how to make references in word

Add citations in a Word document

In Word, you can easily add citations when writing a document where you need to cite your sources, such as a research paper. Citations can be added in various formats, including APA , Chicago-style , GOST, IEEE, ISO 690, and MLA . Afterwards, you can create a bibliography of the sources you used to write your paper.

To add a citation to your document, you first add the source that you used.

Add a new citation and source to a document

On the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click the arrow next to Style and click the style that you want to use for the citation and source. For example, social sciences documents usually use the MLA or APA styles for citations and sources.

The Style APA option is highlighted on the References tab

Click at the end of the sentence or phrase that you want to cite.

On the Reference tab, click Insert Citation and then do one of the following:

To add the source information, click Add New Source , and then, in the Create Source dialog box, click the arrow next to Type of Source , and select the type of source you want to use (for example, a book section or a website).

To add a placeholder, so that you can create a citation and fill in the source information later, click Add New Placeholder . A question mark appears next to placeholder sources in Source Manager.

If you chose to add a source, enter the details for the source. To add more information about a source, click the Show All Bibliography Fields check box.

Click OK when finished. The source is added as a citation at the place you selected in your document.

When you've completed these steps, the citation is added to the list of available citations. The next time you quote this reference, you don't have to type it all out again. You just add the citation to your document . After you've added a source, you may find you need to make changes to it at a later time. To do this, see Edit a source .

If you've added a placeholder and want to replace it with citation information, see Edit a source .

If you choose a GOST or ISO 690 style for your sources and a citation is not unique, append an alphabetic character to the year. For example, a citation would appear as [Pasteur, 1848a].

If you choose ISO 690-Numerical Reference and your citations still don't appear consecutively, you must click the ISO 690 style again, and then press ENTER to correctly order the citations.

Add citations to your document

Click at the end of the sentence or phrase that you want to cite, and then on the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click Insert Citations .

From the list of citations under Insert Citation , select the citation you want to use.

The list of citations is shown from the Insert Citation button

Find a source

The list of sources that you use can become quite long. At times, you might need to search for a source that you cited in another document.

On the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click Manage Sources .

The Manage Sources option is highlighted on the References tab

If you open a new document that does not yet contain citations, all of the sources that you used in previous documents appear under Master List .

If you open a document that includes citations, the sources for those citations appear under Current List . All the sources that you have cited, either in previous documents or in the current document, appear under Master List .

To find a specific source, do one of the following:

In the sorting box, sort by author, title, citation tag name, or year, and then look for the source that you want in the resulting list.

In the Search box, type the title or author for the source that you want to find. The list dynamically narrows to match your search term.

Note: You can click the Browse button in Source Manager to select another master list from which you can import new sources into your document. For example, you might connect to a file on a shared server, on a research colleague's computer or server, or on a Web site that is hosted by a university or research institution.

Edit a source

In the Source Manager dialog box, under Master List or Current List , select the source you want to edit, and then click Edit .

Note: To edit a placeholder to add citation information, select the placeholder from Current List and click Edit .

In the Edit Source dialog box, make the changes you want and click OK .

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Communication Studies - Dr. Yang: Creating a Reference List and In-text Citations in Microsoft Word (Manually).

Creating a Reference List and In-text Citations in Microsoft Word (Manually).

Creating a Reference List and In-text Citations in Microsoft Word (manually).

Step 1: Select your citation style.

a. Click on the References tab

b. In the Citations & Bibliography section of the References tab, select your citation Style . In this case, I selected APA, 6 th edition.

Step 2: Open the Insert Citation dropdown box.

Note: There’s two of these, you want the one in the Citations & Bibliography section of the References tab, not the RefWorks Citation Bibliography section.

Step 3: Select Add New Source.

Step 4: Select what type of source you are creating a citation for from the dropdown menu (e.g., book, journal article, report, etc…)

Step 5: Fill out the information boxes. Then press OK button.

What you get on your paper is the in-text citation for this type of source:

(Librarian, 2016)

Step 6: Once you have entered all your citations, you can enter your reference list.

a. Select Bibliography from the Citations & Bibliography section of the References tab,

b. Select References.

Note: depending on your version of Word, there might be no References option, in which case, select Works Cited or Bibliography, and simply change the title to References .

This creates a reference list from all your citations:

Managing references: Word's References tool

Word has its own, basic referencing system available via the 'References' tab on the ribbon. This lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. References are stored in a master list, which can be used to add references to further documents.

Note: this system is not as powerful as EndNote, Mendeley or Zotero.

