Word – How to add reference numbers instead of names in citations in MS word

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I am using the citation feature of MS word. When I add a citation it is added as (Author Name,year) and the references at the end of the document are not numbered as well. I want to change the citation to a reference number and add include numbers with all citations at the end of the document.

Best Answer

easiest out-of-the-box solution in Word is to select the IEEE citation format

■ in the CITATION and BIBLIOGRAPHY segment on the REFERENCES tab

■ use the STYLE dropdown box to select the IEEE style

That style will provide a bracketed number inline (ie [5]) and when you insert a BIBLIOGRAPHY will format your citations and refer to the inline numbers. Individual references are added with the INSERT CITATION and numbers are automatically assigned and resequenced as necessary as you edit (which can be a downside, since your reference numbers will be dynamic and your bibliography will be in the order of the inline references)

Only thing I don't like is that the inline references aren't superscripted and when I tried to format then when I refreshed the bibliography they reverted back to the paragraph style where they were embedded. Other than that, seemed to work well and meets your need for sequentially numbering the references.

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