Syncing reference liste between different Word documents

jclutz

Hi,
I am writing my PhD thesis in different chapters using Zotero. Every chapter consists in a Word document. I chose to display the reference list at the end of every chapter.
I have 2 questions:
1. How can I sync the reference list of one chapter (Word document A) with the reference list of another chapter (Word document B) . Indeed, if I cite in Chapter 2 a reference labelled (12) in Chapter 1, it should have the same number (that is 12)?

2. How can I merge all the references list at the end of every chapter into a final, complete refenrence list ?

Thanks for your support !

JC LUTZ, MD

adamsmith

1) You can either have a single bibliography or separate ones, but you can't have separate bibliographies which are synced at the same time, sorry (what you have in mind sounds really confusing, too; so some numbers would refer to the same reference and some to different references?)

2) Just create a final document in which you paste all the individual chapter (without bibliography). Make sure you have a citation style selected in the target document before pasting. Then insert bibliography.

jclutz

Thanks very much Adam for your prompt feedback.
1) I think I did not make my point across clearly enough. You write "what you have in mind sounds really confusing, too; so some numbers would refer to the same reference and some to different references?"
-> On the contrary, I would like to maintain consistent numbering of citations from one chapter (word document) to another (word document). If, for instance, I insert a first citation in Chapter 2 using the Zotero tools, it will be labeled (1). But if this same citation was used in third position in Chapter 1, it has been labeled (3). Numbering then becomes inconsistent from one chapter to another. My goal is to use Zotero fonctions to have automatical consistent numbering between chapters: that is, numbering a citation in a chapter according to the number it had been previously given if cited in an earlier chapter.
In my example, the first citation in Chapter 2 - if already used in third position in Chapter 1, shall also be labeled (3) in Chapter 2. Any new citation in Chapter 2 - not used in the previous Chapter- shall therfore be given a new number. As a result, if the reference list at the end of Chapter 1 had a total of 20 citations numbered from (1) to (20), using our example, the reference list at the end of Chapter 2 could look like
(3)
(21)
(22)
(23) etc...
Does that sound more explicit ?

2) Of course, creating a single Word document, as you suggest, would be the easiest. Unfortunately, from experience, that would generate a very heavy document due to iconography causing inevitable crashes.

Any other ideas ?