How References Are Made in Microsoft Word

At the time of carrying out a research work or of any type, the use of bibliographic references that allow us to give a solid basis to the information that is cited can be made. In this way, an author of the knowledge used is established as a starting point to reach other conclusions. References are considered an indispensable requirement in the creation of written documents, which is why the parameters established by the APA standards must be known. In this opportunity we will explain how references are made in Word with our complete guide .

Index(  )

1. What do the APA standards say about references in Word?
2. What are the steps to create a reference in Microsoft Word?
3. How to create a perfect reference in Microsoft Word?
4. What is the correct way to order the references?

What do the APA standards say about references in Word?

For many people the APA standards are known, but if you do not know them, they are basically the criteria for presenting written documents , both in references or citations and in general aspects of visualization. These were created by the American Psychological Association and are the general criteria established at the international level for the presentation of documents that deal with research topics in various sciences.

That is why before learning how to place references in Word we will first know what the APA standards establish so that we comply with them. To begin with, they establish that a reference must go in the following order with the requested data:

• The name of the author must be identified through his surname with the initials of his name.
• The year of publication is then placed in parentheses.
• Title and subtitle of the work.
• Edition of the work where ‘(ed.)’ Is abbreviated as it is one greater than the second.
• Country or town where the publication was made.
• Publisher’s name.

All these data must go one after the other in a single line separated by a period and followed . Likewise, in the case of referring to a newspaper, the previous information should also be used by adding the following:

• Article title.
• Name of the magazine.
• Page number.

Similarly, you can refer to information taken from the internet, following the order established by the APA standards:

• Last name and initials of the author’s name. The name of the website also works, in case you do not have the first.
• If you know it, the date of publication.
• Full name of the post, document, article or any element to which you want to refer.
• The day that item was consulted.
• Your URL address.

Likewise, any of the references cited above must be organized in alphabetical order, taking into account the authors’ surnames. On the other hand, the sixth edition of the APA standards establishes the following:

• The font is ‘Times New Roman’.
• The font size should be 12.
• It must have double spacing.
• The text must be aligned to the left.
• It should have 2.54 cm margins on all sides.
• The indentation must be 5 spaces or per tab.

Knowing all the guidelines that the APA standards establish is very important to be able to present research papers in the correct way, and to be approved. That is why you must also know about line spacing in Word to be able to place the corresponding one.

What are the steps to create a reference in Microsoft Word?

Now that you know the APA guidelines for references or citations in written documents, it is time for you to learn how to create references in Microsoft Word . To do this, you just have to follow the following steps:

1. You will be in the final part of the sentence that you want to refer to.
2. You will click on the ‘References’tab on the toolbar.
3. You will look for the section ‘Citations and bibliography’.
4. There you will click on the option ‘Insert appointment’. It is important that when doing this you make sure that in the ‘Style’ field ‘APA’ is selected .
5. As it is the first reference you make to an author, you will have to click on ‘Add new source …’.
6. A new pop-up window will appear where you will have to fill in the fields with the requested information. Word organizes the APA style reference automatically so that you only have to supply the reference data.
7. When you finish filling in, click ‘OK’.

These are the steps to create a reference in Word, being a very simple process that will automatically organize all the appointments you make according to the APA standards. In case you have an older version of Word, such as 2007 or 2010, you can also  create and manually insert an index to number titles and subtitles so that your written document has a better presentation, according to APA standards.

How to create a perfect reference in Microsoft Word?

To create the perfect reference in Word, you just have to be clear about what it means. Basically it is a sentence that meets certain requirements and that can be used in a writing to consolidate the main idea of ​​the document. Usually it is to take into consideration ideas of other authors and place the publication where it is based.

In other words, an idea is expressed in a general way that was created by another author. The perfect reference in Microsoft Word goes hand in hand with the APA standards as they are the mandatory criteria that govern the submission of academic and scientific documents.

With this in mind, the best way to create a reference in Word is through the ‘References’ tab on the toolbar. Similarly, Microsoft support offers a guide on how to create bibliographies, citations, and references .

What is the correct way to order the references?

As we mentioned before, the correct way to order the references is in alphabetical order, taking into account the first letter of the authors’ last names. In some cases they are ordered according to the order of appearance in the document, listing them.

However, the APA standards establish alphabetical order as the correct way to order references. It is easy to see all the facilities that Microsoft Word can offer us. Likewise, an Excel spreadsheet can be  inserted into Word to have better control in the use of mathematical data and in the creation of graphs.

I hope that with this information you can make your documents in the correct way without doing many processes, until next time!