Tracking and Referencing Documents in Microsoft Word 2010

3.3 Create a Table of Authorities in a Document

Tables of authorities are used in legal documents as a reference to the cases, statutes, rulings, regulations, and other citations included in a document. Word can generate a table of authorities on the basis of the citations you mark and define in a document. Word’s table of authorities feature provides several built-in categories that you use to classify citations, but you can modify this list or add categories of your own. Word also lets you choose options for formatting a table of authorities and for how the table displays the citations.

Marking Citations

To start building a table of authorities, select the text of a citation in the document and then click Mark Citation in the Table Of Authorities group on the References tab. The text you select appears in the Selected Text box and the Short Citation box in the Mark Citation dialog box. You can edit the citation’s text in the Selected Text box or in the Short Citation box. To change the formatting of the text, right-click in the Selected Text box and then choose Font.

Word provides seven named categories by default (cases, statutes, other authorities, rules, treatises, regulations, and constitutional provisions), along with unspecified categories numbered 8 through 16. You can replace a named category or assign a name to a numbered category to modify what Word provides.

When you click Mark in the Mark Citation dialog box, Word adds the citation to a list. Click Mark All, and Word inserts a “table of authorities” field (identified by the characters TA) for each instance in the document that matches the text in the long and short forms you define. You can keep the Mark Citation dialog box open as you navigate through a document to mark other citations. The Next Citation button moves to the next likely citation in the document—Word uses clues such as “v.” or dates in parentheses—for example, (2001)—to identify citations.

Formatting and Aligning a Table of Authorities

When you are ready to build your table of authorities, position the cursor where you want the table of authorities to appear, then click Insert Table Of Authorities on the References tab.

In the Table Of Authorities dialog box, you can set the following options:

• Category Select which category of authorities you want to include, or choose All. You cannot choose more than one option in this list.

• Use Passim Keep this check box selected if you want to use the term passim to indicate that information the citation refers to is scattered throughout the source. Clear this check box to list specific pages.

• Keep Original Formatting Use this option to specify whether the citations listed in the table of authorities appear in the table as they are formatted in the document.

• Tab Leader Choose the type of tab leader to use (which helps align page numbers), or choose None from this list.

• Formats Choose a style for the table of authorities, or use the styles and formatting that is defined in the current template.

To change formatting for the table of authorities entries and the table heading, use the From Template setting in the Formats list, and then click Modify to open the Style dialog box. Select the element you want to change, click Modify in the Style dialog box, and then revise the formatting in the Modify Style dialog box.

• To mark table of authorities citations

  1. In the document, select the text for a citation.

  2. On the References tab, in the Table of Authorities group, click Mark Citation.

  3. In the Mark Citation dialog box, edit the text for the citation in the Selected text box.

  4. Edit the short form for the citation in the Short citation box.

  5. In the Category list, select a category for the citation.

  6. Click Mark, or click Mark All, to insert a table of authorities reference for each instance of this citation as you have defined it in the Mark Citation dialog box.

  7. Click Next Citation, and repeat steps 3 through 6.

• To format and generate a table of authorities

  1. Position the cursor where you want the table of authorities to appear in the document.

  2. On the References tab, in the Table of Authorities group, click Insert Table of Authorities.

  3. In the Table of Authorities dialog box, do the following:

     • Select the category of citation you want to create a table for, or select All.

     • Select or clear the Use Passim check box to use the term passim for short-form references or to show specific page numbers referred to in the citation.

     • Select or clear the Keep original formatting option to maintain the formatting defined for the citation in the Mark Citation dialog box.

     • Select a tab leader to use to align page numbers.

     • Select a format for the table, or choose From template.

  4. Click OK. (If the field code appears, right-click and select Toggle field codes.)

• To replace a category for a table of authorities

  1. On the References tab, click Mark Citation.

  2. In the Mark Citation dialog box, click Category.

  3. In the Edit Category dialog box, select the category you want to change.

  4. In the Replace with box, modify the category name.

  5. Click Replace.

  6. Make changes to other categories as necessary, and then click OK.

• To modify styles for table of authorities entries

  1. In the Table of Authorities dialog box, select From template in the Formats list.

  2. Click Modify.

  3. In the Style dialog box, select the element you want to change—Table of Authorities (for entries) or TOA Heading.

  4. In the Style dialog box, click Modify.

  5. In the Modify Style dialog box, make changes to the style and then click OK.

  6. Click OK to close the Style dialog box.