There seem to be some issues with the handling of ambiguous citations; I have tried various combinations of settings but cannot get BS to format my citations as I need them to be.
I'm using BS 7.26 and my citation/footnote template basically consists of: Author [last name only], p. Cited Pages.
1. Include authors’ initials when there are several authors with the same last name:
The feature doesn’t work, neither when selected alone nor when selected together with the option to add the short title. So, Koller, Alfred and Koller, Thomas are both formatted just as Koller (both in footnotes and in-text citations).
2. Add Title/Short Title for different works by the same author:
2.1. There seems to be some kind of (unwanted) dependence between the handling of ambiguous and repeated citations.
If the option for using the short title for repeated citations is deselected, the option for adding the title/short title for ambiguous citations doesn’t work at all, i.e. no short title is added (neither in footnotes nor in-text citations). In my opinion, these sets of options should be independent.
But even with the option for repeated citations selected, the short title isn’t added consistently to ambiguous citations; sometimes it is, sometimes it is not. And if it is, it is only from the point where the second title of the same author is inserted. However, the short title should also be added to citations before that footnote because they have become ambiguous as well.
2.2. Furthermore, there is a problem with punctuation. What I need is the following:
- unambiguous citation: Koller, p. 26
- ambiguous citation: Koller, Short Title, p. 26
In my template I use a comma before Cited Pages. This is ok for unambiguous citations but not for ambiguous ones which get formatted like this: KollerShort Title, p. 26
If, on the other hand, I put a comma after the Author field as well, ambiguous citations are formatted correctly, but unambiguous citations have two commas: Miller, , p. 26
Is it possible to make BS detect two consecutive commas and insert only one? Or to add an option for text before and after ‘added (short) titles’ as it is available for every other field?
2.3. Finally, most of the footnotes (but not all) get formatted with two dots “..” in the end. I have no idea why (it’s not in the output style).
Thank you,
Lars.
Lars, could you export the
Lars, could you export the references as Biblioscape tag file and email it to me? I will try to reproduce the problems. Please also email me sample documents before and after the formatting to show the problems. Thanks.
Paul, I just sent you a zip
Paul, I just sent you a zip with the requested files. Thanks, Lars.
Lars, there are several
Lars, there are several problems with your style. 1. There is a ", " after the Authors field and another ", " before the Cited Pages field. Only one is needed, please remove the one after Authors field. 2. You checked style as style for footnote or endnote. Citations in footnote usually include authors, year, title, page, etc. Ambiguos citations are not possible. So Biblioscape doesn't check for ambiguous citations when the style is for footnote or endnote. 3. Ambiguous citation is only checked for Author-Date format. In such style, both author and date (Year) should be included. But in your style, there is only Authors. Is this the spec for a real journal? Thanks. Paul
Paul, the style I sent you
Paul, the style I sent you is for publications in the humanities and the law which include a bibliography of all works cited - e.g. books and theses, legal briefs and also (longer) articles in some journals. As the full information is already in the bibliography, it is not necessary (and not desired) to include full citations in the footnotes; rather, footnotes only include those parts which are necessary to identify the reference in the bibliography.
Therefore, in most cases citations in footnotes only indicate the author's last name and the page cited, e.g.:
See Koller, p. 45; Honsell, p. 100.
However, if there is more than one work by the same author, a short title is added (and defined in the bibliography):
See Koller, p. 45; Honsell, OR BT, p. 100; Honsell, OR AT, p. 70.
Furthermore, if there are different authors with the same last name, the initial of their first name is added as well:
See T. Koller, p. 45; A. Koller, OR AT, p. 100; A. Koller, Verrechnung, p. 56
References without an author are cited by their title or shorttitle.
As I can tell this is a very common format for books etc. So I'd really appreciate if BS could produce this kind of output. Why can BS handle ambiguous citations in the maintext but not in footnotes? And why is it possible only for author-date formats? Is there any chance that future versions will give users more flexibility in formatting their references?
Thanks. Lars
Lars, can you list an URL
Lars, can you list an URL for your style requirements? We are not familiar with citation requirements in the field of law. The things you mentioned are possible. We didn't try to implement it becasue we thought it is not needed. Thanks.
Paul, sorry for my delayed
Paul, sorry for my delayed response. Unfortunately, I don't know a style guide that is available online. In fact, in Switzerland or Germany there is no predominant style comparable to the Bluebook. There are some basic style guides in book form (that are also recommended by some publishers) but they are not available online (and written in German). In practice, much is left to the author’s discretion. However, the basic structure outlined in my last post is very common - at least for citing books, articles and the like [1].
Nevertheless have I realized that the options I asked for, if applied indiscriminately to all reference types, would produce dissatisfying results for other reference types used in the legal field. A proper handling of reference types such as court cases from different jurisdictions, patents, code commentaries etc. would require the possibility to define the format of first, repeated and ambiguous citations for each reference type separately (or the ability to use if-then-else-functions). However, this might go beyond the needs of 90% of BS users...
So, I have come to the conclusion that it is easier to use an ordinary footnote style (with use of short title for repeated citations) and then manually delete everything that isn't needed after the document is formatted.
I would appreciate, however, if the option for ambiguous citations to include the author's first name (or its initial) if - and only if - there are several authors with the same last name was also available for footnote styles.
Thanks, Lars
[1] It is also similar to the instructions for the Journal ‘Philosophy Compass’, http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=1747-9991&site=1, which, however, is for in-text citations.
P.S.: It seems that jurabib (now freezed, see http://www.berger-on.net/jurabib/ and these screenshots) could do what I need. Unfortunately, I have no idea of LaTeX...
Lars, thank you for the
Lars, thank you for the info. Is the example you gave "Author, Cited Pages" the short form? If so, what is the full form? If not, I really need to see the spec for such a style. Thanks.
The Blue Book
How about this one?
http://www.legalbluebook.com/
A printed copy can be found in any academic library.
The bluebook specifies the
The bluebook specifies the inclusion of Authors, book title, page, edition, and year in the full citation form. Short form is used when it is cited the second time. In the style Lars sent, the full form for Book only includes Authors and Page which is for the short form. The short form needs not to be defined. Biblioscape will generate it automatically. Only the full citation needs to be defined. Biblioscape does include a style called "*Bluebook". Thanks.