Personal “bibliographic” databases programs like LegalCitation combine many of the characteristics of structured database programs with some of those associated with textual database programs. In addition to sorting and selecting features, bibliographic database programs offer features that are designed specifically to deal with the predominance of textual materials and rules for organizing citations that are associated with the academic and research environments. Data entry

• Forms
  Unlike standard database programs, bibliographic database programs provide you with predefined data entry forms.

  These “forms” are specifically designed to hold information for different types of source works associated with research writing; that is, the different forms display only those fields associated with the particular type of source work.

  Rather than entering information as a formatted citation for a case, for instance, you will enter the basic components for citing a case in a form:

  

  The form for Rules of Court, on the other hand, allows data entry of the components required for that particular type of source work:

  

  LegalCitation offers you a choice, as you are entering data, of forms that correspond to nearly every type of resource material associated with legal research and writing addressed in either the ALWD Citation Manual or The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.

  Unlike standard database programs, LegalCitation is able to store multiple forms in a single database.

  And unlike the online database collections, records in your LegalCitation database can be edited to include keywords and notes or abstracts that pertain to your own projects.

• Field types
  In addition to predefined forms, bibliographic database programs have field “types” that are peculiar to certain kinds of bibliographic data, such as names, titles, keywords and notes or abstracts. These field types make entering data simpler, and more consistent with the ways in which we are used to working with these kinds of information.

  Names, for instance, are entered with first and last names inverted, and the names of individuals separated with semicolons:

  Smith, Jane; Wilson, David B.; Olsen, James D.

  (Authors, Editors, and translators are all name fields.)

  Titles are always entered in lower case letters, with only proper nouns capitalized. LegalCitation can then correctly capitalize significant words in the titles for different publishing style requirements.

• List fields
  In several fields (Keywords, Journal, Publisher), LegalCitation will automatically alphabetize the terms that have been entered in the database, and display the list for you. You can use the list to enter additional terms, or to search for matching items in the database.

• Note fields
  Every record has a ‘Note” or abstract field that expands as you type notes, and lets you use the keystrokes you are used to using in your word processor for entering paragraphs.

• Word processor compatibility
  Most bibliographic database programs assume that you will be using the information entered into the database in your writing, and are thus designed with a tight integration to the popular word processing systems.

• Tools menu access
  LegalCitation installs on the Tools menu in your word processor, so it is easily accessible to you as you are writing.

• Document links (Access keys)
  You can create “links” between your documents and your bibliographic database. LegalCitation can scan your word processing document for these “links” and insert properly formatted citations, adding the appropriate print attributes.

• Searching and sorting emphasizes text
  Searching, sorting, and selecting features are designed with the assumption that you are working with an emphasis on text (see the glossary on the following page for examples of searches, sorts, and selects).

• Citation formatting
  Bibliographic database programs have the ability to rearrange the information entered in the forms as citations. LegalCitation, in fact, formats the citation as you complete the form in a “Preview box” in the publishing style or format you have selected. For legal citations, this is usually Bluebook or ALWD citation style.

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