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Information about “REFLIST”
REFLIST is an easy-to-use program that lets you create and format lists
of references and bibliographies, -- elements which are always a
problem for the writer submitting material to a variety of publishing
houses, each with its own specific requirements.
The truly unique feature of REFLIST is that once your paper has been
written, it reformats your references into different user-defined
formats. You can submit a paper to one publisher with the references
in one format and then, with REFLIST, reformat the references to a
different format expected by another publisher -- all quickly and
easily. In addition, REFLIST has instructions for quick integration
into WordPerfect, PC-Write, or any ASCII-based wordprocessor.
FILES231.TXT
Disk No: 231
Program Title: REFLIST version 3.5
PC-SIG version: 1.4
REFLIST is a easy to use program that allows you to create and format
lists of references, bibliographies and footnotes.
The truly unique feature of REFLIST is that once your paper has been
written, it will reformat your references into different user-defined
formats. You can submit a paper to one publisher with the references in
one chosen format and then with REFLIST, reformat the references to a
different format expected by another publisher. All quickly and easily.
In addition, REFLIST contains instructions for quick integration into
PC-Write and Word Perfect.
Usage: Footnotes and References.
Special Requirements: None.
How to Start: Type GO (press enter).
Suggested Registration: $30.00
File Descriptions:
EXAMPLE MSS Practice file.
MASTFILE DTA Master file of references.
MASTFILE INX Index file.
REFLIST DEF List of definitions.
REFLIST DOC Documentation.
REFLIST EXE Main Program.
PC-SIG
1030D E Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1987,88,89 PC-SIG, Inc.
GO.TXT
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║ <<<< Disk No 231 Reflist version 3.5 >>>> ║
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║ ║
║ To print the documentationon this disk, type: ║
║ ║
║ MANUAL (press enter) ║
║ ║
║ To run the program on this disk, type: ║
║ ║
║ REFLIST (press enter) ║
║ ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
REFLIST.DOC
*******
REFLIST
*******
A PROGRAM TO WRITE AND FORMAT REFERENCE LISTS FOR
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL MANUSCRIPTS
v3.51 - (c) 1984, 1985,1986,1987,1988
E.J.Shillitoe
5326 Dumfries Drive
Houston TX 77096
(713) 728-0596
REFLIST is a program for the IBM PC and compatible computers. It
performs the following tasks for authors of scientific and
technical manuscripts:
-- REFLIST reads a text file and finds the citations to other
publications.
-- It draws the references out of a Master File and formats the
reference list according to the style requirements of almost
any journal.
-- It can return to the text file and replace the citations
with the appropriate numbers.
This program is distributed on a "Shareware" basis. It is
copyrighted, but if you find it useful then you can feel free to
give out copies to any one else. If you use this program, please
send me either a check or a purchase order for $30. I will
register you as a user, send you the latest version of the
program, add any formats that you need and keep you informed of
new developments. The disc that I send you will have a more
extensive .DOC file, as well as configuration files for WORD
PERFECT and PC-WRITE. It will include over 30 journal formats,
and instructions on how to add your own formats. Telephone
support is provided to subscribers.
*******
1 WHAT REFLIST DOES
Imagine this situation, which often faces researchers and other
academic people. You finish writing a thesis, a review article
or a grant proposal, and have to compose a list of references.
Firstly you have to read through the work carefully making a list
of the citations in the text, eliminating duplicates and
alphabetizing them if necessary. When this is finally done you
have to look up the actual references and make up the reference
list. This might have a hundred items, each looking a little
like this:
Sorsdahl OA, Williams CM, & Bruno FP: Scintillation camera
scanning of the salivary glands. Radiology 92:1477-1480, 1969
Typing each reference is a slow business, even with a word
processor, as the format and details have to be just right.
Eventually you are finished. However soon you find yourself
submitting a paper on a similar subject to the journal 'Nature'.
Now you must re-type all of the references so that they look like
this:
1. Sorsdahl, O.A., Williams, C.M. & Bruno, F.P. Radiology 92,
1477 (1969).
Suppose that 'Nature' rejects your paper (unlikely, of course)
and you want to re-submit it to the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute. You have no choice but to re-type the entire
list again, until each reference looks like this:
(1) SORSDAHL OA, WILLIAMS CM, BRUNO FP. Scintillation camera
scanning of the salivary glands. Radiology 1969; 92:1477-1480.
