How To Use Citation/Source Manager in Word (to create a Works Cited List)

Microsoft Word has a powerful Citation/Source manager that can really help you save time by automatically generating a Works Cited list – which otherwise would be a real chore.

First, select the Style that you want to use. I usually use MLA.

Then, put your cursor where you want to insert a citation, and click the following:

The next step is pretty simple – just fill out the resulting dialog with the source information. Be sure to look through the entire list of types of sources – there’s quite a few!

For this example, I’ll just use a basic book. First click edit to enter all the author names:

Then, fill in the rest of the template. Note that at the bottom, there’s example text to help you figure out what to type. (This is a lot more useful for more obscure formats like web pages.)

Ok. That’s it! Now when you get back to your prose, you can customize your citation. For example, you might need to add a page number:

To add more citations of this source, just go back to the Insert button:

Now that you’ve added all of these citations, this is how you generate a Works Cited list automatically:

Once the Works Cited list is entered into your document, you will need to “update” it periodically by clicking on update:

At a minimum, you should click update before you print/submit the document. Personally, I click update every time I add a citation. Note that new citations will not be listed unless you click update!

Finally, a lot of the power lies here:

When you click on that, you get this:

As you continue to add citations, a library of sources will appear here. You can also import sources from other documents. For example, you can open an existing Word document, copy the sources into your Word’s “Master List”, and then use them moving forwards.

I hope this helps!