Citation Management Tools Blog

Video Help for EndNote and RefWorks

If a busy schedule prevents you from attending one of our live training classes for EndNote, EndNote Web or RefWorks, visit these websites for video help you can watch/download anytime!

EndNote, EndNote Web:

http://www.endnote.com/training/

RefWorks:

http://www.refworks.com/tutorial/

If you have additional questions or need assistance, please contact me by email at lahilyer@central.uh.edu

Sincerely,

Lee

Retrieving/Formatting ERIC Documents (APA Style)

Retrieving ERIC documents from the ERIC database and formatting them in APA style can be tricky.  One of the problems is getting the ED number into the right field in the EndNote library, and then getting the APA style to output it properly in the bibliography.

Note: All instructions are written for EndNote 9 but should work for EndNote 8 also. 

Part 1: Importing citations from ERIC (EBSCO)

Using the Direct Export function in EBSCO’s version of ERIC will import all ERIC documents (ED123456) in as "journal articles."  You can, however, manually import your search results which will give you better results, putting ED-numbered items in as Report types, and EJ-numbered items in as Journal Article types (which is what you want).

In EBSCO’s Save Manager:

1. Select the Bibliographic Manager tab, then choose the first option: "Citations in a format that can be uploaded to bibliographic management software."
2. Click the [Save] button. Your browser will display the results as a tagged list.
3. In your browser, click File>Save As… and save the file (someplace you’ll remember) to your hard drive. Be sure to save the file as a TEXT (.txt) file.
4. In EndNote, click File>Import….
5. Use the [Browse] button to locate the file.
6. Select the import filter you need (ERIC (EBSCO)) Note: If you have not used the filter before, you will need to click the Other Filters… option and locate the filter.
7. Import the file into your EndNote library.

Importing the file manually ensures that items are properly imported under the right reference type (e.g. "report" or "journal article.").  This also ensures that when you prepare your bibliography, it will be easier for you to properly cite ERIC documents.

Part 2: Modifying the APA Output Style to display the ED number

By default, the ED number is inserted into the Accession Number field in the Report reference type. You will need to edit the APA output style in order for the accession number to display in your bibliography.

1. In EndNote, click Edit>Output Styles>Open Style Manager.
2. Locate APA 5th in the list.  Click on it to highlight it; simply checking the box will not work.
3. Once the style is highlighted, click the [Edit] button in the lower right of the screen.
4. In the navigation panel on the left, click the Templates entry under the Bibliography heading.
5. Locate the line marked Report.
6. Click to activate it, then position your cursor at the end of the entry, then click the [Insert field] button.
7. From the fly-out menu, select Accession Number to insert it into the template.
8. From the File menu, click Save, then close the Style Manager.
9. Test your efforts by creating a sample document and inserting both some ERIC document citations and other types of citations.  Format a bibliography in APA style to see the results.

This, however, doesn’t solve all of your problems.  An ERIC document citation according to APA 5th, looks like this:

Author, A. A. (1996). Title of ERIC document (Report No. AB-12). City, ST: Sponsoring Entity. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 123 456)

If the only "reports" you work with are ERIC documents, then you can prefix the text "ERIC Document Reproduction Service No." before the Accession number field in the template style and leave it at that. Anything formatted with the Report type would include the text above plus the accession number.

If you work with other reports, you may have to manually add in the "ERIC Document Reproduction Service No." prefix to your bibliography entries as you prepare your final drafts.

Or, you can edit the Accession Number field in your ED entries in your Library to include the "ERIC Document Reproduction Service No." prefix.

If you have questions or encounter problems, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Lee Hilyer
lahilyer@uh.edu
University of Houston Libraries