Citing articles

This is something Logos does not do very well currently. There have been other complaints about this, and I've been meaning to put in a suggestion about it, but hadn't gotten around to it. Your post prompted me to finally act. I've added a request on the UserVoice forum. Please go vote for it there, and let's see if we can get enough people to vote for it that it gets a higher priority for Logos to fix this.

I notice that many times articles in various Bible Dictionaries or Encyclopedias (e.g., Baker Bible Encyclopedia) do not include the author's name (or even article title, for that matter) when footnoting copied portions into a word processor. Instead, the footnote simply includes the general information for the entire work (editor names and book title only -- again, no article title, or author of the article). This is not really sufficient when it comes to properly citing sources. (Sometimes there is not even an author's name at included at the end of the articles themselves.) Is there a setting I need to turn on, or is this just a missing feature in Logos?

Thanks,
Peter

I just use the information button (circled "i") to copy the work's citation then insert "s.v. 'artilcle title, contributor (if known)'." It works for me.

I notice that many times articles in various Bible Dictionaries or Encyclopedias (e.g., Baker Bible Encyclopedia) do not include the author's name (or even article title, for that matter) when footnoting copied portions into a word processor. Instead, the footnote simply includes the general information for the entire work (editor names and book title only -- again, no article title, or author of the article). This is not really sufficient when it comes to properly citing sources.

This is something Logos has only very recently introduced, and then only in a very limited number of resources. I agree with you that it's much needed.

(Sometimes there is not even an author's name at included at the end of the articles themselves.)

Logos follows the printed book in this regard. If the printed book gives the author, so does Logos. Some dictionaries (e.g. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery) don't include signed articles. Other dictionaries list authors only at the beginning of the book, not at the articles themselves.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219011#Comment_219011

I'm not sure if this is always the case. For example, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels does provide the author's name at the end of an article I was reading (on "Wine") in the IVP Essentials Collection (an older Libronix software I own), but the author's name is not inserted for this article for the same book Logos 4 library. Further, some articles in DJG do include an author's name at the end, but Logos still cites the book (not the article) when copy and pasting.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219126#Comment_219126

I'm not sure if this is always the case. For example, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
does provide the author's name at the end of an article I was reading
(on "Wine") in the IVP Essentials Collection (an older Libronix
software I own), but the author's name is not inserted for this
article for the same book Logos 4 library. Further, some articles in DJG do include an author's name at the end, but Logos still cites the book (not the article) when copy and pasting.

This
is precisely what we've been saying. Logos does not do a good job of
citing the author article when it differs from the book author. They are
starting to introduce it in some cases, as Mark pointed out. I'm not aware of which resources they've already done properly. But my experience is that in most of them they haven't done it. And as you pointed out, which Mark was not contradicting, many dictionaries do give the author's name at the end of the article and Logos shows it there, but this thread is about the fact that Logos doesn't copy that author's info in the citation footnote when you paste into Word.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219126#Comment_219126

I'm not sure if this is always the case. For example, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels does provide the author's name at the end of an article I was reading (on "Wine") in the IVP Essentials Collection (an older Libronix software I own), but the author's name is not inserted for this article for the same book Logos 4 library. Further, some articles in DJG do include an author's name at the end, but Logos still cites the book (not the article) when copy and pasting.

As Rosie points out, there are two separate issues:

Some books don't give authors (therefore Logos won't either).
Some books do give authors (and they're included in the text of the Logos book, but not in the citation when you copy paste).

Actually, a very small number of books do give this info in copy/paste (http://community.logos.com/forums/t/28743.aspx), so it is technically possible now, but I presume older books have not been updated with this information. It would be a lot of work for Logos to add all the tagging required - but I hope they do.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219198#Comment_219198

I'm not sure if this is always the case. For example, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels does provide the author's name at the end of an article I was reading (on "Wine") in the IVP Essentials Collection (an older Libronix software I own), but the author's name is not inserted for this article for the same book Logos 4 library. Further, some articles in DJG do include an author's name at the end, but Logos still cites the book (not the article) when copy and pasting.

As Rosie points out, there are two separate issues:

Some books don't give authors (therefore Logos won't either).

Some books do give authors (and they're included in the text of the Logos book, but not in the citation when you copy paste).

Actually, a very small number of books do give this info in copy/paste (http://community.logos.com/forums/t/28743.aspx), so it is technically possible now, but I presume older books have not been updated with this information. It would be a lot of work for Logos to add all the tagging required - but I hope they do.

If you're citing the work, you obviously have it open with the information available. If the copy of the bibliographic citation doesn't give the article title and author, just enter it into the citation that you paste into your notes or other document. What is so difficult about that? I remember when we had to use a typewriter (yes, they had been invented by that time). If you were lucky you had an IBM Selectric available on which you could change the ball to type in other languages. If you were typing Hebrew, you had to compute the number of characters required and space forward that number then double backspace to enter each letter.

Jim VanSchoonhoven

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219218#Comment_219218

George Somsel, it is nice to see that others have had an abusive childhood too!

I am amazed at what Logos can do these days, and how much more is posible. I am spoiled and I think I am liking it!

What a simple and good idea! Can we actually just do that???

In Christ,

Jim VanSchoonhoven

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219255#Comment_219255

George Somsel, it is nice to see that others have had an abusive childhood too!

I am amazed at what Logos can do these days, and how much more is posible. I am spoiled and I think I am liking it!

What a simple and good idea! Can we actually just do that???

In Christ,

Jim VanSchoonhoven

Not only can you do that, I do it all the time.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219218#Comment_219218

If you're citing the work, you obviously have it open with the information available. If the copy of the bibliographic citation doesn't give the article title and author, just enter it into the citation that you paste into your notes or other document. What is so difficult about that?

