How to Make a Bibliography on Word

Microsoft Word formats your references from a variety of sources to adhere to common citation styles.

Microsoft Word helps you create a bibliography in an established citation format such as MLA, APA or Chicago. Before you can create a bibliography, however, you must enter source information for each reference. Word's Source Manager prompts you to enter bibliographic information that will be formatted when you create the bibliography. These instructions are based on Microsoft Word 2007.

Things You'll Need

• One or more references to put in a bibliography

Instructions

1. Open a new or existing document in Word 2007.

2. Click the "References" tab on the Ribbon. In the Citations & Bibliography group, click "Manage Sources." This opens the Source Manager dialog box. Click the "New" button in the middle of the dialog box to open the "Create Source" dialog box.

3. Select a source type from the drop-down menu at the top of the box. Then begin entering the basic bibliographic information in each text box. Click the "Show All Bibliography Fields" check box to enter additional bibliographic information. Click "OK" when you are finished. With one source entered, you can create a bibliography; however, you may return to "Manage Sources" later to add or edit additional sources, and update your bibliography accordingly.

4. Select your preferred citation style from the Style drop-down menu in the Citations & Bibliography group. Click the location in the document where you want to insert your bibliography, then click "Bibliography" from the Citations & Bibliography group. A drop-down menu appears. Select the Bibliography heading style, the Works Cited heading style or "Insert Bibliography" (which inserts the bibliography without a heading). The format of the bibliography itself is the same no matter which heading type you choose; however, if you choose "Insert Bibliography," you will not be able to update your bibliography quickly as you add sources.

Tips & Warnings

• After editing, adding or deleting sources, right-click your bibliography and select "Update Field" to display your changes.

• One useful feature of Word's Create Source and Edit Source dialog boxes is the ability to easily enter multiple authors' names. Click "Edit" next to the Author text box to open an Author dialog box. Enter authors' first, middle and last names, choose their order in the citation and Word will format the authors' names to fit your chosen citation style. Click "OK" to return to the "Create Source" dialog box.

• Use the "Insert Citation" button to insert an in-text reference to one of your bibliographic entries, in your chosen citation style, into your text. You may also click "Insert Footnote" if you are using a citation style that requires it.

• Word also has the ability to create indexes, tables of contents and tables of figures used in the text; these functions are also on the "References" tab.

References

• Microsoft Office Online: Create a Bibliography -- Word 2007