How to put citations on word online

When it comes to writing research papers for school or writing an article or two citations become an absolute necessity. There are various styles used to enter citations, especially at universities. In this tutorial article, we will take you through how to put citations on word online?

To put citations on word online, in the desktop version of Word, you can insert a citation into a word document by clicking on the Reference tab. From the various options available select Insert citation from the citation & Bibliography menu. You can now add the details and save the citation.

Check out this article on How to convert Word file into Excel file online

Table of Contents

Does Word Online have referencing?

Many documents require referencing or formal citation while using material from other sources. In Word online owing to the minimum formatting and editing tools citation is limited to footnotes and endnotes.

This means that you cannot enter an entire bibliography at the end of the document.

While working on the desktop application you have more options when it comes to adding a bibliography or references to the text. You can go to the references tab and also select the format you would like to use. Word as a default saves all the references you use, this way you can use these references later in the document or to other documents in the future.

How to put citations on word online?

Citations that are included in research papers and other academic work need to have a particular format. It is more often than not difficult to keep formatting every single citation. Hence, tools that do the formatting for you are appreciated.

In the desktop application of Word, you have the citation tool handy. In this section, we will take you through how to find the citation tool in word and how to add citations to text using this tool.

Start by opening the document you would like to add the citation to. You can do this by scanning through the documents in your One Drive folder or from those locally stored on your computer.

Once you have the document open start by clicking on the References tab
The references tab in Word has various tools to make adding citations, bibliographies, tables of contents, etc.
To add a citation to your document you will need to click on Insert Citation under the Citations & Bibliography section.

You will now have two options you can add a new source or add a new placeholder. Click on the first option Add New Source

Adding a citation to a Word document

By clicking on the source option you will have a popup menu where you need to type in specific information.
This includes the type of source, are you referencing a book, a journal or a webpage. You will need to specify the type as the other files will depend on this choice.
You will also need to specify the language.
Once you have these two typed in all you need to do is paste in or type in word-for-word information that is asked. This includes the name of the book or paper you are referencing, the year it was published, the author, and other such information.
Edit the tag name
Once you have all the information you require you will need to click on OK to save the changes.
Your citation will now show on your document.

The text that will show up on the document will depend on the citation format you are using.

Similar article: How to show white space in word online

Tips on how to edit citations in Word

If you would like to edit the citation on the document simply follow these steps

Start by selecting the citation you would like to edit.
For this, all you need to do is click on the citation. You will see a grey highlight over it.
You will now need to click on the small arrow in the right corner of the selection.

Once the arrow is clicked various options can be found in the dropdown menu.
From these options, you will need to choose Edit Source.
Once this is selected you can easily edit the fields that have an error or simply things that need to be changed.
once the changes are made click on OK.
The changes will reflect in the document.

From here you can edit the source of the citation or convert the text into a static text. you can also use this option to include this citation in the bibliography.

If you are not sure of the citation just yet and need to gather more information on it you can add a placeholder in its place. here is how you can add a placeholder to the document.

Start by opening the document you need to add the citation to.
Go to the references section on the top ribbon
Click on Insert Citation
From the dropdown select placeholder.

You can now edit the name of the placeholder
Click on OK to add it to the text

Steps on how to edit a placeholder in word

Once the placeholder is part of the document you can proceed with other parts of the document and come back to it later. Here is how you can edit a placeholder.

Start by clicking on the placeholder that needs to be edited.
The text will have a grey highlight and a small arrow at the bottom. Click on the arrow.
From the menu Select Edit source.
You will now have a popup menu on the screen.
from here, you can add in the details of the book, paper, journal, or other material you are referencing. Add the name of the author and the year in which the work was published. You will also need to add the publisher and other similar details.
Once you have entered all the details click on OK
The edited citation will show in your document.

Read How to see edit history in word online?

How to create a citation in Word online?

