Two references to the same publication should not accidentally become two differently spelled sources. Word can maintain a source entry and reuse it, but the author still needs to establish exactly which publication supports each claim.

Gather the details from the material you actually consulted: author, title, publication date and the relevant page or section. Distinguish editions and similarly titled works before entering them. A neat bibliography cannot repair a source identity chosen incorrectly.

Create the source once and cite it where needed

In desktop Word, place the cursor at the end of the passage being cited. Under References, Style, select the required citation style. Use Insert Citation, Add New Source and enter the source information. To cite that source again, place the cursor at the next passage and select its existing entry from Insert Citation.

Before choosing an existing entry, compare its author, title and edition with the publication in front of you. Two editions may share a title while changing the material they contain. Reuse the entry only when it identifies the source actually consulted; a familiar name alone is insufficient.

Use a small trial with two citations to one source and one citation to a second source. Read the claims as well as the citation labels. Check that the repeated publication is genuinely the same edition and that the second publication remains a separate, identifiable source.

Generate and refresh the reference list

Put the cursor where the bibliography belongs, then choose References, Bibliography and a format. Microsoft documents Update Citations and Bibliography, available when clicking in the bibliography, for including a newly cited source.

Add a third source to the trial and update the list. Confirm that its identifying details appear and that the repeated first source remains consistent. Compare the generated entries with the original publications rather than trusting spelling copied from an unrelated website.

Check the required editorial style separately, including the information a reader needs to find a web source or a particular edition. Software formatting is an aid, not a decision that a citation adequately supports the sentence.

Before issuing the document, refresh the bibliography and inspect the delivery copy. Keep the source details and editable document so later additions can use the maintained records instead of manually recreating the reference list.

Sources: Microsoft: bibliography and citations.