Warp Speed Your Warp Speed Your Research Writing Research Writing Using Word 2007Using Word 2007

Dr. Miriam Helen Hill, Professor

Physical and Earth Sciences, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL

October 21, 2008

Word 2007 is dramatically different

from previous versions of Microsoft Word.

The design uses what is now called ribbons, and these ribbons present a

complete reorganization and reworking of the software.

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate the added functionality of Word 2007 and to

provide other suggestions that may ease and speed research writing through the use of the

newly available technologies.

The focus will be the reference ribbon of Word 2007, but brief comments will be made about

Google Scholar.

The methods of undertaking literature searches has changed drastically in the past several decades.

The new tools within Word

2007, though, have recently

totally renovated the

documentation process.

The primary focus will be the reference ribbon of

Word 2007.

In particular, we will examine the Citation and Bibliography area.

Footnotes are used to add information rather than to provide references.

The first item to note is the Style.

The drop down allows you to set what style format to use in the

document.

Once a document is typed, it is this easy to change it from one format to

another.

Turabian

MLA

APA

So, reformatting a paper for a different journal is simplified.

The next advance in writing is found with Manage Sources.

The description is misleading.

It is used to view the list of all the sources

TYPED into this COMPUTER

SYSTEM!

The Source Manager stores all references entered.You need not input that data for the next paper!

We’ll discuss more about this later.

First, we need to enter some data.

In a paper, when a citation is needed, the first step is to go to the reference ribbon and

click the Insert Citation Option.

Three choices are available.

Add New Source lets you input data.

If you want to come back and do this later, add New Placeholder is available.

Search Libraries leads to the encyclopedia, dictionary, and other subscription sources that can be set.

Add New Source opens

the Create Source Dialog box into which you enter the

citation information.

17 options are available in

the drop down for Type of

Source.

Choose the most

appropriate option.

For book, author, title, year, city, and publisher are the standard required inputs.

Author can be either people or a corporate author.

Typing format is last name, comma, rest of name, semicolon, last name, comma, rest of name, etc.

The full name information should be entered, because different styles require it.

Problem: To handle two worded last names such as Alexander von Humboldt the author must be

entered through the edit button to the right.

This enables the parts of the name to be identified. So von Humboldt can be entered as the last name and first and middle name pieces may be clarified.

When additional information is needed, such as state or edition, the Show All Bibliography Fields option will expand the form with the required fields marked by a

red asterisk.

Book Section is used for a chapter in a book.One drawback is the requirement to re-enter the book

information for each chapter used.You can use Notepad to type that and copy and paste.

Journal article must be expanded.

I have not found a way to default to full expansion.

The Standard Number can be used for the ISSN.No journal on-line option exists, so I have typed that

after the page information.

I have found no way to print the comments beyond VBA.

Volume and Issue are usually

required information

for academic sources, but

this is not marked.

Article in a Periodical has identical input compared to Journal Article except for the option to include the

Edition. Bibliography formats must differ.

Conference Proceedings adds Conference Publication Name to the standard inputs.

The report option seems to miss a few possibly useful fields, such as month and date, but it can

all be entered in the year box.

Web options are weak.Web site is inconsistent on entry between styles.

Most, not all, ask for Name of Web Site that is derived from the Window Title Bar. To change

forms, this should always be added.

The expanded form is often necessary. Short titles, standard numbers, and comments are

additional elective entries.

The second web option is “Document From Web site.” The unexpanded form is similar to the

previous form.

The expanded form is, also, the same, but the printed format may differ between styles.

The Electronic Source form may be the weakest.

Other inputs for Electronic Source may include Volume, Year, Month, Day, Short Title, Standard

Number, and Comments.

These three forms fail to cover the diversity of web materials.

Art citations differ as would be anticipated.

Entries for sound recordings include Recording Number, Short Title, Standard Number, and

Comments.

When expanded, these include Producer Name, Production Company, Director, Short Title, Standard

Number, and Comments.

Performance is another

category with more

distinctive inputs.

The expanded form includes Short Title, Standard Number, and Comments, also.

Another source type is Films.

Other inputs include State/Province, Country/Region, Editor, Translator, Compiler, Pages, Short Title,

Standard Number, and Comments.

The Interview form is deficient, because it anticipates only published media rather than

personal researcher interviews.

Another source type is Patent.

Abbreviated Case Number, Short Title, and Comments are expanded input options.

The Case source type is especially important for legal writing.

Further inputs include Publisher, Editor, Pages, Volume, Edition, Issue, Translator, Compiler, Short

Title, Standard Number, and Comments

Miscellaneous covers

additional source types.

If an error is found after entering the

source information, clicking the drop down arrow and

choosing Edit Source will reopen the

dialog box for changes.

To enter the page reference, click the drop down arrow, and choose

edit citation!

If you have used the reference BEFORE in

this document, it will be shown in the citation

listing. Click the Insert Citation icon, then find

the listing.

Click it, and the reference will be added

into the text.

Then just complete the input by adding the page number if

appropriate.

If you have used the source in a previous document typed on this computer, the input is

retained by the Source Manager.

To open the Source Manager, click Manage Sources.

The Source Manager enables search by Author, Tag, Title, and Year.

Type into the search box, and the entries from the Master List will be displayed, with one entry

Previewed at the bottom.

For example, here the search for Fink shows five works have been entered, and one has already been used in the current document.

Other master lists can be accessed by the Browse button.

The source file by default is located in c:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Bibliography\sources.xml

I recommend that this file should be backed up and archived to another system periodically. I’d hate to lose all of this data entry!

When the paper is finished, clicking Bibliography will begin the production of

the list of resources used in the document.

Two formats are indicated, Bibliography and Works Cited.

Clicking Bibliography will add the formatted bibliography to the end of the

document.

Current paragraph formats may dominate.

If the heading is not desired, the Insert Bibliography option will add the bibliography to the document.

If changes are made after the listing is appended, click the Update Citations and

Bibliography and all corrections will be made throughout the entire paper!

Changes are not retained until the paper is saved, including the Source Manager.

These capabilities facilitate note taking.

Instead of doing note cards, I recommend maintaining a note document. Use a subject, quote, and the bibliographic entrance for each piece of data as

ONE PARAGRAPH.

When the notes have been completed,

alphabetize the list by using the sort capability of

Word 2007. From the Home menu, choose the alphabetize

option.

This will group the similar subjects for sorting and organizing the paper.

After organizing the notes, quotes can be lifted from the note document into the

paper, and the reference chosen through the Word 2007 functionality.

I highlight the note document showing the materials already used in the paper.

Another research tool advance is from Google, www.google.com.

Under the more drop down choose Scholar to access Google Scholar.

The search engine has collected links to scholarly works.

So, a search for a researcher will produce links and references for the author.

Traditionally, researchers use the

references from relevant work to locate additional source materials.

In this manner, we trace the research back through time. Finding more recent

work was a huge challenge.

Now, Google Scholar provides a Cited by link.

This provides links to research that includes this work in their bibliographies!

Thus, this brings the themes forward in time.

Excellent

scholarship has never before been this

easy!