Inconsistent and wrong citations

Caroline Huber
Hello everybody
I don't find a solution for my problem: I have an entry with 5 authors (I use the APA6-style). When I cite this entry repeatedly different citations come out:

Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelrnann, Strauß, & Brähler, 2005
Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelrnann, u. a., 2005
Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, Strauß, & Brähler, 2005
Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, u. a., 2005, S. 17
Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, u. a., 2005
Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, u. a., 2005

-->Sometimes there is a spelling-error in Gunzelmann, the u.a. should come after the first author starting from the second citation and the citations are totally inconsistent. What is the solution to this problem?

Thank you very much!
  • Gracile
    Are you sure you've selected the same item  ? The different spelling "Gunzelrnann / Gunzelmann" comes certainly from different (actually duplicates) items. Check them in your library.
  • Caroline Huber
    @ Gracile: Yes I am sure. If i search for "Gunzel" there is only one entry. When I search for "Gunzelrnann" there is no entry.

    @newballance989: Spam?
  • Gracile
    (yes, spam)

    Try to refresh (zotero refresh button: https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage ).

    Are you member of a group? These refs / items might come from a group.

    Otherwise, since the references are stored into your document, even if you've deleted them in your library, they would still appear. Solution: try to replace in your doc the wrong reference by the good one from your library.
  • Caroline Huber
    Hey Gracile

    I tried the refreshing-button, didn't work.

    I'm not a member from a group

    Even though I tried replacing them already, doing it again and selecting always the same suggestion (even though they are the same, just one is under "cited" and the other one under "my library" if you get what I mean) - it worked!Thank you!
  • Gracile
    I think you had these two items in your library and cited them both. Then you removed the wrong duplicate from your library. It was still stored in your document since you had cited it (that's a zotero default option in order to allow people to work on a document without sharing a library). That's why the systematic replacement of your references made the trick.

    I can't see any other reason, but I could be wrong!
  • adamsmith
    edited January 30, 2015
    yeah, what Gracile says, almost certainly. That also explains why too many authors are listed for the subsequent citations of this (it's disambiguating between the two).
    Delete all misspelled instances of this and re-insert them, making sure to re-insert the right one from your library.
    edit. Sorry, misread your comment, didn't see you solved this; glad it worked.
  • Caroline Huber
    edited February 2, 2015
    Thank you for your help. That explanation seems very logical Gracile (although I don't remember having two entries).
    Since you helped me so well, you might know the solution tho the next problem I encountered. There are two entries who get cited wrong:

    - Lester, Harms, Bulling, et al., 2011 (all citations)
    instead of (Lester et al., 2011) since there are 6 authors

    - Lester, Harms, Herian, et al., 2011 (from the second citation on)
    instead of (Lester, Harms, Herian, Krasikova, Beal, 2011) for the first citation and Lester et al., 2011 for the others.).

    One part of the problem might be that for all the citations except the first ones, they both would be "Lester et al., 2011. I also have another entry which, from the second citation on is "Lester et al., 2011".
  • adamsmith
    That's actually correct. APA has you add authors before the "et al." to disambiguate in text references by the same first author(s) (to prevent exactly the problem you're describing at the end.).'
    I also have another entry which, from the second citation on is "Lester et al., 2011".
    that would be odd though & shouldn't appear in the text. Are you saying it does?
  • Caroline Huber
    Really? Never heard of that! But it actually makes sense.


    Oh, no it doesn't actually, I just have the entry in the library (and handmade citations in the text which I will delete anyways).

    Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it (and sorry for questions I asked due to missing knowledge (APA).
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