Thursday, June 5, 2008

Where I can obtain an electronic record for a book?

You might be best served by entering the book information manually. To do this use the "References" menu to select "Add New Reference." Be sure to select the correct "Ref Type." If you are wanting to cite a book chapter, you would need to select "Book, Section." If you want to cite the whole book and the names you have listed are authors and not editors, you would use "Book, Whole." If the names you have listed are editors, you would use "Book, edited." Use the "see detail" links to get to instructions for entering data (especially authors names) in the fields.

There are several sources for partial, electronic records for books. Almost all of these sources are library catalogs or databases of library catalog records. For example, you can search WorldCat for the book of interest and export the record from WorldCat to RefWorks. Click on the "W" link on the Library's homepage to reach WorldCat. Alternately, you can use the Refworks "Search" menu to select "Online catalog or database." Use the drop-down menu to select the "Library of Congress" or other library that is likely to own the book of interest to you and then enter your search terms. I should warn you, however, that you will have to edit the record that you import into your account from either of the sources I've mentioned. Catalog records don't always include all author or editor names. They don't always distinguish authors from editors, etc. So you will need to check all the information that is imported into your Refworks account. It is sometimes more difficult to edit a record accurately than to enter the information manually.

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