Bibliography function in word

[Student 72]

Can I convert an Exel database into a MS Word bibliography ? I have converted
the table into XML data but Word still doesn't recognise the data as a source
document ?

 

[Yves Dhondt]

A Word bibliography (collection of sources) is in a specific format. Unless
your XML is in that exact format, Word will not be able to use it.

If you already have the data in XML, you can probably write an XSLT which
converts the XML to a piece of XML Word will understand.

 

[Student 72]

Thank you for that. Is there any other way of achieving the same result
without using the XML/biob function ? The Biob function is iritating because
it requires you to input the data afresh and doesn't permit the data analysis
features that you can use in Exel. I want to do my data analysis in Exel but
want to avoid retyping the information for my references/biblio.

 

[Yves Dhondt]

If you click "Manage Sources", the Source Manager dialog will pop up. It
contains a "Browse..." button. Using that button, you can load xml files
which are in the correct format. So you don't have to input everything by
hand. You just have to find (or write) a tool which stores your data into
the desired format.

Some examples of such tools:

1)JabRef (http://jabref.sourceforge.net/)
This is a complete system to store and edit references. Internally, it uses
the old arcane BibTeX format to store the data. Using the export function,
you can generate valid xml files for Word 2007/2008.

2)Connotea (http://www.connotea.org/)
This is a free online system to store references. It also comes with an
export function for Word.

3)EndNote (http://www.endnote.com)
This one is not free, but is probably the most well known bibliography
packet. By itself, it can not export data to the format used by Word afaik.
However, using BibUtils
(http://www.scripps.edu/~cdputnam/software/bibutils/) you can convert
between the EndNote format and MODS and between MODS and the Word format.

4)Excel
Like I stated in my original reply, if you know the xml format your excel
sheet is in (which you should as you created it), you could write an xsl
transformation which can convert your data into the Word specific format. Of
course, this solution requires you to have at least some basic xslt
knowledge.

Yves