Incorrect reference to previous citation in Bluebook

rashmigoel

I am writing a law review article and using the uniform Bluebook system of citation with the Zotero plugin in Word. My problem is with supra references to previous cases. Zotero puts in the supra as note 15 when the actual reference (previous citation) is in note 14. Further, it appears that Zotero changes the citation style to be consistent with the previous citation of the item in note 15 (ie a book). Please help!

adamsmith

Have you changed anything about Word's footnote numbering? E.g. set it to restart counting footnotes at some point? Zotero always counts from the start.

I don't understand the second part of your problem, would need an example of that. (That said, we don't spend a lot of time maintaining the Bluebook style--for law review articles you should probably look at http://citationstylist.org/, a Zotero fork.

rashmigoel

your suggestion would make sense if Zotero thought it was the previous citation (ie, if Zotero had missed a footnote that I had inserted) but that's the opposite of what is happening. Zotero thinks there is an additional citation somewhere. so it says Singh v. State supra note 15, when in fact Singh v. State is cited in note 14. This is still happening even when I do this just two cites after. For example, when I cite Singh v. State in note 14, and then cite Jones v. Smith in note 15, and then in note 16 I want to cite Singh again, Zotero says Singh is supra note 15.
Is there a way to tell or print just the cites zotero is seeing, so I can find where the glitch is? I do NOT have track changes enabled.
My second question is about explanatory footnotes. Sometimes in an article there is no citation to a source, just explanation in a footnote. I assume I can just insert this using word right? Or is that the thing that is messing up the count?

adamsmith

I'm obviously not sure that's the case, but what I'm describing would cause exactly what you're seeing:
You can tell Word to restart the numbering of footnotes on any given page or section. Zotero isn't able to detect that setting. So say you insert a footnote on the title page or first page (e.g. for author affiliations or acknowledgments) and then tell Word to start counting at 1 after that-- the total count of footnotes (which is what Zotero looks at) is going to be one higher than the footnote number in Word --> you'd get 15 instead of 14.

Is there a way to tell or print just the cites zotero is seeing, so I can find where the glitch is? I do NOT have track changes enabled.

Zotero looks at Word footnotes, not just citations, so that wouldn't help (also, as you say, it's seeing one too many, not one too few).

Are all supra notes one off or is this specific to one item?
It'd be interesting to see if this is off right from the start: i.e. if you insert a reference to the item cited in footnote 1 in footnote 3 -- does it get the supra right?


You can insert footnotes with Word, that won't interfere with Zotero.

rashmigoel

So what is the way to undo this? Is it to go to the beginning of the document and ask word to start renumbering footnotes again, or am I just out of luck here? Is there a reveal codes so I can find where I might have instructed it to start renumbering? (I don't remember ever doing that but it could have happened inadvertently)

rashmigoel

Ok. with your helpful sleuthing I think I figured it out. The article template I am using inserts an asterisk point next to my name under the title that creates a footnote where I can put in my identity and my thank-yous. It's the first thing, but denoted with an asterisk. I removed it and now it is working correctly. I'm not sure how to put that info back in without messing everything up, (advice would be appreciated) but Zotero is numbering correctly now.

adamsmith

edited -- yes, that would do it.

To re-insert the asterisked note -- just insert the asterisk as a superscript and the manually type whatever you want to type in the footer of the first page.