The Reference Center is Academic Writer's set of reference management tools.  Reference management refers to creating, sorting through, and adding references to your papers.  Reference management tools like Academic Writer's allow you to create references that can be placed in multiple works over time.  As you create references, the references are saved to your Academic Writer account, not just for one single paper like when you add a citation to your references list in a Word document.  For some, this section may be overkill, but for graduate students in particular, this tool may end up saving you a lot of time.  

Academic Writer provides three tools in the Add section of the Reference Center to help you add citations:

• Create: This section lists numerous forms you can use to help you create a citation.
• Import: This tool allows you to import an RIS file that contains citations exported from a database like EBSCO or ProQuest.
• Search: Most helpful for students in psychology courses, you can also search for citations already pre-formatted in APA 7th Edition and add them.

There is also a Manage section where you can search and sort through your previously added citations.  This guide will just review the tools in the Add area.

To create a reference:

• From the Reference Center, click the Add References button.
• Select the content type most alike to the work you are trying to cite.  Common forms are Journal article, Authored book, and Webpage.
• You'll now see a form.  Enter names, titles, source, URL, and any other information here.  

• Once finished, click Add to My References.
• At this point, you will see a formatted reference appear. You can copy the reference and paste it into a Word document or the online classroom, or add it later to a paper you're working on in Academic Writer's Writing Center.

You can also import an RIS file exported from a database like Academic Search Complete or ProQuest Central.  Academic Writer has specific directions on how to do this, please reference the document below.

You can also search for citations.  The citation data comes from APA's PsycInfo database, so this tool is most likely to be useful for psychology students and faculty, especially those using the paper writing module in Academic Writer.  However, in our experience, most students will want to use the forms in the Reference Center instead or just follow the examples in the Learning Center.

If you want to see if your citation already has a pre-formatted entry you can add to My References:

1. Enter relevant search information related to your article(s), like the author's name, article title, and journal.  In the example pictured below, only the title was necessary.
2. Click the box next to the relevant result.
3. Click +Add to My References.