How to Cite While You Write with Microsoft Word

The basic steps required to cite a reference and generate a bibliography with Microsoft Word are summarized below.

To Cite While You Write:

  1. Open the EndNote library or libraries that contain the references you wish to cite.

  2. Start Microsoft Word and open the paper you are writing. We recommend using the template wizard to create your Word documents as described in Creating a Word Document Based on a Template.

  3. When you are ready to cite a source, position the cursor in the text where you would like to put the citation.

  4. Go to the Tools menu, then the EndNote submenu, and then select Insert Citation(s). From the EndNote tab, select Insert Citation, and then select Find Citation.

    A Find & Insert My References dialog appears.

  5. In the text box at the top, enter identifying text for EndNote to locate the appropriate reference. This could be an author’s last name, a year, a keyword, or any other combination of terms found in the reference.

  6. Click Find and EndNote compares the identifying text to your EndNote references and then lists the matching reference(s).

  7. Identify and highlight the appropriate reference(s).

  8. Use the Insert button triangle to display a menu, and select from:

Note: You can click Insert (not the triangle) to quickly select the default Insert command.

  1. Go back to step 3 to insert the next citation, and continue citing references this way.

Note: When Instant Formatting is turned on, each time you insert a citation it is formatted and a bibliography is updated at the end of your document. When you are done inserting citations, your document is done! Instant Formatting is turned on by default.

  1. If your citations are not automatically formatted, and a bibliography is not updated each time you insert a citation,

Note: The dialog lists the styles that are currently selected as your "favorites" in the Style Manager. If you need to select a style that is not in the list, click Browse to locate it.

  1. Click OK. EndNote scans your paper and, using the selected style, formats any temporary citations, reformats formatted citations, and appends a bibliography to the end of your paper.

Your paper is ready for publication!

If you want to insert figure or table citations, see Inserting and Formatting Figures and Tables.

Related Topics

Finding and Inserting Citations

Finding and Inserting Figures and Tables

Cite While You Write Commands

Using Predefined Manuscript Templates