Zotero and Mendeley Plugins
Both the Zotero and Mendeley citation managers have plugins for Microsoft Word and Google Docs that allow you to import in-text citations and bibliographies without having manually enter everything. If you don't want to use Zotero or Mendeley, both Google Docs and Microsoft Word have built-in citation builders. However out of the two, Google Docs generates better citations.
Citation Builder in Google Docs
To use the built-in Google Docs citation builder, click on the "Tool" tab at the top of the screen. Then select "Citations" from the menu.
This will open a panel on the right hand side of the screen. Use the drop down menu to select the citation style, they click on "+ Add citation source."
Next, use the top drop down menu to select "Source type" (book, journal article, website, etc). Then, use the second drop down menu to select how you accessed it (whether you used it online or print/physically held it). After you make your selections, fill out the form below.
After you enter all the information in the form, you will now have a citation! You can click on the "Cite" link on the citation to create an in-text citation:
Here's the in-text citation for the source I just added. Notice that it's telling me to make sure I enter the correct page number:
At the end of your paper, select the "Insert References" button at the bottom of the citation panel. This will auto-generate a works cited page for you!
