The Best Way to Cite Ebooks Currently?

steamboat28
I'm working on a project and because my available space is so small, most of the work I'm citing are Kindle versions of said books, some of which only exist in that format. Is there a FAQ or a tutorial on how best to cite these works? I've looked and all I can find is how to import highlights and notes. Thanks, all!
  • bwiernik
    Cite these as Book/Book Section as appropriate. If you need to specify that it is an ebook (most citation styles don’t require this—there isn’t a real difference from a physical book), specify that in Extra like this:
    Medium: Kindle ebook
  • steamboat28
    So, instead of using the ISBN, I'd just put the ASIN into the Extra with the "Medium: Kindle Book" if necessary?
  • adamsmith
    I've never seen an ASIN cited, and at least in the US and Western Europe, ISBNs are hardly ever included in citations either, so I'd leave that out entirely.
  • steamboat28
    ...Fair point. Thank you!
  • Boscof16
    I'd echo the other folks who called for an ebook-specific ZOTERO option in future updates. I'm still not clear about the gyrations required in Zotero 5.0.69 to get it to say "Kindle" or whatever, a requirement in Turabian as I understand it.
  • bwiernik
    Add this to Extra:
    Medium: Kindle

    There is no real difference between a "book" and an "ebook". What is likely to change in future versions of Zotero is the addition of a proper "Format" field or similar to Book to avoid having to use Extra.
  • Boscof16
    Thanks. That helped, although "Kindle" ended up in the wrong location in the citation, so I moved it manually. I think with the trend toward ebooks/kindle, a field such as you propose would be useful.
  • damnation
    That is then an issue of the citation style which can be adapted easily. (and I'd recommend instead of doing this manually)
  • adamsmith
    I think this is Turabian? That's due for an update anyway. I'm just procrastinating because I'd rather it didn't exist...
  • Boscof16
    Ha! Don't blame you, at the tail end of my zotero-powered, 1100 note, 375 page dissertation, I feel the same way. Agree with the points above, my manual solution is not working so well (it keeps moving back to the wrong place when I refresh). The "extra" field still puts "kindle" in the wrong place. The ebook and book styles are different enough (in Turabian) that a dedicated type is in order I think.
  • sdspieg
    edited May 15, 2020

    But so is anybody who follows those style manuals (Chicago, Turabian, etc.) aware of their thinking on ebooks and how to cite locations in them? BTW - I have suggested already quite some time back to use Calibre locations (see the discussion here, since they are device-agnostic)

  • sdspieg
    Let me try here again too :)
  • jon.ball
    (Bump) I am currently working on my PhD, and this issue plagues me constantly. Has there been any progress on a way to add "Kindle" or "eBook" to the end of notes and bibliography entries?

    Currently, Turabian 8th edition and the Chicago 17th editions have no way to do this nicely.
  • paulsonzotero
    I have the same query. Could someone answer this
  • andrewhumanities
    I also would like to know if this is being updated. Citing page numbers in the Kindle version of many books is still rather approximate, and it is not clear how Kindle page numbers correspond to print versions. At least if it is easy to indicate that one is consulting a Kindle version, it gives the reader some kind of heads-up as to what to expect.
  • kirmaha
    I used to specify "empl." rather than "p." when citing a Kindle ebook. If it is still not hyper precise, it seems way more relevant to me than pages (as pages make no sense at all for that medium?).
    I also would appreciate some robust and integrated way to encode ebooks.
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