Upgrade StorageMLA bibliography problems
Is there a way to get Zotero to appropriately designate web sources (including journal articles accessed through an online database) as "Web" in an MLA bibliography? It is only listing mine as print. I can get it to say "web" if I indicate the source is a website, but not if it's from a journal article.
Also, it sounds like from other posts that Zotero cannot generate the name of the database used or the date is was accessed. That makes the MLA bibliography feature pretty useless for my students. Am I missing something?
Also, it sounds like from other posts that Zotero cannot generate the name of the database used or the date is was accessed. That makes the MLA bibliography feature pretty useless for my students. Am I missing something?
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You're right that Zotero cannot, in most cases, list the database, though I'm not seeing where that's required in MLA (though I may be overlooking something - I'm not a big fan of MLA).
It can print the access date - I think it does for MLA once you have the "Web" working correctly, else report back and we can fix that.
Here's some info from the Purdue OWL that says that yes, the database is required:
An Article from an Online Database (or Other Electronic Subscription Service)
Cite articles from online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect) and other subscription services just as you would print sources. Since these articles usually come from periodicals, be sure to consult the appropriate sections of the Works Cited: Periodicals page, which you can access via its link at the bottom of this page. In addition to this information, provide the title of the database italicized, the medium of publication, and the date of access.
Why should the reader care if the e-copy version of an article comes from JSTOR, EBSCO, or directly from the publisher? Why require that from your students?
(To be honest, though, I think the entire MLA style is just a collection of worst possible practices and even if you look at their own journals, they're mostly ignored. I haven't found a single example of someone actually citing a periodical article as "Web", not a single instance of someone saying they got it from JSTOR and having seen academics work, I find this utterly unbelievable).