PERRLA makes writing APA, MLA, and Turabian papers easy. If you've already started a paper without using PERRLA, here are the steps to convert it into a PERRLA paper.
Before you begin, make sure you've already added the PERRLA for Word Add-in to Microsoft Word. See instructions for installing the PERRLA Add-in.
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Open Word and start a new PERRLA paper.
Create a paper for the format and type you need. Learn how to start a new PERRLA paper. You can close the empty Word document after the new PERRLA paper has been created. -
Open your existing paper.
You should now have two papers open: the new PERRLA paper and your existing paper. -
Highlight and copy the body of your existing paper.
Use the keyboard shortcuts (Mac: Cmd+C, Windows: Ctrl+C) or click Copy in the Edit menu. -
Paste the copied text into the body of the new PERRLA paper.
If you have trouble with formatting, see the tips at the bottom of this article. -
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all your text has been moved into the PERRLA paper.
If your paper is long, copy and paste the text in sections.
If your original paper had references or citations, you'll need to recreate them using PERRLA's References & Citations panel. Learn how to create references. Learn how to create citations.
Citations pasted in with the body text are not connected to any reference in PERRLA – they are plain text. We recommend replacing them with PERRLA-generated citations to ensure they're correctly formatted.
It may be a little tedious, but that's how you can take an existing paper and convert it into a PERRLA paper.
Trouble pasting text into the new PERRLA paper
If your pasted text doesn't look right in your new PERRLA paper (not Times New Roman 12 pt), try pasting as Unformatted Text.
Word 2016: Go to Edit in the top menu bar, choose Paste Special, then Unformatted Text, and click OK.
Word 2019: In the Home ribbon tab, click the Paste dropdown, then click Paste Special, select Unformatted Text, and click OK.