Customize Citation Style - suppress "n.d." in some situations

bobanello
fbennett, back on May 24th 2010, you assisted me with a customization to Chicago Manual of Style (Full Note with Bibliography). The situation was to suppress "n.d." in a "document" type in a situation where the date field was blank. At the time, I was finalizing my doctoral dissertation. For reference I copied the relevant parts of our 2010 discussion below (Sorry. I don't know how to paste as quote.)

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fbennett May 24th 2010


Okay, we'll try some rough surgery first.

Go here: http://gist.github.com/411693

then download the style, using the "Raw" link on the top right.
Install by dragging the downloaded file into an open Firefox Window.

This will eliminate the "n.d." behavior completely. If you need it for other entries, let us know and we'll work out a more targeted approach.

Please report back.
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bobanello May 29th 2010

Thank you very much for the modified style! I tested it this morning and it works wonderfully.
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I finally have time to revise my dissertation into a book and need to put the same modification into the current Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition (full note). I attempted to determine where the change was, but could not find it and did not have the original style CSL with which to make a file compare with the modified CSL.

I am wondering if you might be able to supply me with the same change for the current style version?

Thank you in advance for any consideration you may give to this request.
Bob Anello
  • adamsmith
    best I can tell, the style that Frank customized for you just removed no date entirely. That's easy to do: just find and delete
    <else>
    <text term="no date" form="short"/>
    </else>

    Doing this just for document items is a bit more complicated (particular for the document item type, which isn't a very good item type to use in the first place).
  • bobanello
    Thank you very much, adamsmith, for your advice on how to modify that style! I tested it this afternoon and it works wonderfully.
    Fr. Bob Anello
  • padraicrohan
    Adamsmith, regarding your advice on 21 Nov 2015, I find I need to do this too (enter in a wide range of dates in various citations as a suffix, rather than one date associated with the document). If you've got time, could you possibly walk me through how to find and delete





    Is this code that I must find and delete in zotero standalone? Or do I need to go word document by word document, or even citation by citation?
  • adamsmith
    Which citation style are you using?
  • padraicrohan
    The latest Chicago style - 17th full note
  • bobanello
    padraicrohan,

    I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry. I modified CSL as per adamsmith on 21 Nov 2015. As far as I remember, it removes the "n.d." in a variety of item types so you can manually enter date as either a suffix to the title or, in my case, I put the unique author and date in the page field. It is programmatic: the CLS takes care of eliminating the "n.d." entries; you only need to manually add the date to the field of your choosing. Please note that you will need to find the appropriate location in the current CSL and revise it consistent with the program commands adamsmith listed.
  • padraicrohan
    Fr. Bob, thank you! It seems to be working. I really appreciate your help
  • padraicrohan
    @adamsmith, could I ask a quick question about suppressing "n.d." with the 18th edition?

    In the 17th edition, full note with bibliography, the part of the code I eliminated was





    and it worked perfectly. I'm now formatting my notes according to the 18th, note without bibliography. The CSL here is not the same, with several instances of "no date" in the code. Could you please advise on what parts of the CSL to cut for 18th Chicago, notes without bibliography?
  • dunning
    @padraicrohan I have already filtered out the n.d. notation for item types where the Manual requires it. If I have missed a type, please let me know and I will fix it for everyone.

    If you are working with a manuscript collection, you can add type: collection to the Extra field to make the n.d. disappear.

    If you need to specify a date range, you can add this using ISO date notation in the Extra field, e.g. issued: 1954/1978 for 1954–1978; or issued: 1954-09-23/1978-11-30 for 23 September 1954–30 November 1978.
  • padraicrohan
    @dunning, I really appreciate your help. This worked perfectly, thank you!
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