Creating Bibliographies with EndNote

Searching Online Databases with EndNote

EndNote will allow you to search many databases, primarily library catalogs, directly from EndNote using a connection file. You can then easily move your references into your library. For security reasons (password protections, etc), most of the library's subscription databases cannot be searched using a connection file; for those databases, you will need to import references or enter them manually.

• Choose Tools from the main tool bar
• Under Connect, click on the database you wish to search to open a connection. If the database you want is not on the short list, click Connect for the full list of available databases, then click to select a database and click to Connect. (To modify your short list of searchable databases, see the section below)
• Enter your search term(s) and click on search (the search interface is the same used for Searching Your EndNote Library)
• You will see a box giving you the number of hits. Click on OK to load the results into EndNote. EndNote will create a temporary library for all the results from the search.
• In the temporary library, highlight the record(s) you wish to import. Use the Control key to click to make multiple selections
• Click on Copy References To and select the library from the list
• Close your results window and discard the items
• Your results are now in your library

WorldCat (a combined listing of books, sound and video recordings, journals, and other titles held in thousands of libraries including Wesleyan) is a particularly useful database for adding records for books and similar items (videos, sound recordings, etc.) to your EndNote library. When you click to connect, it will ask for a username and password, but if you are on the Wesleyan campus network or logged into the proxy server you can leave 'username' and 'password' blank and click "OK" to connect. (Note: to log into the proxy server from off campus, go to the library's Indexes & Databases page and click to connect to any of the databases. You will be prompted for your email username and password. Enter those and you will be logged into the proxy server which will allow you to access the library's subscription databases from off campus). 

Library of Congress is another very good database for books. It is likely to have just about anything you are looking for, and less likely to have multiple records for the same item as WorldCat often does.

Searching a remote database via EndNote is a quick and easy way to get citations into your library. However, you can only perform relatively simple searches. For more complex searches, you will need to go directly to the online database.

Modifying Your Short List of Searchable Databases
 

To add to (or subtract from) the short list of searchable databases offered when you click (under Tools on the main menu) to Connect to a remote database: Under Edit on the main menu, go to Connection Files and Open Connection Manager Click the box beside all the databases you want to show up in your short list Note that "Library Catalogs" are just about always accessible without a password, so you can connect directly to them with EndNote's search interface. Other information providers, however, require passwords which we cannot provide, so you will need to import references or enter them manually.

Next: Using EndNote with Microsoft Word     

Contents - New Library - Adding References - Importing References - Searching Library
Searching Online Databases - Microsoft Word - Styles - Help - Specific Databases