APA Bibliogrphy Coming Out All Wrong-Unwanted 6th APA Extras

Hey Intellectual Types,

How do I edit the bibliography from the CSL window (Zotero Style Editor). In no way should my bibliography citation entries look like this:

Buckley, S. (2019, March). Broadband for Rural Businesses [Special Interest Group]. Retrieved February 15, 2020, from Broadband Communities website: http://www.bbcmag.com/broadband-applications/broadband-for-rural-businesses

They should look like this:
Buckley, S. (2019). Broadband for Rural Businesses. Retrieved from: http://www.bbcmag.com/broadband-applications/broadband-for-rural-businesses

Note: The indentations come out in Word correctly.

The date should not include the month, "type" between the brackets should not be inserted, there should not be a retrieved date like "February 15. 2020" and it should just read "Retrieved from: (then the URL)" with the ":" inserted after the word "from."

This issue got worse after the 2020 update and with addition of the 7th APA edition. This is the style my instructors and others want to see. You can imagine how long re-formatting can take if you have several bibliography entries to edit. Super irritated.

I don't know how to code, so if your interested in helping, please provide instructions or links, as if that were the case. Also, the solution may be easier than I imagine. In either case, I just want to modify the way my bibliographies are being outputted/produced.

Just wanted to say thank you in advance for any help the community can provide.
  • Note that you can still use 6th edition APA style
    https://www.zotero.org/styles?q=id:apa-6th-edition

    But I'm also really puzzled how the above item would be produced by the current APA 7th edition style. How exactly are you generating the citation? Where in your Zotero item does it say "Broadband Communities"?
  • edited April 1, 2020
    I’m a bit confused. Are you wanting APA 7th edition or 6th edition? The format you say you want looks somewhat like APA 6th edition. (APA 7 does not use “Retrieved from” at all.)

    The “Special Interest Group” in brackets is just a data entry problem in your library. Remove that from “Website type”. APA does want descriptions, such as “[Policy brief]” in brackets when the item type is unusual. That is what the “Website type” field is for.

    Also, your instructors seem to have several incorrect ideas about APA style.
    1. APA 6th edition did _not_ have a colon after “retrieved from” unless the retrieval date or publisher was given (see most of the examples in the APA 6 manual, e.g., example 30).
    2. APA 6 required retrieval dates for web content that is likely to change frequently (which the Zotero APA 6 style implements as items of the “Website”, “Blog Post”, and “Forum Post” types but not others; p. 32 of the APA Guide to Electronic references https://www.ttuhsc.edu/libraries/documents/apa-guide-to-electronic-refs-6e-rev-5-17-12.pdf).
    3. Website citations require as compete a date as possible in both APA 6 and 7 (examples 35 and 74-77 in APA 6 Manual, most of the examples in the guide to electronic references).
    4. APA 6 also required inclusion of the publisher or institution name in the “Retrieved from” statement for webpages (see examples 33 and 34 in the APA 6 manual).
  • Hey Intellectual Types:

    First, thank you for your prompt response. It is good to know that there are others willing to help. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    This is the website link: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa6_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html

    They suggest (cut and pasted from Purdue OWL):
    Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Retrieved from https://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

    Eco, U. (2015). How to write a thesis [PDF file]. (Farina C. M. & Farina F., Trans.) Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/...How_to_write_a_thesis/.../Umberto+Eco-How+to+Write+... (Original work published 1977).

    adamsmith: I am using the 6th edition according to Purdue OWL as suggested by my Professors. My Professors have not given any indication that they would rather students use the 7th edition. The problem formatting problem discussed above is the result of generating "Create Bibliography from items." The title was generated directly from the website from which I lifted it. It was stored in Zetoro as a title just under the "item type."

    bwiernik: I will take your advise about removing the information contained between the brackets.
  • You can install APA 6th edition style from the Cite pane of Zotero preferences by clicking Get additional styles…

    Note that the style is written following the APA manual, not Purdue OWL, which, while a great resource, is not exactly correct. For example, you would never write [PDF file] in a reference.

    With the exception of Special Interest Group, the reference you originally gave is generally correct APA style:
    Buckley, S. (2019, March). Broadband for Rural Businesses. Retrieved February 15, 2020, from Broadband Communities website: http://www.bbcmag.com/broadband-applications/broadband-for-rural-businesses

    You should store the page title in sentence case (Broadband for rural communities). APA asks for the organization name (Website Title or Publisher) where relevant.

    Note however, that you should probably enter this item as a Magazine Article. This is the Broadband Communities Magazine website.
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