use zotero for bibliography but manually enter citations?

davidwsamuels
Hi, I'm guessing this topic has been raised a bunch of times but I'm not having any luck finding it with a search.
Is it possible to use Zotero to create my references section but *not* have Zotero enter my in-text citations? I find myself editing those automatic entries so often it just seems easier to type them myself.
Thanks for any tips!
  • adamsmith
    Yes, but you have to keep track of the references you enter by hand (e.g., place them in a dedicated Zotero collection). You can then just use select all --> Create Bibliography from Selected Items and paste the bibliography into your document.
  • damnation
    Just out of interest, what changes are you needing to make? Maybe we can help with your workflow.
  • davidwsamuels
    Thanks for the advice. As far as the changes, much of it is going in and erasing the author's name in the in-line citation because it's already in the body of the text. Also, I think on a related note, anonymous newspaper articles are cited differently in different journals and I haven't figured out how to have Zotero do that in any way that makes sense...
  • damnation
    Right, I had an inkling it's something like that.
    You know about the "omit author" functionality?
    https://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage

    That does that for you. Your citations stay integrated and updatable that way.
  • davidwsamuels
    Oh, thanks! So I need to do that in "classic view," correct?

    Also, while I'm at it, I have a *lot* of unbylined newspaper articles, and I think I need to cite them by a shortened title in the text ("Pie is Delicious") and then full title in the bibliography ("Pie is Delicious, Surfers Claim, But Bakeries Still Won't Let Them Carry Their Boards Inside"). The way it works now I get "Anonymous 2014a, Anonymous 2014b" and so on and on. No idea how to change that!
  • damnation
    No, the "normal" view also has that. It's a very basic functionality.

    Your second question is most likely a citation style question. You'd need to modify that. Which style are you using?
  • davidwsamuels
    Hmmmm, in the "normal" view I only get the long pop-up window to enter the source and then it just inserts it, I don't see any options to choose for deleting author or adding page number.

    I downloaded a style for the journal I'm writing for, but obviously it's wrong. I assume I can go into the template and customize it?
  • damnation
    edited August 23, 2024
    Ok, look at the link I sent you. (See "Page and other locators")
    Clicking on the name inside the red bar let's you modify the citation. Adding pages, omitting authors and such.

    For your second question, if you tell us the exact style and link to the guidelines we can have a look if a modification is necessary.
  • aborel
    Which journal style, exactly ? If it is wrong, it should not be customized - it should be fixed for the general community. Also, it could actually be correct, but something might be slightly off in your metadata. The more information you provide, the better :-)
  • davidwsamuels
    Thanks for all this, will continue after the weekend, bunch of family stuff pulling me away from the computer (thankfully!)
  • davidwsamuels
    The journal style is "Ethnomusicology." The in-line citations should be a short title, but the software inserts the newspaper title. Of course I could be doing something wrong in my creation of the reference, as well.
  • davidwsamuels
    That came out wrong. The in-line citations for unblinded newspaper articles should be a short title....
  • damnation
    I'm actually not sure how you're generating a citation that says "Anonymous". This style gives out authors/editors, and if none are present prints the title.

    Can you tell me where you see that you should cite newspapers with the short title in the citations? Then I can make an edit or suggest the edit.
  • davidwsamuels
    Here's a screenshot of a portion of a page in the journal

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u3208505/8qejrqaw5dbitr6400td.png
  • damnation
    ( @adamsmith What's your take here? I'm thinking of using title="short" in the author subsitute. It falls back to title="long" anyway if not present)
  • adamsmith
    form="short" makes sense to me. No need dir anything fancier
  • damnation
    Thanks.

    OP, can you try this?
    https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles/raw/0fe2025dc84750a8f50cbb820f021dda35814202/ethnomusicology.csl
  • davidwsamuels
    I'm happy to, but not sure what my next steps ought to be? When I click on the link it opens up to a page of code
  • adamsmith
    huh -- with the Zotero connector installed, it should prompt you to install the style. Alternatively, you can download the file (right-click --> save link as) and double-click to install in Zotero.
  • arggem
    On Chrome w/ the connector, I just get a page of code also.
  • dstillman
    You have to have Zotero open, and the Zotero Connector needs to be able to connect to it.
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