Training module (SI): References

In this module, you will learn how to create linked references, both to other provisions within your document, and to existing legislation on legislation.gov.uk.

Tutorial

References (sometimes called cross references or X-refs) are effectively links that you can add in your document when you reference a provision, so that the reader can quickly access the provision being referenced.

There are two types of reference in Lawmaker:

• Internal references - references to other provisions in the same document, e.g., “section 3(2)(a)” or “paragraph (3)”.

• External references - references to (provisions in) other legislative documents, e.g., “the Companies Act 2006”, or “section 5 of the Human Rights Act 1998”.

Internal references will link to the location in the same document, whilst external references will link to the relevant page on legislation.gov.uk.

There are two ways to create references:

• Copying a reference to a provision (internal references only)

• ‘Tagging’ references (internal and external references)

Copying a reference to a provision

You can create a reference by copying it from the provision you want to reference.

To create an internal reference this way, do the following:

1. Right-click on the provision you want to reference in either the Editor or the Structure view.

2. Click Select reference to copy.

3. Select the form of reference you want from the menu (for example, ‘Regulation 4(2)’, ‘Paragraph (2)’, or just ‘(2)’).

   • Click copy (not relevant if you are obtaining the reference from the Structure view).

4. Place your cursor in the location where you would like the reference to be inserted.

5. Press Ctrl+v to paste in the reference.

The reference will now appear in the Editor.

Tagging references

You can also create references by typing them as plain text, then ‘tagging’ them using Lawmaker’s Tag references function.

You will need to do this to create external references.

To create an internal or external reference by 'tagging', do the following:

1. Draft the reference(s) as plain text.

2. Ensure your cursor is in the provision in which you want to tag references (NB: you don’t need to highlight the text).

3. Tag the reference(s) using one of the following methods:

   • Click on the Tag references icon in the toolbar,

   • Select Tools menu > Tag references,

   • Right-click in the Editor or Structure view and select Tag references, or

   • Use the keyboard short cut Alt+T.

The typed references should be ‘tagged’.

Ensure you have typed the references correctly.

External references will fail to tag if there are any differences between your text and the title of the document being referenced, including in punctuation, capitalisation and spacing.

Tagging external references using an alias

Lawmaker can recognise the use of an alias when tagging external references, so long as you define the alias by tagging it first.

For example, if you have defined “the Human Rights Act 1998” as “the Act” within your document, and you have tagged this already so that Lawmaker recognises the reference to the Human Rights Act 1998, then you will be able to tag references relating to “the Act” throughout your document.

E.g., “section 5 of the Act” should then be tagged as a reference to section 5 of the Human Rights Act.

However, if you have not yet tagged the definition of “the Act”, then “section 5 of the Act” will not tag properly.

To tag references using an alias, do the following:

1. Type your definition of the alias in the Editor, e.g., ““HRA 1998” means the Human Rights Act 1998.”

   • Note that you can either type this as plain text or use a Definition element.

2. Tag the provision where you define the alias using the steps in Tagging references above.

3. Once you’ve successfully tagged the reference, you can tag references in the rest of your document using the alias, e.g., “this is a reference to section 1 of HRA 1998”.

Failed tagged references

If you tag references using the steps provided above, but the reference is not found in your document or in a document on legislation.gov.uk, then it will be highlighted grey and trigger a document warning.

You can then choose to Remove or Ignore this failed reference.

The most likely reason for a reference to fail is a mistyping.

To avoid this, you can create internal references using the copy reference function - see above.

If an external reference fails to tag, double-check the title of the legislation on http://legislation.gov.uk to make sure there are no differences at all.

The reference toolbar

When you double-click on a reference, a toolbar appears with a range of options:

• Update ref (see Update references below);

• Goto ref - jumps to the referenced provision (either within your document for an internal reference, or in a new tab, on legislation.gov.uk, for an external reference);

• Edit ref - opens a pop up to edit some aspects of your reference, including the text of the reference;

• Mark as ignored - this removes the tags and will stop the reference from being re-tagged if you tag references again;

• Remove tag - this simply removes the tag.

We recommend not using Edit ref to change the text of your reference, except as a last resort.

Changing some elements of your reference may interfere with updating the reference.

It is better to recreate the reference from scratch - see the instructions above.

Update references

A useful feature Lawmaker has is that if you move your provisions around the document and given them different numbers, you can then update your existing internal references so that they reflect the new provision numbers.

For example, if you have tagged a reference to “Regulation 4(1)(a)”, but have renumbered your document so that Regulation 4 is now Regulation 5, you can Update references to change the reference to “Regulation 5(1)(a)”.

To update references, do any of the following:

• Click on the Update references icon in the main toolbar,

• Select Tools menu>Update references from the main toolbar,

• Right-click in Structure view or Editor view and select Update references,

• Click on the Update ref button on the references toolbar, or

• Use the keyboard short cut Alt+u.

In addition, when you renumber your document, you will be prompted to choose whether to also update X-refs at the same time.

Insert citation footnotes

Lawmaker has a useful function to generate citation footnotes for references to external legislation.

We cover this separately in Training module (SI): Footnotes | Insert-citation-footnotes. It is not required to complete this module.

Videos

In the video linked below, please watch:

• Internal Cross References (0:05)

• External Cross References (3:39)

• Tagging External References using an Alias (4:47)

• Updating and managing Cross references (5:43)

Inserting footnotes and Generating citation footnotes are covered in Training module (SI): References.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIHao6mLIeI

Further information

See References for detailed information.

Exercises

Getting started

Before you start the exercises, you will need a document ready and open in the Editor.

If you already have a document ready, you can move on to the exercises below.

If you don’t have a document ready, follow the steps below.

Exercise 1 - Create internal references by copying them

Using the ‘Select reference to copy’ method, create the following provision, including the circled references.

(Don’t worry for now about references to external documents / provisions. Also, if your document doesn’t have a Regulation 8, make the reference in (1) to a different Regulation)

Exercise 2 - Remove the reference tags

Remove the reference tags on the references you have just created.

Exercise 3 - Tag internal and external references

Use Tag references to make your provision look like this, with all references tagged.