Academic Referencing Made Easy!
Most of us have been in a situation where we are writing an assignment and finding sources of information that we list down, and then get to the end and think “where did I find that again?”. Guess what…it can be so easy to organise this information as you go and then automatically generate the bibliography or reference list at the end. Never think about where the full stop or comma goes again!
There are quite a few online tools that will make academic referencing easy for you or your students. Some of these are paid subscriptions, however, it can be as easy as using the referencing tools in MS Word. Some of these tools do go to the next level, in that they are also checking for plagiarism, but we will go into that in another article.
Subscription Based Tools
BibMe
The free version of BibMe allows you to save your citations in a number of formats, including MLA, APA and Chicago. You are prompted for information, the site then searches for additional information and you simply fill in the gaps. You can then copy the citation to paste into your bibliography in your word processing software. In-text citations can also be copied in the correct format.
Pros: Free version, 7000+ referencing formats, in-text citations
Cons: Exporting to MS Word only available on paid plan
Zotero
For the serious researcher or academic, Zotero is specifically designed to manage and store your research. This software is installed on your computer and allows you full control over your data. You can create collections and sort them with tagging content. There are integrations with MS Word and Google Docs, allowing you to generate your bibliographies and reference lists directly into your documents. Best of all, it is open source and free.
Pros: Totally free, next-level collections
Cons: Local install so not backed up or cloud-based, could be complicated
MS Word
Many people don’t realise they can automatically generate their reference lists and bibliographies in MS Word, and build a citation library to make it easy to select and insert references that are used multiple times in an assignment.
This powerful function of MS Word is available by clicking on the References tab. The ribbon that appears allows you to choose your referencing style, insert citations, cross-reference and insert your bibliography that is automatically generated based on your list of citations.
To get started, click on “Citations”, then + Citation. This will present you with a dialog box to enter the details of the source. The prompts will change depending on the referencing style (eg APA, Chicago, etc) and the type of resource selected (book, website, etc).
Once you have entered the relevant information, click on OK. The in-text citation will then be inserted where the cursor is. If this same citation is needed again, simply select it from the existing list, no need to type it in again. The advantage of this is when a change is needed it will correct the citation throughout the document, rather than the user having to manually make the changes.
Footnotes and endnotes can also be inserted using the referencing feature in MS Word.
Once your assignment is done and you want to insert the bibliography, choose the bibliography from the Referencing Ribbon. There are several formats available.
Another great tool on the Referencing Ribbon is the ‘Smart Lookup’ button. Simply select the text in your document, click on Smart Lookup and Word will present you with websites to your selected text.
Conclusion
Next time you’re working on an assignment, or as an educator you have a group of students working on an assignment, take the time to try one of these great referencing tools or make the most of the tools within MS Word. They will save you an enormous amount of time!