APA 6th edition-in text citation includes first author first initial

me23rose
Hello
I'm having problems with in-text citations including first initials (first initial shouldn't be included in in-text citation-I'm using APA 6th edition). I've reviewed the documentation on first initials showing up in citations (http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/given_name_disambiguation) but it doesn't seem to apply.

Report ID 2019492652

I've noticed issues with the following references:

Kim, M. M. (2001). Institutional effectiveness of women-only colleges: Cultivating students’ desire to influence social conditions. The Journal of Higher Education, 72(3), 287-321.

Kim, M. M. (2002). Historically Black vs. White institutions: Academic development among Black students. The Review of Higher Education, 25(4), 385-407.

Kim, M., & Alvarez, R. (1995). Women-only colleges: Some unanticipated consequences. Journal of Higher Education, 66(6), 641-668.

Li, X. (2007). Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions and Minority Undergraduates Enrolled in TheseInstitutions ( No. NCES 2008-156) (p. i-C-52). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

For example:
Most women’s colleges are private (M. M. Kim, 2001)...

[in text citation should read (Kim, 2001)]

...career achievers among graduates compared to co-educational institutions (M. Kim & Alvarez, 1995, p. 660)...

[in text citation should read (Kim & Alvarez, 1995, p. 660)]

...unless Congress acts to designate (X. Li, 2007).

[in text citation should read (Li, 2007)]

...HBCUs conflicting results (M. M. Kim, 2002)...

[in text citation should read [Kim, 2002]

I have some screenshots of my zotero library-I can attach/send if needed.

Thank you
  • adamsmith
    the link to disambiguation applies. If M. Kim and M. M. Kim are different people, APA style requires that they be disambiguated when they appear as first author.
    If this is one person, you need to fix the first names in the database. As the article explains, Zotero regards Marcus M. Kim and Marcus Kim as two different authors.

    Can't speak to Li - it's probably worth re-installing APA from the repository, but if it still disambiguates, there is likely another Li.
  • me23rose
    Ok, thank you, I understand the Kim issue now. But...

    X. Li is first author in one citation

    C. Li is not first author in another:

    Perna, L. W., Li, C., Walsh, E., & Raible, S. (2010). The status of equityfor Hispanics in publichigher education inFlorida and Texas. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9(2), 145-166. doi:10.1177/1538192709331973

    In text citation for Perna et al is showing up (first time) as:
    (Perna, C. Li, Walsh, & Raible, 2010)
  • adamsmith
    did you re-install APA from the repository? That should take care of that.
  • me23rose
    Do I just go to the repository link (http://www.zotero.org/styles) and click install? i.e., do I need to take any other steps?

    Thank you.
  • adamsmith
    and click OK when prompted.
    For the style to update in your document you may have to switch to a different citation style and back.
  • me23rose
    Ok, I followed the steps (including switching the citation style to another and back in the doc). The first time the citations are listed in text they are showing up correctly:

    (Li, 2007)
    (Perna, Li, Walsh, & Raible, 2010)

    Following in text citations for Li, 2007 are showing up as (X. Li, 2007)...

    I double-checked my library and there are no additional authors with the last name Li...
  • adamsmith
    so Li 2007 looks different in subsequent citations? Even after you click "Refresh" in the Word plugin (what I would expect is the X. to be added to the first one).
    I'm not sure what APA actually wants there - they require disambiguation of primary authors, but I'm not sure if that's also wrt to subsequent authors (which is what Zotero does) if it's not this will probably need to be addressed in csl.
  • me23rose
    Correct-Li, 2007 is X. Li, 2007 in subsequent citations. I looked at the APA manual, and as far as I can tell-I don't think this situation is addressed-I'll just assume it's ok as is unless I hear otherwise.

    Thank you again for the help.
  • fbennett
    @me23rose: you should be getting the same form of the name for both the first and the subsequent references.

    One thought: is it possible that the first reference is linked to a separate copy of the item with the same content, but only the last name in the Zotero record?
  • me23rose
    @fbennett: The first and subsequent citations are still showing up different (Li, 2007) then (X. Li, 2007)

    I'm using the add-in and I select the entry that's saved in my main My Library folder (versus any collections I've saved-although I've also double checked the sub-collection entries to make sure there are no differences)...
  • fbennett
    I have been unable to reproduce this.

    Just in case: what version of Zotero are you using?
  • me23rose
    Sorry for the delay-I am using version 2.1.10
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