Get-A-Ref: Version 4.3

s and to modify, annotate, and transfer these references and their associated text to another program (e.g., word processor), which is concurrently running in RAM. GarSort allows the references within a file to be sorted on the basis of the journal, author, year, or an identification string supplied by the user. With CreForm, the user can define how the references are to be formatted for inclusion in text or bibliographies. Options for long format (end reference sections) or short format (inclusion in text) for use with journals, edited books, and monographs are included. This feature vastly simplifies the tedious task of constructing a reference section. GarList enables the quick production of a formatted reference list in ASCII format directly from a reference file, without selecting references separately; this feature can further accelerate the process of constructing a reference section. The Convert capability is perhaps the tour de force of this software: it rapidly converts screen dump from large data bases into reference files accessible to all of Get-A-Reffs capabilities; this feature gives the user a fast and efficient way of storing and manipulating the results of large literature searches on margin databases. Some of the data bases supported include: Medline, BIOSIS, Cancerlit, EMBASE, IRIS, DIMDI, Psyc LIT, and Chem. Abstr. Users may also send a sample screen dump from another, frequently used data base to DatAid and obtain conversion capabilities. Get-A-Ref also permits comparison between reference files with GarComp. Here, references common to two files are written on to a third file. GarSetup and GarColor permit the user to customize some of the attributes of Get-A-Ref For PC users who have any need to organize and manipulate references, Get-A-Ref is a worthwhile purchase. Since it is a RAM resident program, it may be utilized while other software is running-yet it assumes a modest 107 KB of memory, which really imposes a memory squeeze. To my knowledge, no other IBM PC XT/AT reference handler has this much capability. Get-A-Ref works well with most word processors (use with Microsoft Word can be somewhat tricky, due to duplications of some of the short-cut keystrokes-but, on the whole, there are only minor difficulties). The mouse-independent windows format of the package affords easy reference