I’m trying to write a conference paper manuscript for the AIAA GNC conference right now (why, oh, why isn’t it just an abstract, or even an extended abstract? a full manuscript at this point is going to be slathered with “TBD” and “preliminary” and “temporary” and promises for the future!), but I just discovered something that I had to write down for the benefit of other academic users of Microsoft Office since this has been bugging me since I got Office 2007:
I, personally, rebel against using TeX or its derivatives in my academic work. Yes, I can program in Matlab and Mathematica, and yes, I can create some pretty snazzy HTML/CSS web pages, so I’m not foreign to coding and markup languages, but really, I’m trying to concentrate on the science and engineering when I write a paper. I want to see what I will get. There is no reason at this point in the history of computers for me to have to use a command-line word processor that I have to compile. That sort of thing is for numerical scripts, not for documents.
Word 2007 took some great strides in the direction of making Office easier and better for technical purposes, with a WYSIWYG equation editor that you can control almost entirely from the keyboard using common operators and that automatically prettifies the equations as you write them. It’s way cool.
Word 2007 also has, from the beginning, included some automatic citation generating and outputting features. It’s almost like EndNote or BibTex and such, except that I don’t have to pay extra for them. However, it’s HUGE shortcoming was that it contained only 10 citation formats, and didn’t include some common technical formats. Right around the release of Office 2007, Microsoft blogs touting Word went on and on about how easy it would be for users to generate their own formats, since they used open XML files to create them. However, it turns out that those XML files are totally opaque to my understanding, and when I did try to change some things, I didn’t get what I expected. And it seemed like the rest of everybody agreed with me, because downloads for new citation formats did not immediately appear on the Internet.
I have finally, finally, finally found a web site with a small library of citation format files. It is here.
They unfortunately don’t have the AIAA format, which is what I use most often, but maybe they have something close. And, anyway, it adds to my options for the future. 🙂
Here is a bit about how to create a “bibliography” in Word. I think it might be helpful, or at least inform how you continue to use citations in Word. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100674921033.aspx?pid=CH100626361033
Also, you can join the community and conversation at the Office page on Facebook. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/office.
Cheers,
KIM
MSFT Office Outreach Team
Yeaaaaaaah….the problem is not that I don’t understand how to use the citation features of Word 2007 to create either inline references or bibliographies. The problem is that none of the 10 default citation styles in Word (APA, Chicago, MLA, etc…) match the preferred format of the AIAA journals and conferences in which I tend to write for publication. I’ve seen that comment echoed all over the ‘net, too, in Google results for “word 2007 citation styles” while I was looking to see if anyone had produced an AIAA-format XML sheet for Word citations.
As it is, I just use endnotes and the cross-reference feature. It’s not horrible, but it could be better if only I could find more citation styles to download!
Joseph, thank You so much for this article. People from Microsoft have made that part a litle bit LIMITED – but it’s OK, because they DIDN’T bother to say how to make new citation styles in help. I’ve also tried to adapt one of the existing styles, but gave up almost immediatelly. Once again, THANKS!
P.S. Sorry for my English…. 🙂
Thanks! Actually, since writing this, I’ve been able to tweak the BibWord styles to make an AIAA-compatible format. Unlike the citation style files contained by default in Word 2007, the BibWord styles were much easier to figure out.
I have been trying to modify the bibword citation style for AIAA format to no use…
Could anyone of you post the html style for AIAA? Maybe Joseph?
Hey there,
Actually, way after writing this post, I did finally hack up the bibword styles into AIAA format for a conference paper (and, subsequently, my dissertation). Try taking a look at one of these:
This is a basic one suitable for making citations into superscripts
This is a basic one with citations in [brackets]
This is one has some attempts to facilitate proper bibliography format
Best,
Joseph
In word 2007 in the citation and bibliography the stlye column shows ‘missing’.
how can i solve this problem
pls help
In word 2007 in the citation and bibliography the stlye column shows ‘missing’.
how can i solve this problem
missing the “Citations & Bibliography” section on Word 2007’s
“References” tab is not visible.
missing