Bibliography

[mattk]

Hello,
I was told that Microsoft Word can generate a bibliography file that
can be set up such that the user can include a flag for the reference
entry that can be included in the main body of text and Word will
automatically keep track of the reference information. I probably
haven't explained this very well, but I would like to be able to
create a bibliography page similar to that of LaTeX and have Word keep
track of the references inside the main body of text. Thank you in
advance.

mattk

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Where'd you hear that? Word doesn't have a bibliography capability. Word
does have an indexing capability, where you can flag certain words and have
Word generate an index of the pages they appear on. The Table of
Authorities might also be worth investigation, though I know little about
that.

Most people use third-party programs with Word for bibliographic
management--e.g., Bookends (www.sonnysoftware.com) which is Mac only, or
EndNote, which has a big market share but weak Mac integration. In those,
you enter the bibliographic information in Bookends, insert a Bookends field
in the Word doc, and then Bookends deals with all the nitpicky formatting.
There is no way to get Word to take-over that function. There are people
out there who seem to think this is built into Word because the EndNote
add-in puts a menu and toolbar in Word, but they are wrong.

I'm not familiar with LaTex, so don't know what its reference feature
does....what do you mean by "keep track" of the reference information?
Depending on what you are looking for and your version of Word and OS, you
might be able to manipulate Word to do what you want.

DM

 

[mattk]

The EndNote program must be the feature that I was told about. What I
meant about keeping track of reference information is that you build a
bibliography file with each entry having a certain flag attached to
it. In the main body of text you reference a particular flag, then
when you compile the entire document the correct reference shows up in
the format you select, and the bibliography pages get organized in
whatever way you choose, alphabetically or in order of use.

LaTeX is a type setting program, it is similar to writing HTML but
only for documents and journal articles. There is a steep learning
curve, but formatting journal articles and dissertations is rather
easy to do once you get a feel for the way it all works. My main
problem was that I didn't really want to have to retype all of the
equations I have used in my research. Once I bit the bullet and
started doing them in LaTeX is really was quite easy. I'd say it took
about 1/3 the time to write equations in LaTeX than it does in
Eqaution Editor. Plus, LaTeX is freeware. I'll be honest with you,
the install isn't very intuitive.

Thanks for your help,
mattk

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Yeah, sorry, just to confirm: Word won't help you out there. I've seen LaTeX
in action briefly once, it's quite neat.

DM

 

[Gene van Troyer]

Hello,
I was told that Microsoft Word can generate a bibliography file that
can be set up such that the user can include a flag for the reference
entry that can be included in the main body of text and Word will
automatically keep track of the reference information. I probably
haven't explained this very well, but I would like to be able to
create a bibliography page similar to that of LaTeX and have Word keep
track of the references inside the main body of text. Thank you in
advance.

mattk

Word had bibliographic templates, but these are for formatting only and do
not work interactively with the main text of a document. There are two
applications that will do this for you, however: Endnote, which is quite
expensive; and Bookends, which is relatively affordable. Either will add a
toolbar to your Word application.

I've heard that there are stability and compatibility issues with Endnote.
I've found Bookends to be more flexible and intuitive both as a standalone
app and as tool that interacts with a number of different word processors;
in addition, it works as an online tool for building web-based bibliography
databases.

Gene van Troyer