Provide method to produce in-text citation

judyuwest
Currently the 'My Library' interface on Zotero.org already provides a way to generate the bibliography, which is awesome! If it is also possible to produce in-text citation, then with the bookmarklet, isn't that feasibly a 'no installation' solution? Wondering if this is at all in the works?
  • aurimas
    not in the works AFAIK and I don't see how it would be possible. in-text citations require two way communication. How would zotero.org know if you already cited a particular source so it can reuse the same number, or, even more difficult, how would it know where in the text you are placing the citation for citation styles that number in order of appearance?

    The closest thing i can think of that would be feasible is an online version of ODF/RTF scan.
  • adamsmith
    it depends on the demands, though. I'd imagine something that corresponds to the current "copy citation" in the client would be quite useful for some people (particular when authoring in footnoted styles like Chicago) if it worked online, too. I believe that's been requested before.

    Beyond that I agree that ODF scan is probably the best bet, but while ODF scan is almost ready to roll out, it currently and in the foreseeable future will require a connection to a local database (though I don't think there is anything in principal that prevents this from working through the api)
  • judyuwest
    Yes, I am mostly concerned with the formatting, not so much placement or the generation of the corresponding bibliography (which can be user selected).

    As adamsmith said, just something that corresponds to the 'Cite item' function that's already available on the web interface. I'd imagine that repeated in-text citation format can be provided as an alternative to the standard format (some minor instructional text or reference to the style book can be added in terms of numbering/proper placement).

    For users of web based word processors, such as Google Docs, two way communication isn't possible anyway, I think this could be a good alternative to having the plugin or doing RTF scan, especially on shorter papers.
  • aurimas
    Even for author-date styles you have to keep in mind that Zotero does author disambiguation by adding initials where authors with the same last name are used in text. I understand what you are requesting and it would be nice to have, but you have to be aware that there are cases where the in-text citation that's produced will not be correct. Or there has to be a way to do this correctly from Zotero side.

    In this particular case, I think it may be possible to account for author disambiguation by first creating the full bibliography and then exporting the in-text citation. It gets a little iffy when you start adding new items to the bibliography afterwards.
  • judyuwest
    That's a good point about disambiguation, I hadn't thought of that.

    Actually, I'm pretty sold on Zotero as it is. However, I'm interested in having this feature because I want to introduce Zotero to users who may be uncomfortable with technology/installation/upgrades but can deal with the web interface side, and having that feature available can be a gateway into Zotero's more standard features. So it would definitely be nice to have.
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