There are two ways of managing and displaying your references in Microsoft Word:
The choice will likely be down to personal preference, although if you are referencing large a large number of sources and likely to reuse them across various assignments or research then we would recommend using Refworks and RCM.
This guide will help you get started with either option.
Please note this guidance only applies to the Microsoft Word desktop version/app. It is not possible to use these features on the web version of Word 365 as Microsoft do not support it. If you only have access to the web version, please use Refwork's Citation Manager as described further down this page, or install free Microsoft Office for UHI Staff and Students.
On UHI computers, Harvard Cite Them Right has already been installed in Word. In the referencing styles list it is called: Harvard - UHI CTR. There are also instructions avaialble for installing it on personal devices.
Although this feature complies as closely as possible with Cite Them Right 12th edition, reference lists constructed using this method should be checked against Cite Them Right website or textbook before submission.
For macOS devices, first ensure there are no pending Microsoft Office updates.
To check for updates, open a Microsoft Office app. From the Finder bar, select Help > Check for Updates. This will open the Microsoft AutoUpdate app. Click on ‘Check for Updates’ and apply any available updates before proceeding to install the CTR Referencing style.
To install the CTR referencing style file in the Word app on a Mac, please take the following steps:
Download the file ‘CTRHarvard.xsl’ from the Links & Files area of this page.
In Finder, open your Applications folder and locate Microsoft Word
Right-click on Microsoft Word and select “Show Package Contents”.
Within the “Contents” folder, open the “Resources” folder, and then open the “Style” folder.
Copy the file from step 1 into the “Style” folder. Mac OS will prompt you to provide your admin password before it will make the copy.
Restart Microsoft Word. The Cite Them Right style should now be available in the referencing options. It is labelled Harvard - UHI CTR.
Although the Word tool is as accurate as possible, there is a known issue with how it deals with in-text citations for multiple authors. The following guidance applies to any resource that has four or more authors.
In Cite The Right Harvard, a citation with four or more authors should appear as follows:
(Petit et al. 2020) : Note that "et al" should be italicised as shown.
However, the Word tool produces citations with four or more authors as:
(Petit et al., 2020) : Along with with "et al" appearing in standard font, there is also an unnecessary comma.
Follow these steps to change the affected citations to ensure they match the Cite Them Right Harvard standard.
Once you have finished your assignment, generate your reference list as usual, then next to any in-text citations with “et al”, select the down arrow and the option to “Convert citation to static text”.
Once it’s static text, change et al., to et al.
Repeat this change for any other citations that contain four or more authors.
Then save your document.
It is not currently possible to fix this issue in Microsft Word. The tool is there to aid your referencing process and is as accurate as possible, but please ensure you check your citations and reference list against the Cite Them Right guidelines before submission.
If Refworks Citation Manager (RCM) is not already available in Word, you can add it by following these simple steps:
Open Word
Go to Insert > Get Add-ins
Select Admin Managed
Select Refworks Citation Manager and then Add at the foot of the screen.
You will now have a new tab in Word called RCM.
Select RCM and login with your Refworks credentials.
You can now login using your UHI institutional username and password by searching 'highlands' and clicking the resulting link.
This short video provides an overview of using Refworks Citation Manager in Micorosft Word.