Working With Footnotes And Endnotes

Some output styles prefer the use of footnotes and endnotes instead of in-text citations and a bibliography.  RefWorks also supports these options.  Just make sure the output style you select to format your paper is able to handle footnote and endnote formatting.  Generally, you'll see the word Notes in the title of the output style.  This is a good indicator that the style will create footnotes, however there are a few exceptions where it does not specificially indicate in the title that the style will create footnotes. MLA is an example of a style that will create both in-text citations and footnotes within the same output style.

If you are unsure whether a style will support footnote and endnotes, open the style with the Output Style Editor and look at the Citation Type drop-down. If it says Notes Only or In-text Citations and Notes, that output style will work for you.  If it says In-Text Citations Only, you won't get the proper formatting you need.

Adding a Citation to a Footnote or Endnote

Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page on which the reference appears. Endnotes are similar to footnotes but instead of being added to the bottom of each page they are grouped together at the end of the document.

RefWorks does not actually create the endnote or footnote in the document, but is used to insert and format the citations. You create an endnote or footnote using your word processor.

To insert a citation in a footnote:

Citation Switch for Footnotes

Some Output Styles require that a specific page be included in a footnote, overriding the page numbers you have in your database.  You can manually instruct the program to  include or override page numbers in the footnote through the use of a switch.

Note:  The /s switch can ONLY be used in a footnote (for more information on switches including in-text citation switches, click here) and can ONLY be used with an output style that has page numbers required in the footnote.  

Creating a Bibliography and Formatting a Paper

To create the bibliography and format the paper:

Note:  Your paper must be saved as a .doc, .docx, .odt or .rtf file in order for RefWorks to be able to read and format it.

  1. Click Create Bibliography.

RefWorks creates a new document formatted in the selected style followed by a bibliography.

  1. Follow your browser's instructions for viewing the file and be sure to save the document to your hard disk before closing. Your original document remains the same as it was before you formatted it.

Note:
All changes to the document should be made to the original document. Only the original document with the citations in curly brackets may be reformatted later.

Note:
If your bibliography fails to generate, click here for troubleshooting tips.

Email it: After the bibliography is created you may also email the list.  The email address in your RefWorks account is automatically entered, but you can overwrite it with another address.  Only one email address can entered.

See Also