Got problem when using the citation style APA

Shanliangzi Liu
Hey everyone,

I got a problem when using the citation style APA. Why the reference number never come out when I choose APA as the citation style? It only appears parentheses with several words in it.
For example, if i wanna cite a reference after the sentence "fabrication of well-defined geometrical features", it will not be like fabrication of well-defined geometrical features[1], it appears something like this(Espinosa, 1976), which is so weird. And the order number does not appear as well when I insert bibliography.
Does anyone no what the problem is? I need it quickly. Thanks very much!

Best,
Shan
  • bwiernik
    APA style doesn't use citation numbers. It's an author-date style, so it formats in-test citations like (Espinosa, 1976). If you are following official APA style, you would use the author-date format, not the numbers. There are a variety of numeric styles available in the Zotero Style Repository https://zotero.org/styles

    I sometimes use APA style but with citation numbers to save space in the text. If you would like to use this for some reason, you can download my personal version of the style here:
    https://gist.github.com/bwiernik/8c6f39cf51ceb3a03107
  • adamsmith
    (the most common numerical style is probably Vancouver, which comes installed with Zotero and has several alternative versions available on the style repository).
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    Hey, bwiernik

    Thanks very much for your information.
    Is it the APA format?
    K. Doudrick, S. Liu, K. L. Klein, E. M. Mutunga, K. K. Varanasi and K. Rykaczewski, Langmuir, 2014, 30, 6867–6877
    I think it is. I wanna use this format with citation numbers.
    And how to add the style to my zotero?????
    Thanks very much!!!

    Best,
    Shan
  • adamsmith
    no, that's not even close to APA, which would look something like this

    Campbell, J. L., & Pedersen, O. K. (2007). The varieties of capitalism and hybrid success. Comparative Political Studies, 40(3), 307–332. doi:10.1177/0010414006286542

    You can use http://editor.citationstyles.org/searchByExample/ to search for citation styles.
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    How can I add the downloaded style into my zotero???
  • adamsmith
    The page has instructions, but if those aren't clear, maybe this helps?
    https://www.zotero.org/support/styles#alternative_installation_methods
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    What is the meaning of "while Zotero Standalone is running to install it"? My laptop cannot recognize the format, I do not know using what to open it.
  • adamsmith
    do you have Zotero installed on your computer, either as a Standalone program or as a Firefox add-on?
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    Yeah. It is a Firefox add-on!
  • adamsmith
    The easiest would be to find the style you identified and click install on
    https://www.zotero.org/styles


    If you want to use the downloaded file, the link I gave you above gives you these two options:
    CSL styles (with a “.csl” extension) can also be added through the Style Manager, found under the “Styles” tab of the “Cite” pane in the Zotero preferences panel. It shows you which styles are already installed, and also allows you to add (by clicking the + button) and delete (by pressing the - button) styles.
    and
    Another installation option is to drag-and-drop a CSL style file onto an open Firefox browser window.
    Both would work.
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    But it seems that the APA style with numbers they gave me is not in csl, then how can I use it???
  • adamsmith
    sorry, you can only use CSL styles in Zotero. You'd need Endnote for .est styles and bibtex for .bst styles. There's no way to convert them in either direction.
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    Thanks so much ！！！ But do you know how to generate APA style with cite numbers???
  • adamsmith
    I feel like we're going around in circles here. As I tell you above, the style that you showed us has nothing to do with APA.
    If you actually do want APA with numbers, see bwiernik's post above.

    If you want the style as you show it above, I point you to the tool to find styles by example.

    I don't think I can be of any further assistance, sorry.
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    Thanks so much! I want APA with numbers. But bwiernik's above is not in the format of csl.
  • adamsmith
    yeah, he just didn't put a file extension on it, but it's a CSL file.
    Save it directly (right-click --> save link as) from
    https://gist.github.com/bwiernik/8c6f39cf51ceb3a03107/raw/677a1693f1dac1a74d4ab4a39030089040a06a0c/APA%20Numeric
    and just add .csl at the end when saving it & it will work.
  • Shanliangzi Liu
    Yeah! It works now!!! Thanks so much!
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