Question

How to cite in Word

Answer 1

Why insert citations and bibliography?
References in Word: citations and bibliography
Third step: add the bibliography
Step one: manage fonts in Word
Step two: insert citations

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How to cite in Word

Word is not just for writing letters, invitations and invoices: Microsoft's popular word processor is also perfect for writing academic papers or school papers. As you know, in these cases it is essential to correctly cite other authors and note the references well . In addition, so that the reader can contrast the primary and secondary sources of the text, the bibliography must be added at the end. In principle, it is possible to prepare the bibliography by hand, although, if the document is very long and is based on numerous sources, it will take a long time, especially when formatting. Fortunately, we have several functions that help us create the bibliography in Word automatically..

Index

1. Why insert citations and bibliography?
2. References in Word: citations and bibliography
   1. Step one: manage fonts in Word
   2. Step two: insert citations
3. Third step: add the bibliography

Why insert citations and bibliography?

In academic papers - it does not matter whether it is school homework or a bachelor's, master's or doctoral thesis - reference is always made to external sources . These should be listed at the end of the document for different reasons: on the one hand, they offer the reader the possibility of delving into the subject; on the other, they clearly indicate which ideas and statements are the work of the author of the work and which belong to other sources, making it clear where the knowledge on which it is based comes from. Finally, a well-organized bibliography can make it easier for you to find information as you write. Thanks to her, you make sure not to leave you any reference.

With the quotes you reproduce the words of another source, so it is essential to name it so as not to risk being accused of plagiarism. The citations are always accompanied by the corresponding references to the source. These references and the bibliography are closely related: in general, all the short references that are next to each citation in the text itself also appear in the final bibliography, where the reader finds the detailed data of the works cited (for example, the author, full title, edition and year of publication)..

advice

Each sector has its own rules regarding the data to be included in the bibliography, especially in the academic field. For this reason, we recommend that you inform yourself of the requirements of your field before preparing the bibliography in Word.

References in Word: citations and bibliography

The functions for creating the bibliography and inserting citations in Word are closely related. First of all, it will be very useful for you to create your own database with the sources you are going to use in the program. With the information that you store there, you can easily enter the references and add the bibliography later. In this section, we explain how to do it..

Step one: manage fonts in Word

To help you work comfortably with references in Word, the program has a built- in font manager . To open it, go to the tab of? References? and select? Manage Fonts ?. Before, however, you should be clear about the citation method you will use. In this way, you will ensure that you do not forget any information when you enter the information. The corresponding drop-down list is just below the font manager button and includes different styles to choose from.

Note

If you want to use another format for citing sources, you can also create your own custom bibliography styles. Note that you will not be able to do it directly in Word, but you will have to create a new file in XML format. Microsoft explains how to do this in a detailed manual for creating custom bibliography styles.

In the font manager, click on? New ?? to create a new bibliographic source. First, you need to set the font type . In addition to typical media, such as a book or article, you can select others such as a website, film, or artwork. Then fill in the fields. The program assigns each entry a unique tag name. When you confirm the registration, the font is added to the list. To help you organize yourself even better, Word presents you with two lists: the general one, which contains all the stored sources and that you can use in any Word document, and a second list with the sources you want to cite in that specific work.

In Word you can save a database with all the fonts used.

Step two: insert citations

Now, when you write a quote in the text, you only have to add the reference to the original . To do this, open the? References? Tab, where you will find the option? Insert appointment ?. When you click on it, Word displays a list of all the fonts you have saved. Move the cursor and select the corresponding font. The reference (in the selected format) will appear directly in the text. In some cases, citations are not reproduced in quotation marks in the text, but are instead included in footnotes. In this case, you must first create the footnote and then enter the reference to the original work.

Under the button? Insert appointment? there are two other options. On the one hand, you have the "Add new source" function, which allows you to directly add a new source to the list. On the other hand, Word offers you the possibility to work with placeholders : if you write a quote in your work, but at that moment you do not have the source data, you can add a placeholder and annotate the data later. To create the placeholder, just enter a tag name. The record will be saved under that name and you can modify it later.

Citation references are not just plain text, but rather an object that can be selected and customized. Right-click on the reference to modify it. With "Edit this quote", you can add the page of the original work where the quoted text is located. In addition, you can indicate the data that should not appear in the reference. The option? Edit source ?? It links directly to the corresponding record in the source manager and allows you to add more information about the work or edit the existing data.

You just have to select the reference that corresponds to the appointment from the list.

Third step: add the bibliography

If you want to add the bibliography in Word, the program also offers a very simple function to do so, which is based on the sources in your list. Word collects all the information you provide and combines it in the format of your choice. It is a good idea for the program itself to create the bibliography so you don't have to organize it yourself : Word puts the entries in alphabetical order, even if you add other sources later. To show the new entries in the bibliography as well, right-click on the reference field and select? Update fields ?. This will ensure that the list of reference works is always up to date.

Note

Only the records that you have entered in the current list through the source manager will appear in the bibliography. In this case, the general list will not be reflected. On the other hand, next to the sources in the current list there is an icon that indicates whether they have been cited in the text. If not, you may consider deleting them from the bibliography.

Once all the data is collected, you can create a bibliography in Word in seconds.

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