Word online is great when it comes to collaborations. It is especially useful when you need to work on research projects together. The ease of contributing to the document at different levels is extremely helpful.

Thought word doesn’t have the citation option like the desktop application you can still insert footnotes and endnotes. In this section, we will take you through how to add citations in word online.

Start by locating and opening the document you need to add a citation to. You will find the document on either the word online website or the One Drive website. Either way, use your outlook account to log in.
Once you have the document open start by checking the mode you are in. This is not a problem if you are the owner of the document but if someone has sent the document to you check if you have permission to edit it.

Once the document is open click on the reference tab on the top ribbon.
Under reference, you will see various options. You can choose to add a footnote or an endnote.
Click on the footnote option if you need the citations to show on the bottom of the page.

You will see a small number against the first word of the sentence you have selected. This is the citation number
The citation will be on the bottom of the page with a number on its left corresponding to the one on the text.

The citation can be easily formatted using the Format Footnotes option

By clicking on the Format Footnotes option you will get a popup menu with options to edit the footnote.
You can use this menu to change the font type and size.
The indentation of the text can also be changed from this menu.
You can either apply the changes made to a specific citation or make it common for all the citations in your document.
Click on Apply or Apply to all to see the changes made.

Adding endnotes to word online documents

Endnotes are exactly like footnotes when it comes to the overall layout. the only difference is that the citation will show at the end of the document or the chapter depending on your preferences and the format used. Here is how to add an endnote to your document.

Start by opening the document that needs to be edited
Click on References in the top ribbon

From the various options available click on insert endnote to select it.
Be sure to have the cursor at the spot where the citation needs to be added
once you select the insert endnote option you will see a number on the left of the text
This number corresponds to the citation on the last page.
The citation can be formatted using the format Endnotes option

Click on Format Endnotes and you will have a popup menu
here you can choose the font style and also change the size of the text
the indentation of the text can also be edited.
Once all the edits are done you can select the Apply option to apply the changes to that particular citation.
If you choose the Apply to all option all the citations in that document will have the same formatting.

Steps on how do you insert a citation in Word Mobile?

Now that we have a Word application on our android editing documents has become so much easier. Here are the steps you can follow if you are trying to insert a citation in Word online using your phone

Start by opening the document or research article you would like to add citations.
Once you have the document open you will need to click on the edit option

You will now be able to make changes to the document.
Tap on the edit menu option for a menu at the bottom of the screen.

From the options available click on Insert
You will now see various options to choose from like header and footer or equation.

Make sure the cursor is at the spot that the reference is at
Tap and select the Footnote option if you would like to add the citation to the text in to form of a footnote.

The number on top of the first word will indicate the citation number.

The number at the bottom of the page will tell you where the text included in the document is taken from.

Tips on how to include endnote citations on android devices?

Another option is to use endnoted. these like footnotes give you a brief about where the text is taken from. the only difference however is that endnotes appear at the end of the chapter or the paper. Here is how you can add endnote citations to your document.

Start by locating and opening the document you would like to add citations to.
You can then tap on the edit icon for the document editing menu that appears on the screen.

Before entering the endnote it is important to make sure that the cursor is at the spot where the reference needs to be added.
From the options available under the Insert menu. tap on and click the Endnote option.
You will have a similar number on the top of the sentence referenced. The only difference however is that the citation will show at the end of the document as opposed to at the bottom of the page.

Check out this article How to insert online pictures in word online

How do you insert a citation in Word for iPad?

On an iPad or iPhone, you will first need to install the word application. This can easily be downloaded from the store. Once you have the application downloaded connect to the cloud using the email id and password you have used to log in to your One Drive account.

Start by locating and opening the document you need to add citations to.
Now tap and select the editing icon to enable editing
From the various option available you need to go to the insert menu.
Under insert select footnote or endnote depending on what your requirements are.
You can now type in the citation and they will show up on the document.
Once done save the document and exit.
Your citations will be saved and you can go back to them at any time.

