Author's first name keep jumping out in in-text citation

smilec19

I always edit information well when I import citations. while when I wrote my paper in APA style, it happens many times that the first name of author showed up in the in-text citation. for example, it supposes to be (Cooren, 2006), but it shows up as (F. Corren, 2006). I tried to reimport the citation, sometimes it works, sometimes not; I also tried to insert citation again, the result also depends... Is there any way to avoid this?

Thanks!

bwiernik

Probably this
https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/given_name_disambiguation

smilec19

thank you for the response!

1, I tried to "copy the code"..but the instruction is not clear that when I copy the code, I should add it to the end, or replace old code there...It didn't work out either way. I don't have any advanced skills with coding stuff...it would be great that make the choice by clicking on the bar (I don't want to disambiguate different authors), those situations of having to differentiate two authors never happened to me, but problematic in-text citations happened way more often. Indeed, it would be amazing I can just make the choice in somewhere of the "preference".

2, I manually corrected all inconsistency of naming the same author. One author is fine now, but another author still has the unwanted first name show up...

bwiernik

I don’t know what you mean by (1). What are you trying to do?

For (2) what is the reference that is showing up? Do you have any other references in the document with a different author with the same last name?

smilec19

(1) what I am trying to do:

I followed the link : https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/given_name_disambiguation
, and went to https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/citation_styles/style_editing_step-by-step
then follow the instruction:
“Paste the style code into the Zotero Reference Test pane, so you instantly see the effect of code changes on the style output. If you make your edits directly in the test pane, save your edits often via your text editor or using the “Save” button , as changes in the test pane get lost easily.”
Then came the situation I mentioned above:
2. I only have one author whose last name is Cooren, after I changed his first name of every citation to F., the in-text citation still says "F. Corren, 2006".

bwiernik

You shouldn’t have to edit any CSL code. What is likely happening (and explained at the link above) is that you have two items cited by the same author, but with their given names spelled differently (e.g., one with just initials). Correct the data in your library and the initials will go away. If they persist, such as (G. Corren, 1996) and (F. Corren, 1998), that is proper APA style.

smilec19

Thanks for the suggestion!

I already made sure the same author's name is written in the same way, but the situation is the same. one by one, I edited my data about the same author in the library. but the initial of the same author still stays.

Also, it doesn't make sense that I only have one entry of this paper in my library:
Cooren, F., Brummans, B. H. J. M., & Charrieras, D. (2008). The coproduction of organizational presence: A study of Mdecins Sans Frontires in action. Human Relations, 61(10), 1339–1370. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726708095707
while in the in-text citation, the first citation went well:
(Cooren, Brummans, & Charrieras, 2008),
While the second time, this article was shorted as : (F. Cooren et al., 2008).
when the same article was cited for the third time, the citation was: Cooren et al., 2008; .
It does not make sense that why the 2nd time had a "F." before Cooren.

You see what I mean?

adamsmith

How does this look when you try in a new document?
Also, which version of Zotero?

smilec19

My Zotero version is 5.0.28-beta.2+824114907.
After I tried a new document, this problem disappeared.
While when I go back to the old document and continue my work, the problem stays.

adamsmith

yeah, then either you missed some author names or the document is relying on references stored in the document. Those are the only ways this would happen. How many names are we talking about?

bwiernik

You likely have a citation that is not connected to your Zotero library. Search your document for other Cooren citations and find the one where there is no "Show in My Library" button in the customization pane of the Add/Edit Citation dialog. Delete that one, then re-insert.