Suppose that the Journal of the National Cancer Institute accepts
the paper, but soon you are writing another on a related subject
(therefore using some of the same references again) and decide to
send it to the Journal of Virology. Now you must re-type your
references again, but make them look like this:
Sorsdahl O.A., C.M.Williams and F.P.Bruno (1969). Scintillation
camera scanning of the salivary glands. Radiology 92, 1477-1480.
Suppose that the Journal of Virology rejects the paper ... well
you probably get the point by now. In fact if you go into any
scientific library and pick up any 10 journals at random you will
probably find about 9 different reference formats.
Here is another problem raised by references. Some journals want
you to include citations within the text like this (Smith and
Jones, 1984) which is easy enough, but many others want the
citations to be numbered like this (7). The numbering system is
a real pain to use because you have to write the entire paper
first, and then put in the numbers later. If you edit the paper
even slightly and add or remove just one citation you have to re-
number all of the following citations in the text, and re-number
the entire reference list again. Then if the paper comes back
from a reviewer who demands that some references be added or
others deleted, you go through the whole business all over again.
These three problems, of compiling the citations, formatting the
references and numbering the citations and references, are of
course governed by extremely rigid rules and so can be performed
by a computer. REFLIST is a program to do these tasks and this
manual explains how to use it. Before you start, make a backup
copy of the disc and use the copy for your work. Save the disc
supplied in case of problems later with your working disc.
******* 2 INSTALLATION
To install REFLIST you must tell the program what character you
will be putting in text files to flag citations to other
published works. In order to see how flagging works use your
word-processor to examine the file named "EXAMPLE.MSS" on the
REFLIST disc. You will see that it consists of a section of a
scientific manuscript containing a number of citations. Each
citation is preceded by a flag which tells the REFLIST program
that what follows is a citation. The flag consists of the
Control-R character which might appear on your screen
something like ^R, or might look like a double-headed arrow.
You must now determine if your word processor will allow you
to put a Control-R into your own documents. If you write
with WORDSTAR (tm) then you simply type Control-P Control-R
before each citation in your text and if you wish to see the
text without the ^R character you can hide it with the Control-
O Control-D command.
If you use PC-WRITE (tm) then in your ED.DEF file you will need
two lines - one will read #R:255.255.255=18. This line is to
distinguish the Control-R from the font characters that control
printing and to prevent PC-WRITE from duplicating it when it
reformats paragraphs. The other line in ED.DEF must read R:"".
(Note that between the quote marks should be the double headed
arrow on the screen. When you print out this manual you might
get nothing between the quotes). This line allows you to enter
Control-R in the text by holding down the Control key while
pressing the R. One way to write the Control-R into the ED.DEF
file for the very first time you do it is to hold down the Alt
key, press 18 on the numeric keypad, and then release the Alt
key. This does not work on all PC-clones however. In your PR.DEF
file you should put the line $18= (Note that the line is
incomplete, with nothing after the = sign). This prevents the
Control-R from being sent to the printer when the file is
printed.
WORD PERFECT lets you enter the Control-R into the text simply by
holding down the Control key and pressing R. If you find that
this symbol is being sent to your printer and causing problems,
then you will have to re-install your printer to prevent the
character from being sent, or to re-define it as a character that
does nothing.
Many other word-processors also allow the entry of control
characters into the text, but you will have to consult the manual
or call the company to find how this is done. Some word-
processors, such as MULTIMATE (tm), Microsoft's WORD (tm) or
WORDSTAR 2000 (tm) do not generally write ASCII files, but
compress the data into their own format. REFLIST can only read
ASCII files, but these programs can write in ASCII if they are
told to print to the disc.
If it is not possible to enter Control-R into text with your word
processor, or if this symbol means something to your printer,
then you will have to use some other character to flag each
citation. It is best to use a Control- character since it will
not appear in your printed text, but do not use Control-H, -I, -
J, -M or -Z as these probably mean something already to your
computer or printer and will produce a surprise when you edit or
print the text. If it is completely impossible to enter any
Control character into your text then you will have to use a
printable character which you do not use otherwise. For example
you could use a & or a ^ or a @ sign. Later you will have to use
the 'Find-And-Replace' command of your word processor to replace
the flags with a space, or you might be able to alter a
translation table to make that character non-printing.
