Integrating EndNote and Microsoft Word
Make writing easier by adding citations and formatting bibliographies by connecting EndNote to Microsoft Word.
When people talk about EndNote, they often discuss its ability to organize citations in one easy to access location. But another aspect of Endnote that makes it so useful is its compatibility with Microsoft Word, which enables you to generate in-text citations and full bibliographies in real time while you write. This ability, which is automatically enabled after installing both EndNote and Word on your computer, can make the time-consuming process that is riding substantially less tedious. To get a better sense of how this works, let's pretend that I've assembled and EndNote library and I'm ready to write up a paper in Word. I will first need to ensure that I have both EndNote and word running. Then in Word, I will need to place my cursor where I'd like an in-text citation to go from the word ribbon. I will click on the tab that reads EndNote 20. Of the many settings displayed in this tab for right now, the most important are the style drop-down box and the Insert Citation button. The style drop-down box allows me to specify what citation style I would like to use in my paper. Clicking on the box will only display a few of the many styles that are out there. If you need a style that is not listed, simply click on the select another style option and choose the pertinent option from the expanded list. For the sake of our example, let's pretend that I'm working in APA. As such, I would click the style drop-down box and select the APA option. With my style set, I can now generate an actual citation. To do this, I will click the Insert Citation button. This will open a small window, whereupon I can search my EndNote library for an appropriate source by typing in a pertinent word or phrase, such as an author's name or a keyword. Once I've located my source, I can select it and then click the Insert button. Word and endnote will then work in tandem to generate and appropriately formatted APA citation at the specified point in my text. The two programs will also generate a full bibliographic entry for the citation at the very end of my document. A major benefit of this EndNote word integration is the resultant citations are dynamic, meaning that if a citation entry in my EndNote library is modified or if I add a new citation to my document, the references in Word will update to account for these changes. This also means that if I need to convert from one citation style to another, all I need to do is click on the style drop-down box and choose a new option. Node will then convert all of my references to that new style. Now, you can better manage your citations with Microsoft Word and EndNote.