How to insert a bibliography in Word Online?

To insert a bibliography in Word online you will need to open the document in the desktop application. Here are the steps you can follow.

Locate and open the document

How to insert bibliography in Word Online?

Click on Editing in the top ribbon
From the options select Open in Desktop app

Your document will now open in the desktop application

Once the document is open you can enter citations to the text.

Click on the text where you need to add a citation. The cursor will move there

Click on Reference in the top ribbon of the document
and choose from the formats available
Select citation and you will have a popup menu on the screen.

Here you can add all the details that the format requires.
at the bottom, you will see the Show all bibliography fields. Check the box next to it

The menu will have more fields.
Insert all the information and click on OK.

now you know how to put citations on Word Online, let’s look at how to add a bibliography. When it is time to add a bibliography follow these steps

Move the cursor to where you would want the bibliography to appear. This is generally at the end of the document.

Click on Reference in the top ribbon of the document.
You will see an option titled bibliography with an arrow. Click on it for a menu

The dropdown menu has formats for your bibliography. Click on the one you would like to use.
The bibliography will appear in the document where the cursor was.

How to update citations in the bibliography?

Once the bibliography is added to the document you can update it with new citations at any time. As this doesn’t happen automatically you will need to do it manually. Here is how

Click on the arrow next to the bibliography. You will have two options
Select Update Citation and Bibliography.

By doing this the bibliography will update and include additional citations.

How do you reference at the end?

Now you know how to put citations on word online, you might be asked to add a reference list to your work. Here is an overview.

A reference list contains information about sources used while writing the document. It is a guide to identify and review the information cited and the resources used.

The references added to a document will include the following

Author: The author of the word that was used as a reference needs to be mentioned. This can be an individual or a group of people that worked on the source material. This section can also include the name of a government agency that published the document.

Date: The date when the work was published plays an important role in understanding the reference. Some publications limit the date to just the year but you may also have the month and the day. The simple rule while including the date is that you need to include what’s on the source material. In some cases, you might not have a specific date but a range, depending on the context of your document this is ok to use.

Title: Probably the most important information that needs to be included in the reference list is the title of the work you are citing. This can be the name of the book, journal, article, film, etc. anything that was used as the reference source.

Source: you will need to mention where this work was found. Did you find it on the internet? If yes you will need to specify a URL.

How to transfer references from one Word document to another?

Transferring references could mean one of two things you are moving all the text from one document to the other or you are copying only the references. Here is how to do it either way.

If you have text in one document that has references that need to be merged with another document here are the steps to follow.

Open both the documents that you would like to work on
Copy the text from the first document along with the references
Go to the other document and paste the text.
You will notice that you now have two reference sections.
Go to the section you would like to keep and click on the arrow.
Select update citation and bibliography.
Your new reference will add to the existing list.
Go back to the other reference list and delete it.

If you have to copy only the references from one document to the other without the cited text.

Select the references that need to be copied
Copy the text by using the copy option in the home tab or by using the keyboard shortcut.
Now open the document you would like to paste the text in
And paste the reference.

In conclusion

Citations are part of any research piece. This article took would through how to put citations on word online. It looked at including citations and references in Word documents. As Word online has limited formatting options the article looked at the desktop application and how citations can be added.

It explored the different formats that can be used to add citations. Along with Mac and Windows systems, the article looked at how to add citations to articles while working on phones and tablets. Finally, the article looked at how to add a bibliography and also how to update it based on new citations.

If you found this tutorial on how to put citations on word online interesting check out similar articles here

Carissa

My name is Carissa Gudino and I am an expert in word online, using Word Online in my day-to-day tasks. In this blog, I will share with you tips and tutorials on how to use word online to its fullest potential. I work for various clients in various countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. My tutorials are designed to help beginners, as well as more experienced users, learn new tricks and tips on Microsoft word online. Check out more.