Patent ID: 7818668

Claim:
A method for transforming bibliographic data via an application, the method comprising: interpreting a field via a field interpreter by: ascertaining a field type of the field, the field type including a transform reference configured to indicate that a raw data reference parameter points to raw data to be extracted by a raw data extractor and transformed by a transformation engine prior to presentation to a user; and acquiring a plurality of parameters of the field, the plurality of parameters including at least the raw data reference parameter and a parameter to identify the transformation engine; extracting, via the raw data extractor, the raw data for the field from a first file portion responsive to the interpreting, wherein the raw data is configured in accordance with an extensible markup language (XML); transforming, via the transformation engine, the raw data prior to presentation of the field using a second file portion for presentation into a first citation style via a first set of presentation rules; and replacing the first set of presentation rules with a second set of presentation rules after presentation via the first citation style by using the second file portion for presentation into a second citation style; wherein the first file portion and the second file portion are separate from the application and are part of a word processing document file that contains a change history including at least a record of previous changes to the presentation rules; and wherein the field represents a bibliographic citation for a source; the raw data includes bibliographic data for the source; and transformed raw data produced by the transforming comprises at least a portion of the bibliographic data after filtering, ordering, and formatting by the transforming.