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Word Processing with EndNote

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RTF Document Scan

RTF Scanning is useful if you are using a word processor that does not support Cite While You Write. Visit the EndNote web site to see if your word processor supports Cite While You Write.

Note: The RTF Document Scan command works on RTF formatted files. Rich Text Format (RTF) is an extremely common word processing format. All operating systems and word processors can create RTF. You create your paper and insert citations with your word processor. When you are ready to scan and format citations, you must first save a copy of your paper as RTF, and then scan that copy of the paper

Citing references is a straight-forward process of copying temporary citations from EndNote and pasting them into your word processing document. While writing a paper in your word processor, you can have EndNote running in the background so that it’s easy to switch between the two programs when you need to cite a source. Although you can enter the EndNote temporary citations into a paper at any time, most writers find it convenient to enter the citations as they are writing the paper instead of waiting to insert them after the text is written.

To cite a reference in a paper:
  1. Start your word processor and open the paper you are writing. Save the paper as RTF.
  2. When you are ready to cite a source, position the cursor in the text where you would like to put the citation.
  3. Start EndNote and open your library (if it is not already open). See Opening a Library if you need help with this step.
  4. Select the reference(s) in your EndNote library that you want to cite. Press the Ctrl key while clicking on the references to select multiple references; press the Shift key to select a range of references.
  5. Choose Copy (Ctrl+C) from the Edit menu, then return to your word processor and Paste (Ctrl+V) the temporary citation into the text of your document.

    6. WordPerfect 10-12 Users

    When you paste citations into your document, you need to use the Paste without Font/Attributes command instead of Paste. Select Paste without Font/Attributes by right-clicking on the document, or you can also invoke it by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+V. This will insert the citation into your document in the format necessary for the RTF document scan to work.

    OR Drag-and-drop the selected citations into your paper.

     

  6. The pasted citation appears in EndNote’s temporary format: first author’s last name, year of publication, and record number, all enclosed in curly braces:

    7. {Morehouse, 1993 #125}

    If multiple references were selected, their citations appear together within one set of delimiters in the order in which you selected them in the Library window.

    {Hall, 1999 #90; Baker, 1988 #38}

    This citation is not the final citation, but rather a temporary citation that will be formatted later. The number in the temporary citation is not a bibliography number but a unique record number. When you format this paper, EndNote builds a bibliography based on the temporary citations that it finds in the paper, and reformats them according to the selected style.

  7. Continue following steps 2-5 to insert citations as you write your paper.
To save your document:
  1. When you have finished adding citations, choose Save your document.
  2. If the file you created is not an RTF document, save a copy of the file as RTF. From the File menu, choose Save As. In the file dialog, set the type of file as RTF. RTF retains most styles and formatting.
  3. Close your document by choosing Close from the File menu. You can leave your word processor running.
To generate the bibliography:
  1. Return to EndNote.
  2. From the Tools menu, go to the RTF Document Scan submenu and then RTF Document Scan.
  3. Navigate the file dialog to locate and select the RTF document you just saved.
  4. The next time you choose RTF Document Scan you will see your recently used files listed for easy access.
  5. Check the Citations window to make sure that EndNote was able to find matching references for all of the citations.

    6. During the scanning process, EndNote locates temporary citations in the paper, and searches the library to find references that match each of the citations. When scanning is complete, EndNote displays the Citations window. The Citations window lists the citations found in the paper together with the number of matching references in the open libraries.

    The citations in the Citations window appear in the order they are cited in the paper. If a reference is cited more than once in a paper, it is listed more than once in this window; however the reference will appear only once in the bibliography.

    Every citation listed in the Citations window should have a “1” next to it in the Matches column, meaning that EndNote found exactly one reference in the library to match the citation in the paper. When all of the citations in the window have a “1” next to them, you are ready to go on to the next step of formatting a paper. If a “0” or a number greater than one appears in the Matches column, you may need to resolve mismatched citations.

  6. Select a style from the Output Styles list on the Citation window. Enter a starting bibliography number if you wish.

    7. The individual styles listed are the styles that are currently selected as your “favorites” in the Style Manager. If you need to choose a style that is not in the list, choose Select Another Style to open the Style Manager. Mark your favorite styles there, and start this step again. See Adding Styles to the Output Styles List.

  7. Click Format to have EndNote create a copy of your paper complete with formatted citations and a bibliography.
  8. You are then prompted to name and save the formatted copy of the paper.

EndNote automatically adds the name of the output style to your existing filename. You can change the name of the formatted document if necessary by typing a new name in the text box. You can also use the “Save in:” list at the top of the window to change the location where EndNote saves the file. By default EndNote saves the formatted file in the same location as the unformatted file.

Important! Never save the formatted paper with the same name as the original unformatted document. You must have the unformatted document if you ever want to format the paper again.