Editing the MHRA style

AhrenLester

Hi,

I have been using EndNote for some time but I am looking to move away from it (just as I have with PhotoShop to GIMP). However, the thing that is stopping me is the inability to replicate my citation style output. The closest I can get (and the one I edited in EndNote previously) is the MHRA style. However, despite endless Google searches and testing I have not managed to fathom how to edit the style as it is beyond my ability.

What is the best way by which to edit a style for someone who is not familiar with scripting in general?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Ahren.

adamsmith

This is your best bet:
http://steveridout.com/csl/visualEditor/
still not trivial, but it doesn't require any manual coding

AhrenLester

Thanks Adam,

I have come across this and had a little play but had no luck so far. I think I still don't understand what is going on! I will keep tinkering and see what happens!

It definitely appears the best bet I have found so far but still (as you point out) far from trivial!

Ahren.

adamsmith

It's still in an early phase. We'll get documentation on this eventually.

AhrenLester

Yes, I was impressed so far (i.e. I am nearer to understanding it from this than any other alternative!). But, alas, my knowledge is still lacking at the moment! Every time I feel I am starting to get to grips with it I get lost and fail to do what I need!

The annoying thing is that i think most of my changes are fairly minor. However, I would love to know how to edit it myself in the long term so that i can change it as I find things wrong.

Gracile

@AhrenLester: I helped recently someone who wanted to edit the MHRA style. The discussion is here. It might help you to understand how the visual editor works even if it's not a real guide...

AhrenLester

@Gracile: Thanks for that. I will take a look when I come back from a meeting.

My main issue is the '58–83 (pp. 66–68)' for journal articles. I only want it to show the pp/p reference not the full range in a citation.

What is more, ideally I would like to include a 'short title' for all shortened references (such as is present in the CMS Fullnote style).

I know there will no doubt be many other things I would like to change as I come across things in newspaper articles etc. But those are the pressing ones for me at the moment!

AhrenLester

@Gracile Thanks for that. Much appreciated. Was very useful in getting the editor issue the previous person raised sorted. Unfortunately, despite several hours working on it I can't for the life of me fathom how to make most of the changes I need.

I still can't work out how to suppress the full page range for chapters and journals. Similarly, I have been unable to even find the URL section at the moment and suppress it!

Do you know how this can be achieved?

Thanks again.

Gracile

With this example:

Isabela Mares, ‘Firms and the Welfare State: When, Why, and How Does Social Policy Matter to Employers?’, in Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, ed. by Peter A Hall and David Soskice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 184–213.

You want to remove "-213", right?
Click on the page range ("184-213"), it becomes highlighted in blue. In the bottom pane, change variable "page" to variable "page-first".
Click on the page label ("pp."), bottom pane, change plural to "never".

Similarly, I have been unable to even find the URL section at the moment and suppress it!

The URL is not displayed in the MHRA style (correct me if I'm wrong).

Gracile

I was wrong: the URL is displayed when there's no DOI. But there's no example citation in the visual editor where it's the case. Anyway, in the left pane, you've to edit the macro "access-note" (then "conditional"/"else" and remove this "else")

AhrenLester

@Gracile Thanks for that! I have not had the opportunity to try as yet, however as yesterday the visual csl editor did not show the example citations box for some reason so I was walking blind. Hopefully it is up today to try!

AhrenLester

Hi @Gracile, I managed to have a play but have still not managed to get the desired result.

First, I still can't get the pages right. It is coming out like this when I include a specific page (for chapters and journal articles, etc);

Nadja Durbach, ‘“They Might as Well Brand Us”: Working-Class Resistance to Compulsory Vaccination in Victorian England’, Social History of Medicine, 13 (2000), 45–63 (p. 52).

What I am looking to achieve is for the reference to look like this;

Nadja Durbach, ‘“They Might as Well Brand Us”: Working-Class Resistance to Compulsory Vaccination in Victorian England’, Social History of Medicine, 13 (2000), p. 52.

In other words, I am looking to drop the full page range when I have specified pages but retain them (preferably with pp. prefix) when no specific page is reference, i.e:

Nadja Durbach, ‘“They Might as Well Brand Us”: Working-Class Resistance to Compulsory Vaccination in Victorian England’, Social History of Medicine, 13 (2000), pp. 45–63.



