Chapter 8:

Importing Reference Data into 

EndNote

Retrieving References Directly from Online Databases

If you have access to a library catalog or bibliographic database that 

supports the Z39.50 protocol, you can use EndNote as a tool to search 

and retrieve references directly from that database into EndNote. You 

do not need to use EndNote's Import command at all; you use the 

Connect command instead. This is by far the easiest way to get data 

into EndNote because it involves no intermediate steps. The direct 

retrieval of references is not covered in this chapter. See page 67 for 

information.

If you have access to an online bibliographic database, a university 

catalog, or a bibliographic database on CD ROM, you can probably use 

EndNote's import filters to import text files saved or downloaded from 

these sources. EndNote filters are configurable so they give you the 

flexibility to import the reference data you need, and eliminate data you 

do not need. 

There are two main things you need to know in order to correctly 

import downloaded references into EndNote:

How to download the data in the right output format.

Which import filter to use to import the data into EndNote.

This section describes these two items. The table on page 80 

summarizes a number of common sources of bibliographic data, the 

instructions for downloading tagged files, and the EndNote import 

option to use to import the references into EndNote.

Get Data in the 

For text to be imported with any of the EndNote filters, the data must 

Right Format

be consistently  tagged,  with each tag starting on a new line, and the 

file saved as text. Here are two examples: 

AU  CRAMER,  Z.O.

TI  AQUATIC MACROPHYTES AND LAKE ACIDIFICATION

PY  1993

SO  ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION. VOL. 5, NO. 2, PG.54 79

DE  LAKES, ACIDIFICATION, ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS, 

MACROPHYTES, ECOLOGY, PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

Chapter 8: Importing Reference Data into EndNote

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