If you have chosen a text flag other than Control-R you must call
up REFLIST.DEF again and look at line 3. It starts with a
control-R character. Replace the control-R with the character
that you have chosen. Now you should try it out by going
through EXAMPLE.MSS removing the Control-Rs and replacing them
with your own flag. As you do this you will notice that each
citation has its own flag, even if there are several
citations together. Citations have to consist of a name or names
and a year. Citations must be shorter than 40 characters and can
terminate in a lower case letter (i.e. 1981a, 1964c) if
necessary. Punctuation such as commas or periods can be included
in the citation or left out as necessary. Once you have
modified the EXAMPLE.MSS file to suit your own word
processor you should save the modified version on the disc.
*******
*******
3 - PREPARING A REFERENCE LIST
To start the program from the DOS prompt, just type REFLIST and
press ENTER. After the program has loaded you will see a menu
offering five choices. As with all of the REFLIST menus, the
first letter of each choice is shown highlighted, and the choice
can be made by pressing that letter on the keyboard.
Alternatively, the choice can be made by using the up and down
arrow keys on the cursor pad until your choice is shown in
inverse video, and then pressing ENTER. If you press the ESC
key while using REFLIST you will cancel the current choice and
usually go back a step in the program.
To get a demonstration of the program you can prepare a reference
list for the text file called EXAMPLE.MSS that is provided with
the program. For the sake of a demonstration chose option
"Prepare a reference list". You will then be given the option
of preparing a list from a text file, from all the entries in
your Master File, or according to keywords. Choose the text file
option and you will be asked the name of the file for the
program to read. Type EXAMPLE.MSS and press ENTER. The
file name must be on the same disc as the REFLIST program.
If it was on another disc you would have typed, for example,
B:EXAMPLE.MSS , if it was on a disc in the B drive.
You will see a message on the screen telling you that the program
is reading your text, and what flag it is looking for. This goes
by very fast for a small file such as EXAMPLE.MSS. When this
has been done and all of the citations have been found, you will
see another message telling you that the index to the Master File
of references is being read. This goes by very fast when the
Master File is small, but gets slower when the file is large.
Soon you will see another menu asking you to chose the journal
format in which you want your list to be written. If you don't
like the choices offered, move the inverse video bar down to the
bottom and press ENTER to see more choices. Type the number
of the journal whose format you need, or put the bar on it,
and press ENTER again. Soon you will see a message saying that
the reference list is ready.
Type DIR to see the directory of the disk. It will now contain
two new files: EXAMPLE.CIT and EXAMPLE.REF. Use your word
processing program to read EXAMPLE.REF and you will see that it
consists of the reference list for EXAMPLE.MSS, written in the
format that you chose. However, if any references are missing
from the Master File you will get a message to that effect and
will have to add them.
*******
4 - REPLACING TEXT CITATIONS WITH NUMBERS
Some journals and books require that citations in the text
consist of numbers instead of names and years. If REFLIST has
already created a reference list for a document it can use the
new .CIT file to replace citations with the correct
numbers.
Firstly, prepare the reference list by using option P from the
Menu. Then choose option R (Replace citations in the text with
numbers). You will be asked for the name of the text file. Type
in the file name (for example EXAMPLE.MSS) and press ENTER.
After the replacement you must keep the EXAMPLE.CIT file
carefully, since if you ever need to put the citations back, the
program will need that file.
To put the citations back into the text, call REFLIST and choose
option R again. After replacing the numbers with the citations
it will be necessary to line up the margins with your word
processor. If you accidentally wiped out the file called
EXAMPLE.CIT (or whatever your text's citation file is called), it
will not be possible to get the citations back into the text.
*******
*******
FILES USED BY REFLIST
The following four files are all essential for REFLIST to work.
REFLIST.EXE The Program
MASTFILE.DTA The Master File of references. It can be
given a different name, if you change
the name in REFLIST.DEF
MASTFILE.INX An index file used by the program. It is
updated automatically when new references
are added or deleted, or when you use the
I option from the Main Menu
REFLIST.DEF A file of definitions.
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #0231
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
EXAMPLE MSS 1526 5-29-86 9:35p
FILES231 TXT 1134 1-25-89 9:05a
GO BAT 38 10-19-87 3:56p
GO TXT 1002 1-11-89 3:28p
MANUAL BAT 147 6-08-88 3:02p
MASTFILE DTA 6281 5-26-86 2:37p
MASTFILE INX 246 6-01-86 11:01a
REFLIST DEF 6920 10-09-88 3:21p
REFLIST DOC 14860 12-28-88 8:57p
REFLIST EXE 72772 8-06-88 1:41p
10 file(s) 104926 bytes
52224 bytes free