorks" and again, you are done!

Similar "cite" buttons can often be found on the publication website or the description page for an article or paper. Sometimes the name is different - ScienceDirect uses "Export" - for example and occasionally RefWorks is not supported, but it is generally possible to find a way.

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