Citation Help

Citation Tips & Tools for MS Word

The following is a list of MS Word Feature Demonstrations that will help you format documents. The GIFs will demonstrate how to use certain features like Page Breaks, Hanging Indents, and even how to Alphabetize your bibliography using the Sort feature.

Full Tutorial on Using MS Word to Format Your APA Paper

This nine-minute tutorial video is a step-by-step walkthrough of MS Word techniques that you can use to easily format your paper in APA. You can just watch the video OR download the documents below and follow along! Please pause and re-watch the video as much as you need! 

Using the Show/Hide Non-Printing Formatting Marks Button

The Show/Hide Button reveals the keystrokes that will not show up in a document (Return/Enter, Space, Tab, etc.). Turning this on will show the paragraph structure and any other formatting that is not text. You will need this to see Page Breaks too. The following GIF shows how to turn it on and what return/enter, spaces, and tabs look like: 

SHOW/HIDE NON-PRINTING FORMATTING MARKS DEMONSTRATION: 

Inserting a Page Break

A Page Break separates the document into three areas: Title Page, Body of Paper, Bibliography/References. The following GIF will show you how to insert a Page Break. Having Page Breaks will keep the spacing integrity of the bibliography if you add to the body of the text.

HOW TO INSERT A PAGE BREAK:

Using the Hanging Indent & Alphabetizing the Bibliography with the Sort Feature

Your bibliography is most likely going to have a Hanging Indent. It is imperative that each citation IS ITS OWN PARAGRAPH. Meaning that you allow the citation to autowrap into the next line instead of hitting Return/Enter. By using the Ruler in MS Word you can highlight the bibliography and click and drag the Hanging Indent out to the 1/2-inch mark. If your citations are all their own paragraph, you can highlight and click the Sort feature in the Home tab. 

USING HANGING INDENT & SORT: