What if you frequently write papers on similar topics, and you don’t want to have to re-enter the source information to Word each time? Word has you covered here too. Every time you enter a new source, it’s saved in what Word calls the “master source list.” For each new document, you can retrieve old sources from the master list and apply them to your current project. You can select from a few pre-formatted bibliography styles with headers, or you can click the “Insert Bibliography” option to add one without any header or extra formatting.īam! Word adds all the works you cited in your document to the bibliography, in the correct order and format for the writing style you’ve set up. Switch over the “References” tab, and click the “Bibliography” button. Deadlines of papers looming, a pile of references from books, journals, to online articles waiting to be read. Head to the end of your document and create a new page using Layout > Breaks > Page Break. When your document is finished, you’ll want to add a bibliography that lists all your sources.
Just repeat those steps to add any other sources you need, and to place citations where you want. Select the source you want, and Word correctly inserts the citation into the document.īy default, Word uses the APA style for citations, but you can change that by picking another option from the “Style” dropdown right next to the “Insert Citation” button. Your source appears on the list (along with any other sources you’ve added). And, the next time you need to cite that particular source, simply click that “Insert Citation” button again. Word adds a citation for your new source to your document. If you’re using another citation method for your document, click the “Show All Bibliography fields” option to fill out extra information.
And in case you’re curious, Pages can do this too, sort of you’ll need to install a plug-in to get some help, though.Note: By default, Word uses APA citation style, but it’s not limited to that. If you’d like even more information about how this works, check out Microsoft’s article on the subject.
Click the arrow there, and you’ll find the option to update the bibliography. Pick your favorite style, and away you go! Word will generate the bibliography for you and insert it wherever you’d put your cursor.Īnd one more thing here: If you then go back and end up adding more citations, you can click on your bibliography section to reveal a header.
When you do so, you can click one of the options for how you’d like yours to look. You can then double-click any one of those to insert its in-text reference again!įinally, when you’re ready to create your bibliography, click either the “Citations & Bibliography” button or choose “Bibliography” straight from the Ribbon if you see it there. You can continue adding as many of these as you need, and if you want to reuse one you’ve already entered, just click the “Citations” button on the Ribbon (which, as I mentioned, may be underneath “Citations & Bibliography”), and you’ll see the ones you’ve previously put in. Once you pick that, though, you’ll just type in all of the relevant info, like this:Ĭlick “OK,” and Word will add the citation within your text. The “Type of Source” drop-down at the top is pretty important that’ll determine what fields you get to type into, depending on whether you’re referencing a journal article or a book, say. In any case, though, once you pick “Insert Citation,” you can fill out a form with all of the details on the reference you’re adding. Yes, “Ribbon” is Microsoft’s weird and fancy name for the toolbar.
We’re going to click “Insert Citation” here (and this is also where you can change the formatting of your references from APA, for example, to MLA), but just so you know, you may see that button all by itself on Word’s Ribbon depending on the size of your window.