Q. I already have my references in a bibliography that I typed in Word. Can I transfer these references to EndNote?

Generally speaking, there is no perfect way of transferring a bibliography in a Word document into EndNote. 

If you typed the references in Word, EndNote will not be able to import the references as it does not know how to break down the references into their component parts (author, year, etc.). The easiest is to locate the individual references in a database such as Scopus or Google Scholar and import them into EndNote. 

If you used "Insert citation" in Word (from the Reference tab), then you can click the EndNote tab, then Export to EndNote, then Export Word Citations. You will be asked to select an EndNote library. Select an existing library or a new one, then click ok. 

Here are some other options:

• Use the free citation management program Zotero to extract references via CrossRef.
  1. Install Zotero and the Zotero Connecter browser plugin.
  2. Copy your bibliography from your Word document and paste it into the CrossRef query box, then click Submit.
  3. On the screen, click the Zotero Connector plugin icon in your browser, next to the URL Address bar. It looks like a little folder. Click Select All. Click OK. 
  4. Export the references from Zotero to EndNote (instructions)
• If most of your citations are included in the PubMed database (for medicine), you can use the HubMed Citation Finder to locate the citations. Instructions are posted here. It involves copying and pasting the citations into the interface, with each citation on a new line.
• Mac users can install Ref2RIS, which will convert a bibliography (in TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, HTML, or webarchive) into the RIS format that EndNote can read. Some editing will be required!