First steps

Further guidance

Microsoft Word - create a bibliography, citations and references Step-by-step guide and video on using Word's own referencing tool (be aware the styles available might not match your department's requirements)

Microsoft References introductory video

Microsoft don't seem to produce their own video on using this tool, so this one has been taken from YouTube. Although it isn't for the latest version of Word, it gives a clear explanation of the basics, which haven't changed.

Erin Wright Writing

Writing-Related Software Tutorials

How to Insert Citations in Microsoft Word (Step-by-Step)

By Erin Wright

Stack of books with text overlay "How to Insert Citations in Microsoft Word"

Managing citations for research papers, theses, dissertations, and other nonfiction works can be overwhelming. However, you can ease the process by learning how to insert citations in Microsoft Word using the software’s citation and bibliography tools.

This tutorial covers six topics:

Important Note: At the time this tutorial was published, Microsoft Word did not offer the most up-to-date formatting for several of our primary style guides , including APA, Chicago, MLA, and Turabian. Therefore, I encourage you to review the available styles before using the citation and bibliography tools. We will cover the steps to customize citation and bibliography styles in a separate tutorial.

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 150 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel .

The images below are from Word in Microsoft 365. The steps are the same in Word 2021, Word 2019, and Word 2016. However, your interface may look slightly different in those older versions of the software.

How to Select a Citation Style in Microsoft Word

Select the References tab in the ribbon.

Select your citation style from the Style menu in the Citations & Bibliography group.

How to Insert Citations for New Sources in Microsoft Word

Place your cursor where you want to insert the citation.

Select Add New Source from the drop-down menu.

Select the source type from the Type of Source menu in the Create Source dialog box.

Create Source dialog box Type of Source menu in Word 365

Enter the source information into the bibliography fields.

Create Source dialog box Bibliography fields in Word 365

(Optional Step) Select Show All Bibliography Fields if you need to add additional information.

Create Source dialog box Show All Bibliography Fields option

(Optional Step) Enter the source information into the additional fields.

Create Source dialog box additional bibliography fields

Select the OK button.

Your citation should appear in your text.

How to Insert Citations for Existing Sources in Microsoft Word

Once you enter a source, as shown in the section above, you can create additional citations for that source without reentering the information.

Your citation should appear in your text (see figure 11).

How to Edit Sources in Microsoft Word

When you edit an existing source, you will also edit any existing citations for that source in your current document.

Select the Manage Sources button in the Citations & Bibliography group.

Select the source you want to edit in the Master List or the Current List in the Source Manager dialog box.

Source Manager dialog box Master List and Current List in Word 365

Pro Tip: The Master List is stored in your computer and is accessible in all your documents. The Current List is part of your current file and is only accessible in that file. By default, Word stores new sources in the Master List and the Current List.

Select the Edit button.

Source Manager dialog box Edit button in Word 365

Enter your edits in the Edit Source dialog box. (Select Show All Bibliography Fields , if necessary.)

Edit Source dialog box bibliography fields in Word 365

Select Yes or No in the alert box stating that you will be updating the source in both the Master List and the Current List. (Strongly consider selecting Yes to update both lists if you plan to cite this source in future documents.)

Select the Close button in the Source Manager dialog box.

Source Manager dialog box Close button in Word 365

How to Use Citation Placeholders in Microsoft Word

You can use placeholders if your source information is not available.

(Optional Step) Change the name of the placeholder in the Placeholder Name dialog box.

Pro Tip : You can use the same placeholder in the future by selecting it from the Insert Citation drop-down menu (see figure 12).

When you are ready to replace the placeholder with a source, complete the steps in How to Edit Sources above.

How to Insert Bibliographies, Reference Lists, or Works Cited Lists in Microsoft Word

These steps will only work if you inserted your sources using Word’s citation and bibliography tools.

Select Bibliography , References , or Works Cited from the drop-down menu.

Your bibliography, reference list, or works cited list should appear in your document.

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Updated August 22, 2022

Reference management

Do you want to move references between computers, references in word.

References in Word are stored on your computer's hard disk. If you want to work on them on another computer, follow these steps to find the file:

Microsoft Word has a simple built-in reference function in the References tab. Here you can manually enter references and refer to them in the text and create a bibliography in the most common styles (APA, Harvard, MLA, etc). This built-in function is good if you have a limited number of references and you do not need to have access your references on different computers.

