There are several ways to use Citation to write citations and bibliographies. You can:

• Write a bibliography for an entire datafile.
• Use the Preview Box to insert formatted citations into your document.
• Insert Access Keys as "citation markers" into your document, and have Citation generate intext citations and a reference list for the sources cited in the document.

Writing a Bibliography for entire datafile

You can use the Bibliography feature to write citations for all the records in your datafile.

There are many instances in which this method of writing citations will be preferable. When you are preparing a a prospectus for your dissertation, for instance, the graduate school often requests a working bibliography for the sources you intend to draw upon for your research.

If you are teaching a course, you may want to use the bibliography feature to write bibliographies for course materials. See the Handbook for an illustration.

Using the Preview Box to format citations

You can use the Preview Box to format citations, and insert these directly into your document.

This method of using Citation to format your references is preferable when you are working on documents that will not require that the references be reformatted.

There are several situations in which documents do not require "reformattable" references. When you are writing a course paper that requires only footnotes, for instance, you can simply copy a formatted citation from the Preview box to your word processing document as a footnote or reference list citation.

See the Handbook for an illustration.

There are several other types of papers which will not require that the references be reformatted in different citation styles, such as legal documents.

Inserting Access Keys as citation markers in your document

When you are writing longer papers, you will want to be able to insert Access keys - or citation "markers" - in your documents, and use the Generate Citations feature to have Citation write the intext citations and reference list in the style required by your instructor or publisher.