Referencing and RefWorks

RefWorks Guide

RefWorks is a citation management tool, which helps you store and organise research material.

This guide has updated information on selecting RGU-approved referencing styles.

You can also create reference lists or bibliographies, as well as formatting essays or dissertations to include in-text citations and reference lists as you write.

Please remember Refworks does not proofread for you, so you will always need to check that your references comply with the relevant standards.

Setup

To set up your RGU RefWorks account, follow the steps below:

Create Account

From the RefWorks login page, select the 'Create Account' option.

Enter RGU email

Enter your email address and select 'Check'. You must use your RGU email address in order to proceed.

You will be asked to create a RefWorks password. This password is unique to RefWorks and will not change if you change your RGU systems password for Moodle etc. You can change your RefWorks password later by following the 'Forgot your password?' link from the RefWorks login page.

After entering your password, check your RGU email address for a confirmation email. Follow the link in this email and proceed to the next step.

Complete account creation

Enter your name, then select your academic school and role from the drop-down options. Click 'Next' to proceed and finish account creation.

Congratulations! You are ready to start using RefWorks with RGU. See the options below for more information on how RefWorks can assist you with your learning and research.

Using Folders

Folders are useful for organising references. There is no limit to the number of folders you can create, and references can be placed in more than one folder. It is useful to name your folders something descriptive, so you can find the references you need more quickly.

Create a folder

In RefWorks, click 'My Folders', then 'Add folder'.

Name your folder

Enter a name for your folder that describes its contents. For example, try naming it after an assignment or module topic.

Click 'Save' to finish creating your folder.

Move references between folders

To move references from one folder to another, select the references you wish to move by clicking the checkboxes to the left of the records, or click the checkbox at the very top of the page to select a full page of references.

Click 'Assign to folder', then select the folder(s) you wish to add the selected references into. You can also untick any folders to remove these references from them.

Click 'Apply', when finished to finalise your changes.

Adding References from LibrarySearch

If you don't want to add the details of books manually, or want to add multiple books' details at once, it's easy to pull this information directly from the RGU Library collection:

Adding Individual References from LibrarySearch

Step 1

Click on the title of the record, then see Step 2.

Click on the ellipsis (three dots) at the right-hand side of the record, then see Step 3.

Step 2

Click the RefWorks icon displayed to export to RefWorks.

Step 3

Click the RefWorks icon displayed to export to RefWorks.

Adding Multiple References from LibrarySearch

Step 1
Step 2

Step 1

Use the checkboxes next to individual records to select multiple references,

Use the one checkbox at the very top of the results list to select a full page of references (10 by default).

Next, click the ellipsis (three dots) at the very top of the results list.

Step 2

Click the RefWorks icon to export your selections to RefWorks.

Adding References from Other Databases

Although most of the databases we subscribe to have the functionality to export articles directly to RefWorks, some don't offer this option. The steps you'll need to take to export articles from a database and import them into RefWorks will vary depending on how the database is laid out. So, we set out a separate page which contains detailed procedures of how to export articles for most of our databases. If you are unsure about any of them, please let us know!

RefWorks: Exporting from Databases

Choose Your Referencing Style

To find out how to set up one of the RGU referencing styles, select one from the options below:

This is the new Harvard style introduced from September 2024.

To select this style from the 'Create Bibliography' menu or 'Citation View' settings, click the drop-down, select 'Institutional Styles', then 'Cite Them Right Harvard (RGU Recommended)'.

Cite Them Right Harvard (RGU Recommended)

This is the 'classic' RGU Harvard style, used historically at RGU and which may be used by some students until September 2025. It's name in RefWorks was previously "Harvard - British Standard (RGU Recommended)".

To select this style from the 'Create Bibliography' menu or 'Citation View' settings, click the drop-down, select 'Institutional Styles', then 'Harvard - British Standard (RGU Classic)'.

Harvard - British Standard (RGU Classic)

This is the new Vancouver style introduced from September 2024.

To select this style from the 'Create Bibliography' menu or 'Citation View' settings, click the drop-down, select 'Institutional Styles', then 'Cite Them Right Vancouver (RGU Recommended)'.

Cite Them Right Vancouver (RGU Recommended)

This is the 'classic' RGU Vancouver style, used historically at RGU and which may be used by some students until September 2025. It's name in RefWorks was previously "Vancouver (RGU Recommended)".

To select this style from the 'Create Bibliography' menu or 'Citation View' settings, click the drop-down, select 'Institutional Styles', then 'Vancouver (RGU Classic)'.

This Guide is under construction!

Please bear with us while we finalise content for our RefWorks Guide. If you have any questions in the meantime, please see the guidance linked below, or contact our team at: library.support@rgu.ac.uk.