Also, I still have not found a way to include the short title on subsequent references. Currently subsequent references come out as:

Begbie, p. 4.

However, what I need is:

Begbie, 'New Thoughts on Evolution',p. 4.

Thanks for any help you can offer again!

adamsmith

for the pages issue:
Look at the macro "point locators"
What this currently does is it prints the macro "pages" (where it says "pages (macro)
then it checks whether the entire item has a page range (where it says
Conditional
---if page)

If it does, it prints the locator - i.e. the pointer to the specific page(s) within that page range ("locator" because it could also be a chapter, paragraph, verse etc.) in parentheses:
Group
----locator (label)

If there is no page range, it just prints the locator:
Else
----locator (label)

I mention all this because understanding what's going on will help you to rewrite this.
Now what you want is
1. Check if there is a locator
2. If there is, print the locator after a comma
3. If there isn't, print the page range - if any - also after a comma.

In other words
Conditional
---- if locator
--------label locator
--------text locator
---- else
-------text pages (macro)


The second issue is a bit trickier because the visual editor won't allow you to preview subsequent citations, but here goes:

If you look at the inline citation, you'll see "Subsequent"
It contains a macro "title short" - so that's good.
But, as you note, it won't actually print the short title most of the time.
Look at the title short macro
You'll see a first conditional
Conditional
----if true (citations are disambiguated)

So you only get the short title when it's necessary for disambiguation - not what you want.
You can just "drag" the second conditional there
Conditional
----- if bill OR book (...)
out of the disambiguation conditional to the place right under
title short (macro)
then delete the (now obsolete) conditional that tests for disambiguation and you're done.

AhrenLester

Superb. I got the second issue sorted (i.e. the short title). Also, your explanation helped me understand it all a little more and sort out a couple of other issues I came across! Thanks!

However, at the moment I am still rather confused with the pages issue.

" Now what you want is
1. Check if there is a locator
2. If there is, print the locator after a comma
3. If there isn't, print the page range - if any - also after a comma.

In other words
Conditional
---- if locator
--------label locator
--------text locator
---- else
-------text pages (macro)"

Where exactly is this to go? Am I overwriting the current set up or creating a new conditional clause?

Thanks again. I hope that makes sense!

adamsmith

that replaces (i.e. overwrites) the entire content of the current point locators macro.

AhrenLester

Superb! The only thing I am missing from the locator set-up is the p./pp. prefixes. Is there a way I can get these to appear as appropriate?

Also, I would like to have the 'issue' number appear for journals as well as the 'volume' number. I have had a little root around but not found a logical way to get those to appear as yet.

Thanks again. I am slowly developing the skills I need to intelligently modify the styles for as and when!

adamsmith

Superb! The only thing I am missing from the locator set-up is the p./pp. prefixes. Is there a way I can get these to appear as appropriate?

create a new node, select "label" and then "locator" under variable and "short" under form.

Also, I would like to have the 'issue' number appear for journals as well as the 'volume' number. I have had a little root around but not found a logical way to get those to appear as yet.

you need to find the right spot, but the basics are just
text --> variable --> issue
and
text --> variable --> volume.

fbennett

If you click on the volume number in a sample cite, the macro that generates it will be opened for editing.

AhrenLester

Cracking advice as always! Thanks, I will try that tomorrow at the office when I have the modified csl file in front of me!

AhrenLester

Righteo. Both edits have been introduced! Callooh callay!

It was a bit more of a faff than originally hoped as the CSL Editor still does not seem to want to show be the sample citations. This meant I had to root around and do some experiments to get it to work. But I now have it I think! Thanks so much for your help.

I still have one issue remaining at the moment, however. When I produce a bibliography it instantly introduces line spacing between each entry. Is there a way of removing this spacing?

Thanks again, everyone for the help.

Gracile

Change the bibliography style in your word processor: http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/word_default_font

AhrenLester

Haha, is it that straightforward? I will have a tinker when I get the opportunity. Thanks for the help!