CMoS 17th ed full note inserts short version instead of full note on first usage

LWittern · March 9, 2020

I have a student using a Mac. Every time he tries to insert a citation using Zotero set to CMoS, 17th ed, full note he gets a shortened citation on first reference. So, instead of getting the complete citation with the publisher, place of publication, and year, he just gets author, shortened title, and page number. Any idea on what is going wrong?

adamsmith · March 10, 2020

Basically three possibilities, in rough order of likelihood:
1. They're confusing the full note with the note style
2. They're setting the citation style in the wrong place (typically in Zotero's style pane instead of the Document Preferences in Word/LibreOffice)
3. There is a hidden/broken citation to the same item in the document before they cite it.

3) is highly unlikely if this happens for different citations and also in a new document.

LWittern · March 12, 2020

Thanks for such a quick response. The student had the CMoS set correctly, to full note so we were able to discard your first possibility. The problem was your second possibility: "setting the citation style in the Zotero style pane instead of the Document Preferences." I never knew that it had to be set in that place! I have always set it on the first use when the style dialogue box pops up. So, I'm wondering why it has to be set in the Document Preferences when Zotero specifically asks the user on first use which style to use? Do I need to instruct my students to only use Document Preferences in the Zotero tab? Of do they need to do that first? Again, my thanks for your quick reply earlier!

adamsmith · March 12, 2020

You're slightly misunderstanding what's happening:
The first time you cite in a document, Zotero does automatically open the Document Preferences so that you set a citation style. That's what you're used to seeing and your student had, in fact, picked the wrong style there.

If you want to change the citation style in a document or check which one is being used, you open the document preferences manually using the button in the toolbar. Since changing citation styles is an important functionality of Zotero, your students should definitely be aware of this.

There is typically no reason to use the style tab in the Zotero preferences for a regular user at all.