Finding citations added manually

Question

Finding citations added manually

Anonymous

I'm copy-editing a large report, and the author has manually added in-text citations, rather than using any sort of built-in feature 🫠

I need to cross-check the in-text citations against the references list at the end. Is there a way to find in-text citations through some kind of advanced search, e.g. looking for anything within parentheses (as in-text citations always involve parentheses, but differ in their presentation depending on their position in a sentence, number of authors, etc). I'd ideally then like to apply a highlight colour to the text within parentheses as a visual clue to where the in-text citations are located.

Is this possible with a wild-card search, or any other kind of advanced search? Any other advice would be much appreciated!

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10 answers

Answer 1

Dear Jane Thomas,

Greetings! I really appreciate your effort and your precious time doing those tests.

I would like to make a summary on this issue to find the information easily. This will also help other community members to find solution much easier of they come across the same situation:

Issue Description:

Finding citations added manually by searching 4 digits (19xx or 20xx) in between parentheses.

Environment:

Office 365 for business

Microsoft Word for Mac

Solution:

Use wildcards 20??) and 19??) in Find and Replace.

Meanwhile, I would like to request you to provide a valuable vote in above mentioned reply so that other users can find the resolution in a more efficient way.

Have a nice day and stay safe 😊

Regards,

Rhoda

Answer 2

Thank you Rhoda. I am using my work/business account.

Thanks for the wildcard tip. The examples I gave are citations from the year 2024, but citations can go as far back as 1950. Is there a wildcard way to search for 4 digits (19xx or 20xx) in between parentheses, that may or may not also have text preceding it, i.e. (*

Answer 3

Dear Jane Thomas,

Thanks for posing back and confirming the scenario with us.

As per the sample shared, please check if the wildcards can help in advanced find can help as shown below:

Meanwhile, we'd also like to confirm whether you use the personal account or the work/school account in Office for Mac?

Best Regards,

Rhoda

Answer 4

Thanks. That doesn't fix my problem.

I'm trying to find text of the citations. They might be written as:

Smith (2024)
Smith and Jones (2024)
Smith et al. (2024)
(Smith 2024)
(Smith and Jones 2024)
(Smith et al. 2024)

I'd like to find a way to get Word to find them. I feel like the best way would be to somehow to an advanced find for text in between parentheses, because all the citations have parentheses in them. Then apply a highlight colour as a visual aid for me to see them in the document.

My Word:

Answer 5

Dear Jane Thomas,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

As per your description, it seems that you are trying to find citations that have been added manually in Word for Mac.

If the understanding above is right, we'd recommend you check if the options in Advanced Find in Word can help.

For your reference: Replace Text - Microsoft Support

If the understanding above is not consistent with yours or any further assistance needed, please feel free to post back and point that. Meanwhile, please share some screenshots of the "citation added manually" and how the citation is used in the document. Please also share your Office version by navigating to Word > About Word and take a full screenshot of it as shown below and share with us.

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. We hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Rhoda | Microsoft Moderator

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Finding citations added manually

10 answers