What to do when some data is unavailable

I’m using end note, and I have some newspaper articles for which all I have is the date and name of newspaper. When I do that the footnote comes up with a comma before the newspaper name - as if I have to have an article title or a name of a reporter. How can I get rid of that comma?

You need to edit the newspaper template in the style you are using to associate the punctuation with the empty fields with the judicious use of “link adjacent text” and “forced separation” items from the “insert field” dropdown button.  If you can’t parse those directions, you can attach the style file you are using here and someone can do it quickly for you and reattach it back as a reply. 

I’ve tried to figure out the forced separation and adjacent commands, but to no avail. This is how my citations look as footnotes:

, Davar Apr. 2, 1976

and this is how they look in the bibliography:

. Davar Apr. 2, 1976.

These are the respective output templates:

Reporter, “Title,” Newspaper Issue Date Year|: Cited Pages|.

Reporter. “Title.” Type of Article|. Rev. of Reviewed Item|. Newspaper Issue Date. Year|, Edition ed.|, sec. Section|: Pages|. Reprint Edition| Language|.

Can anyone tell me where to put either a separation or adjacent to get rid of the period and the comma when I’m missing the reporter’s name and the name of the article?

To get rid of that unwanted punctuation, I think you need to go to the “Anonymous Works” section of the output style, and check the option “Leave author blank.”

Of course, this might have implications for other anonymous references, so check them carefully.