Citation Style Clashing with University Requirements

debonpanton · 2025-11-11T13:43:04+00:00

I am based in Jamaica W.I. and the University Thesis Handbook says that whenever there is a clash between a citation style and the University's citation requirements then the University's requirements take precedence. I have seen instances (I am using MLA9) where Zotero includes a source Title in the in-text citation where the University says it should not be included and vice versa but there is no easy way to have Zotero either include or exclude the source Title or Short Tile in the in-text citation. I am asking whether any of the Zotero development gurus would consider adding checkbox options to either include or exclude source Title or Short Title similar to the option in include or exclude Author name for in-text citations and whether the Title or Short Title should be bracketed. The generated Works Cited list seems to be ok. What do you folks think?

dunning · 2025-11-11T22:01:16+00:00

Are you able to give a more specific example? If you want a particular item to be cited under a name rather than a title, you can simply add an author, editor, translator, or composer.

If none of these is available, the style substitutes the title for the surname, but the title still acts like a name in other respects.

debonpanton · 2025-11-12T12:17:12+00:00

Thank you for responding sir/madam. I am using MLA9 citation standards and I simply want to be able to decide when the in-text citation looks like either this (author, page num) OR (author, "Title/Short Title", page num). I am asking if a check box can be included to the dialog box at the point where the citation is being inserted into the document. This is to decide whether or not the Title/Short Tile is included in the in-text citation just like how there is a checkbox to determine whether or not the Author Name is included in the in-text citation. Another one can be added to determine whether the in-text citation is enclosed in parentheses.