footnotes and zotero

lichoacademic
Hello all,
I am new to the forum and Zotero so before hand thanks a lot for your support and help!
I cannot get Zotero to insert proper references in FOOTNOTES (many of those since it's historical work). It creates a bibliography in my footnotes. Changes the font size and the spacing in between lines. And also indents my entries. Where can I find information on footnotes and Zotero (BTW I am a mac user and use the standalone version in sync with the one online - Firefox)? What can I do to make the process more amenable. I have spend a number of hours in the past 2 days trying to sort this issue.
Thanks a lot!
  • adamsmith
    We'd have to know which style and how you're inserting references.
    If you're using the word processor plugin, this may help as it sometimes causes things like changes in spacing and indentation:
    http://www.zotero.org/support/kb/word_default_font
  • lichoacademic
    Hi, thanks. I am using MLA and the way I am inserting the references in the footnotes is, I am using the menu next to the help icon in Word 2008 for mac, in the options I choose "Zotero" and then "add citation," there what happens is I get (Sanford) and say another reference ("the caligraphic zero") for instance. I guess these are codes. So to generate the proper reference, I go back and choose "generate bibliography" and it leaves the codes, and then next to them puts the references in a list, with the font and size I need, but then changes the rest of the text in the footnote to another font size and then double spaces it. I am not sure if this is clear :S
  • adamsmith
    nope, these aren't codes, those are full MLA citations.
    Only for the bibliography at the end you need the insert bibliography button.
    How do you think MLA citations should look?
  • lichoacademic
    I see. The citation in the foot note does not change at all (it is always (Sanford)) in any style i choose in the preferences panel of Zotero. Rather frustrating this process.
    All I am hoping to do with Zotore is include footnotes in the proper style AND that all those references show in the bibliography without inputting all the citations again to generate the bibliography. Can anyone help? I have spent hours online looking at videos, and reading but nothing works for a mac, using the standalone option, and firefox (sync).
  • RintzeRintze
    1) MLA is not a note style.

    2) To change the citation style in Word 2008, go into the "Zotero" menu and select "Set Document Preferences". You can't do this via the preferences panel of Zotero Standalone.
  • lichoacademic
    Thanks. What do you mean by not a note style? If I am using MLA I cannot use footnotes. I am not sure what you mean.

    In any case I am after all using Chicago (notes-bibliography).

    I am not sure where exactly the the "set document preferences" is. Is it in the Zotero application? Zotero online? and if so where exactly?

    Sorry for the numerous questions.
  • lichoacademic
    p.s. It does not matter what style I choose, it changes the other formats as well. Spacing, font, size.
  • fbennett
    @lichoacademic: The "Document Preferences" that Rintze refers to is in the word processor (under "Add-ins", I think). The Export/Quick Copy preference setting in Zotero itself will not have any effect on an existing document.

    If you're still having trouble, let's take it from the beginning. Starting from a fresh, empty document, can you tell us the first set of steps you perform, and then either what you expect to happen that doesn't, or where you get stuck or confused.
  • lichoacademic
    Thanks fbnnet.Not sure where Add-ins is. Is it in the zotero standalone application and in the options within it? or in word 2008 itself?

    Let's start fresh. I type in: Life is good in a blank word document and then insert a footnote. In the footnote, what I need is this:

    1. Alissa Lux, Life is Good (Guatemala: CIRMA, 2002), 33.

    Life is Good, as the book title appears in italics.


    so what should I do to get that? After I have already imported the reference into Zotero Standalone.

    Thanks
  • fbennett
    "Add-ins" is the button you clicked to get to the Zotero menu in the word processor (Word 2008). The only copy of Word that I have here is Word 2010 for Japanese, but the screen layout is similar. Please refer to this screenshot:

    http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/4017/word2010.png

    Click on the button, and find the gear icon. If you roll over it with your mouse, a tooltip saying something like "Set Document Preferences" will show up. That's the button. Click on it, and you can select the citation style used in the document.
  • Simon
    In Word 2008 for Mac, "Set Document Preferences" is under the script menu (with the other Zotero commands).
  • fbennett
    Thanks, Simon (and sorry if that was a cause of confusion, lichoacademic).
  • adamsmith
    Let's start fresh. I type in: Life is good in a blank word document and then insert a footnote. In the footnote, what I need is this:

    1. Alissa Lux, Life is Good (Guatemala: CIRMA, 2002), 33.

    Life is Good, as the book title appears in italics.
    Type life is good in the blank document. Don't insert a footnote. In the script menu (see Simon above) select "insert citation". In an empty document, the document preferenes will open first. Selection the style "Chicago Manual of Style (full note)". Then the citation dialog will open. Use it to insert the Lux reference
    http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage
    Zotero will automatically insert a footnote with that reference, proper italics etc.
    What do you mean by not a note style? If I am using MLA I cannot use footnotes. I am not sure what you mean.
    The MLA style is designed to be used in parentheses in the text - as in:
    "Life is good (Lux) or maybe not (Nietzsche)" not for citations in footnotes or endnotes. You can use MLA in combination with footnotes - e.g. using footnotes to explain something that doesn't belong in the main text, but if you want your citations to be in footnotes, you need to use a note based style like Chicago Manual or MHRA.
  • lichoacademic
    Wonderful. It works. I also tried including a citation in a footnote (following an explanation about the main text) and it works as well. Except it changes the font size. But that is easy to fix manually.

    A final question. If I insert all those references, how can I get the bibliography together (of all the references already inserted)?

    Thanks a million to all for collaborating!
  • adamsmith
    A final question. If I insert all those references, how can I get the bibliography together (of all the references already inserted)?
    put your cursor where you want the bibliography and click "Insert Bibliography" in the apple script menu.
  • lichoacademic
    All sorted. Thanks. One more, I need to include a number of references in footnotes separated by (;) but the reference that gets inserted gets a (.) gets inserted and I cannot delete the period to add a semi column. What to do?
    L.
  • adamsmith
    insert multiple references at once. Write the text in between using the prefix and suffix fields.
    http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage
  • lichoacademic
    Thanks again. I am finding it hard when I go back to modify add a new reference because of the issue with deleting the period. If I have already inserted all my citations but then in the process of editing, or just in the process of writing I decide to insert another reference I cannot do it, unless I delete the reference and reinsert them all again with the new references I wanted to add?
  • jgoderre
    I have Word for Mac 2011 and am using Zotero in Firefox and in Standalone to insert citations into a Word document. My Document Preferences menu does not have the option to go between footnotes and endnotes. It just has Citation Style (IEEE, Nature, etc.), Format Using (Fields vs Bookmarks), and then checkboxes for abbreviate journal titles and store references in the document.

    The screen shot of Doc Prefs here http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage indicates that there is an option before Format Using called Display Citation As (footnote vs endnote) - but I don't seem to have this. Any ideas? I could switch to a different machine and use Word and Zotero on a PC with Windows 7.
  • adamsmith
    you would only get that options for styles that use notes - Chicago Manual (Note and Full Note), most prominently. IEEE and Nature don't have foot or endnotes. They just put numbers in the text and a numbered bibliography at the end.
  • jgoderre
    Thank you!
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