Cite and create a bibliography in Word

University of Tasmania, Australia

Insert a Citation in Word

To insert a Citation into Word document

1. Have your EndNote Library open 2. Open the Word document, position your cursor in the document where you want an in-text citation 3. Go to the opened EndNote library, highlight the reference(s) in your library

You are taken to the Word document, where the in-text citation is inserted and a bibliography entry is instantly formatted at the end of the document according to the Output Style you have chosen.

Alternatively come back to the Word document and hit "Insert selected Citation"

Note: Multiple Authors can be selected and inserted by holding down the CONTROL key.

To insert a citation:

Word Tips - How to Create a Bibliography or Works Cited Page in Word

Word tips -, how to create a bibliography or works cited page in word, word tips how to create a bibliography or works cited page in word.

Word Tips: How to Create a Bibliography or Works Cited Page in Word

Lesson 16: how to create a bibliography or works cited page in word.

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How to create a bibliography or works cited page in Word

If you need to write a research paper, chances are you'll also be required to include a bibliography . Or you might be asked to include a works cited page or a list of references . These are all just different names for the same thing: a list of sources —such as books, articles, or even websites—that you used to research and write your paper. A bibliography makes it easy for someone else to see where you found your information. A short bibliography might look something like this:

You could create a bibliography manually, but it would take a lot of work. And if you ever decide to add more sources or use a different reference style, you’ll have to update everything all over again. But if you take the time to input your sources into Word, it can create and update a bibliography automatically. This can save you a lot of time and help ensure your references are accurate and correct.

Step 1: Choose a reference style

When you're creating a bibliography, you'll need to follow the guidelines of the required style guide . Different academic disciplines use their own styles guides, such as MLA , APA , and Chicago . Fortunately, Word comes with several built-in style guides; all you need to do is select the one you want to use, and Word will help you format your bibliography correctly.

To do this, click the References tab, then select the desired style in the Citations & Bibliography group.

You can use this same method to change the reference style at any time.

Step 2: Add citations and sources

Whenever you use information from one of your sources, you'll need to give credit—or cite them. This is known as making a citation. You'll include citations whenever you use information from a source or when you quote a source directly.

To add a citation, select the desired location for the citation in your document, click the Insert Citation command on the References tab, and select Add New Source .

A dialog box will appear. Enter the requested information for the source—like the author name, title, and publication details—then click OK .

The citation will appear in the document, and the source will be saved. You can quickly add another citation for the source by clicking Insert Citation and selecting the source from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Insert the bibliography

Time for the easy part! Once you've added all of your sources, you can create your bibliography in just a few clicks! Just select the Bibliography command, then choose the desired style.

The bibliography will appear at the end of your document. Your sources will already be formatted to match the selected style guide. You should still double-check each of your sources against your style guide to make sure they're correct. If you need a quick reference for MLA, APA, or Chicago formatting, we recommend the Purdue Online Writing Lab .

If you add more sources to your document, you can easily update your bibliography—just click it and select Update Citations and Bibliography .

No matter how many sources you include in your document, Word's built-in tools make it easy to create and organize a bibliography. If you want further guidance with the process, check out this tutorial from Microsoft on how to Create a Bibliography .

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COMMENTS

Create a bibliography, citations, and references
Put your cursor at the end of the text you want to cite. · Go to References > Insert Citation, and choose the source you are citing. Insert Citation dropdown · To
Add citations in a Word document
Click at the end of the sentence or phrase that you want to cite, and then on the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click Insert Citations.
How to add Citations and References using Microsoft Word
How to add Citations and References using Microsoft Word Adding Citation and References by MS wordYou can add a footnote to your document
Adding Citations & References Using MS Word
How to use the automatic and instant features of Word to store your study references, insert citations, and generate a bibliography into
Creating a Reference List and In-text Citations in Microsoft Word
Creating a Reference List and In-text Citations in Microsoft Word (manually). Step 1: Select your citation style. ... b. In the Citations &
Managing references: Word's References tool
Word has its own, basic referencing system available via the 'References' tab on the ribbon. This lets you add references to a document and
How to Insert Citations in Microsoft Word (Step-by-Step)
Place your cursor where you want to insert the bibliography, reference list, or works cited list. · Select the References tab in the ribbon (see figure 1).
References in Word
Microsoft Word has a simple built-in reference function in the References tab. Here you can manually enter references and refer to them in the
Add references to your Word document
You are taken to the Word document, where the in-text citation is inserted and a bibliography entry is instantly formatted at the end of the
Word Tips: How to Create a Bibliography or Works Cited Page in Word
To add a citation, select the desired location for the citation in your document, click the Insert Citation command on the References tab, and select Add New