EndNote Training Course Importing existing reference lists Last Updated May 2007 1
Introduction In this tutorial you will be introduced to importing existing lists of references into EndNote. These lists could be either in Word or Excel format. In previous materials you have looked at importing references using a variety of methods Manually typing them in Using connection files Using import filters Directly exporting from online databases All these methods (except for the first one, manually typing them in) start with data that is in a format EndNote can understand, so it can easily import the references. However many of us have our reference list as a formatted Word document. If this is you, there are three options 1. Enter them manually 2. Copy and paste each reference from Word into EndNote 3. Rearrange the reference data using Word and Excel Sometimes if you have a small number of references option 1 or 2 is preferable as it can be problematic importing references not formatted for Endnote. However if you have many references you can try option 3. Again there are several ways to do this. These are covered in Chapter 7 Importing Reference Data into EndNote of the EndNote 9 manual. Note: the Endnote manual is available at http://www.endnote.com/support/. However these resources demonstrate our recommended route. This involves 5 steps 1. Preparing your text in Word and saving as a text file 2. Importing the data into an Excel spreadsheet 3. Tidying up, adding field names in Excel and saving as a tab delimited text file in Excel 4. Adding extra text in Notepad and saving as a text file 5. Importing the text file into EndNote You will need to follow the resources through in sequence. We advise you to import references of the same Reference Type in one batch. Avoid mixing reference types. For example separate your Journal Articles from your Books, your Conference Proceedings from your Book Sections. Why you need to do this will be explained in the resources. A note of warning! Make a copy of the file containing the references. Work on the copy, not the original. For information on importing references in existing citation software go to http://www.endnote.com/support/enconversion.asp These resources show screenshots from Endnote 9, however they can be used with Endnote 9 or Endnote X. 2
Getting started with these resources Before starting with this guide you should make sure that Word is open The EndNote toolbar is visible in Word (if it is not showing please select View, Toolbars and EndNote 9 or Endnote X) EndNote 9 or Endnote X is open You will also need to download the sample file used in the exercises. Follow the instructions in the WebCT learning resources or if you do not have access to these resources email humittraining@manchester.ac.uk. 3
Step 1: Prepare your text in Word and save as a text file Open Word and open the file reference.doc Save a copy of the file on your P: drive/my Documents, call it references_to_import.doc Edit the file so that each reference is on one line only, use the Show/Hide button on the Word toolbar to check this (in this example file this has been done for you) Delete any other content that is not part of the reference. This includes o headings o any punctuation related to how you have laid out the reference e.g.() surrounding the year of publication in the Harvard system Take out all the spaces between each field and replace it with a Tab. See below for an example of how your document should look with Show/Hide on Why use a tab? In this case we are using the Tab as a Delimiter. A delimiter marks the beginning or end of a piece of text. In this example it is marking where one field ends and the next starts. Before you save your document you should have one reference per line have no stray punctuation a Tab between each field (Author is a field, Year is a field, Title is a field, etc) Click File, then Save As 4
Keep the same file name In Save as type: select Plain text (*.txt) Click Save A File Conversion window will appear, click OK Close Word 5
Step 2: Import the data into an Excel spreadsheet Go into Excel and open the file references_to_import.txt o click File o then Open o go to your P: drive/my Documents o in Files of type: select All Files (*.*) o select the file references_to_import.txt (NOT the.doc file) and click Open A window will open offering various conversion options Make sure Delimited is selected Click Next You should be on Step 2. You should be able to see that Tab is selected as your Delimiter. Below you can see your reference laid out in columns Author first, then Year, then Title Click Next Click Finish Note! In Word we inserted Tabs, these acted as delimiters. They marked where one field finished and another started. Excel used this information to place each field in a separate column. 6
Step 3: Tidy up, add field names and save as a tab delimited text file in Excel A spreadsheet should open up with each of your references on a separate line and each field in its own column The data may need some cleaning up (use Cut and Paste to move text from one field to another and the Edit, Replace option for removing unwanted characters) Check if there are any multiple authors (see the third record with the author Kessler) o Multiple authors should be separated by double slashes // o Ensure the third record looks like this; Kessler, J.//Van Ullen, M. K. Insert a new row at the top by clicking the row selector for row 1 (grey button), then click Insert then Rows Now we need to type in the EndNote fieldnames for each column. These need to match the field names in EndNote exactly. Check back with EndNote if you are unsure what the field names are. Note: In this example the references are of one Reference Type, i.e. Journal Article. Each Reference Type uses different fieldnames. This is why we recommend you import your references in batches, e.g. all journal articles, then all books. Alternatively you can import them all into EndNote as Journal Articles and then change the Reference Type. See below for an example of how your spreadsheet document should look Major Journal Article Reference Type fieldnames Author, Year, Title, Journal, Volume, Issue, Pages, Date, Call Number, Keywords, Abstract Notes 7
Click File then Save When you are asked if you want to keep the format click Yes Close Excel (if Excel asks if you would like to save changes, click No) 8
Step 4: Add extra text in Notepad and save as a text file Open Notepad (on University machines click Start, All Progams, Programs Core, Accessories, Notepad) Open the file references_to_import.txt (File, then Open, go to P: drive/my Documents, click once on the file and click Open) Place your cursor at the top of the document and type *Journal Article and press Enter See below for an example of how the document should look Click File, then Save Close Notepad 9
Step 5: Import the text file into EndNote Open EndNote and Create a new Endnote Library, save it as import_test.enl on your P: drive/my Documents Click File, then Import Click Choose File go to P: drive/my Documents and click once on the file references_to_import.txt Click Open Under Import Options: select Tab Delimited Click Import See below for an example of how your imported references should look 10
Again, the results may need some cleaning up 11
Exercise 11: Importing existing reference lists into EndNote 1. Download the file references.doc. Follow the instructions in the WebCT learning resources, or, if you do not have access to these resources email humittraining@manchester.ac.uk. 2. Save a copy of this file as references_to_import.doc on your P: drive 3. Open up the document 4. Make sure that each reference is on a separate line 5. Remove any data other than the references and insert Tabs between each field a. take out any punctuation related to how you have laid out the reference e.g.() surrounding the year of publication in the Harvard system b. remove spaces between each field and replace them with a Tab 6. Save the document as Plain text 7. Close Word 8. Open Excel 9. Open the text file references_to_import.xls in Excel making sure that Tab is set as a Delimiter 10. Tidy up any problems, for example, is there data in the wrong column? is there extra/stray punctuation? 11. Check if you have multiple authors, if you do ensure they are separated by a // 12. Insert a blank row at the top of the spreadsheet 13. Type in the exact EndNote fieldnames for each column. In this example we are only importing Journal Articles, so use the fieldnames for Journal Articles. Check in EndNote if you are sure what these are. 14. Save your spreadsheet as a Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt) file 15. Close Excel 16. Open up Notepad (Start, All Progams, Programs Core, Accessories, Notepad) 17. At the top of the document type *Journal Article and press Enter 18. Save and Close the file 19. Open up EndNote and create a blank EndNote library 20. Import the text file ensuring that the Import Option: is Tab Delimited 12