APA 5th ed - initials in first author's name in in-text citation

EndNote EndNote Styles, Filters, and Connections
1

I am having difficulty with endnote inserting initials for the first author of in-text citations in APA 5th ed. I have seen the two previous threads on this issue and understand that when there are multiple authors with the same last name, the initials are inserted for clarification. I also understand that the authors have to be entered EXACTLY the same for every citation in the endnote database. I have two problems:

  1. Endnote seems to be inserting the initials in the in-text citation when there are multiple authors with the same last name in my library, even when only one of these authors is cited in the actual text. For instance, initials get inserted when the library has Smith, T and Smith, R but the paper only cites Smith T. Short of removing the fields and manually fixing, I’m not sure how to remove the unwanted initials. (I’d rather not remove the fields just yet)

  2. Is there a work-around for the situation where there is only one author but different databases or journals list the name slightly differently. For instance, some databases list them as Smith, TR and some as Smith, T.R. and some as Smith, T. etc. If you have a well published author you have to go in and manually replace this author’s name many times so that it is consistent across all entries. This is incredibly inconvenient and a big waste of time.

Thanks

Message Edited by tresaroe on 02-19-2009 03:52 PM

3

Hello Leanne!  I had the exact same thing happen. For instance, I downloaded from Proquest and Ebsco, and some came in as “Jane Jones,” “Jones, Jane A.,” “Jones, J.” etc.  Even if the author was the only one by that name (no Fred Jones in the author list, for instance) it would still show up sometimes as "J. Jones"or “J. A. Jones” but sometimes it was correct.  It did not appear to matter if the author was solo or part of a list in the in-text citation.

Once I changed them all to “Jones, Jane” it worked just fine.  

4

I was helping someone with the author initials problem you describe today. I think we found a solution.

Edit the output style, and under Citations -> Author Name, uncheck the box for “Use initials only for primary authors with the same name”

5

I am now having a similar problem with APA 6th edition. Even when I untick the initials box. I have searched the APA 6th edition manual and can not find anything about authors who do use different names. Your assistance greatly appreciated.

Thanks

7

Thank you for this tip. It was very helpful.

Emil