Including Abstract in Bibliography Chicago 17th

tomfjackson
"Abstract" is often valuable imported text from databases such as JSTOR or ProQuest.
I also have created my own annotations in Abstract field.

In the "Style Editor" I've tried to figure out how to modify Chicago 17th (note, annotated bibliography), which now includes DOI after https:// which is not useful to me.

Someone in 2011 and 2017 cryptically wrote it is possible to paste code for "abstract" somewhere in that extraordinarily long string you see when you open the style editor. Others have been referred to the "step by step guide" or style repository, niether of which helps after an hour searching.

I am tech savvy but do not write code. Can anyone help? I don't need DOI. For historians, "annotations" generally refer to textual summaries, as in abstracts.

I would be eternally grateful if someone familiar with coding could create a Chicago style without DOI and with Abstract.
Many thanks, Tom Jackson
  • bwiernik
    In the Chicago annotated bibliography style, at the very bottom of the file, there is a line that says variable="note". Change that to variable="abstract".
  • tomfjackson
    edited January 4, 2020
    Great! Thanks! For any puzzled others: Open Zotero Preferences. Highlight the style you would like to modify (in my case Chicago 17th (note, annotated bibliography). Click "Style Editor" under Tools. There are a zillion lines but the key one to change is 4th from bottom as I changed accordingly:
    /group>
    text variable="abstract" display="block"/>
    /layout>
    THEN "Save As"--> you have to rename and save to your styles folder, MAKING SURE YOU TYPE THE RIGHT SUFFIX -> style-name.csl (I didn't do this and could not understand why I could not find after several repeats). Then back in Preferences Cite click [ + ] and load from your folder. Thanks again bwiernik.
  • bwiernik
    You should also change the Style title and ID at the top of the style to avoid your changes being overwritten.
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