It's not difficult. But in this age of Zotero and Endnote, we academics have all gotten spoiled. Since the software already has a feature to put the citation in for us, it would be nice if it put in the correct citation. Bradley says they are planning to do this ("Citations will be generated correctly for resources that specify the author for individual articles."). So I don't think it was too much to ask. Yes, it will be a lot of work for them to tag all the old resources properly for this to work, but it will eventually start working in more and more resources. I applaud that. We'll still have to stay alert and do it manually whenever the article name and author doesn't show up automatically in our citations.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219289#Comment_219289

If you're citing the work, you obviously have it open with the information available. If the copy of the bibliographic citation doesn't give the article title and author, just enter it into the citation that you paste into your notes or other document. What is so difficult about that?

It's not difficult. But in this age of Zotero and Endnote, we academics have all gotten spoiled. Since the software already has a feature to put the citation in for us, it would be nice if it put in the correct citation. Bradley says they are planning to do this ("Citations will be generated correctly for resources that specify the author for individual articles."). So I don't think it was too much to ask. Yes, it will be a lot of work for them to tag all the old resources properly for this to work, but it will eventually start working in more and more resources. I applaud that. We'll still have to stay alert and do it manually whenever the article name and author doesn't show up automatically in our citations.

They need to put a button on every note file so that when you dlick on it a book will be generated for you.

Jack Caviness

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219218#Comment_219218

I remember when we had to use a typewriter

And that was a great improvement over a clay tablet and stylus.

If you were lucky you had an IBM Selectric available on which you could change the ball to type in other languages.

And I thought I had reached the upper limit of technology [H] Well, not really, but it sounds good.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219317#Comment_219317

I remember when we had to use a typewriter

And that was a great improvement over a clay tablet and stylus.

If you were lucky you had an IBM Selectric available on which you could change the ball to type in other languages.

And I thought I had reached the upper limit of technology Well, not really, but it sounds good.

Dearie, if you remember then you're much older than I.

Jack Caviness

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219321#Comment_219321

Dearie, if you remember then you're much older than I.

Remember which? The clay tablet and stylus or the bouncing ball? I figured you for a stylus type of guy. [:D] I will admit to being more than 39. If you can remember "Charming Billy", I have 11 years on his wife. [:D]

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219218#Comment_219218

Not quite so simple. Logos doesn't always include the author name at the end of its dictionary articles. So I cannot manually type in the author name and article title, since these are unknown. In my case I just happened to have the same resource available in a different (and much older) software that did inlcude the proper biographical info (and this did allow me to enter the author's name manually into my word document). In other words, if I'd only had Logos, I'd be unable to find the proper biographical data for the article. This is not merely a matter of convenience, it is a matter of not being provided with sufficient biographical information.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219414#Comment_219414

Not quite so simple. Logos doesn't always include the author name at the end of its dictionary articles. So I cannot manually type in the author name and article title, since these are unknown. In my case I just happened to have the same resource available in a different (and much older) software that did inlcude the proper biographical info (and this did allow me to enter the author's name manually into my word document). In other words, if I'd only had Logos, I'd be unable to find the proper biographical data for the article. This is not merely a matter of convenience, it is a matter of not being provided with sufficient biographical information.

If you found a print edition with a name of the contributor, this should be in the Logos edition. Post a typo report.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219414#Comment_219414

Logos doesn't always include the author name at the end of its dictionary articles.

Which resources?

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219471#Comment_219471

Logos doesn't always include the author name at the end of its dictionary articles.

Which resources?

Here are some that don't. I can't verify whether the print editions of these give the author names:

The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible
Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
Dictionary of Theological Terms
A Dictionary of Women in Church History
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
The New Unger's Bible Dictionary
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Tyndale Bible Dictionary

Some of these might truly have been authored by one individual (e.g., the New Unger's, Smith's) but in most cases I doubt it.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219480#Comment_219480

All of these can be explained.

Single-author works:
- Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
- Dictionary of Theological Terms
- A Dictionary of Women in Church History
- Easton's Bible Dictionary
- The New Unger's Bible Dictionary
- Smith's Bible Dictionary
Multi-author works without attribution (as the print edition)
- Dictionary of Biblical Imagery
- Eerdmans Bible Dictionary
- Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
- The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
- Tyndale Bible Dictionary
Multi-author works, but with only longer articles attributed (as the print edition):
- Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219486#Comment_219486

I've checked. The print copy of Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, for example (along with the other IVP dictionaries in that series), has the author name at the end of each article. Logos only includes it with some of the articles. In my case I discovered this while reading the article on "Wine" (which does have the author name in print and in other IVP software, but it doesn't appear in Logos).

Let me also add that even with articles in the Logos version of Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels that do cite the author's name (e.g., see article on "Abiathar"), even these do not cite the author name when copying to a word processor, but only cite the entire dictionary.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/219541#Comment_219541

In my case I discovered this while reading the article on "Wine" (which does have the author name in print and in other IVP software, but it doesn't appear in Logos).

My copy of DJG in Logos does include the author name for this article (D. F. Watson). Perhaps you ought to check you have the latest version of that resource (mine is 2010-02-10T22:23:56Z).

In my case I discovered this while
reading the article on "Wine" (which does have the author name in print
and in other IVP software, but it doesn't appear in Logos).

My copy of DJG in Logos does include the author name for this
article (D. F. Watson). Perhaps you ought to check you have the latest
version of that resource (mine is 2010-02-10T22:23:56Z).

Also be sure you've scrolled down to the absolute end of the article
when you're looking for it. I've made the mistake before of thinking
there was no author listed in Logos when I was only at the end of one
section within the article, not the end of the whole article.

Let me also add that even with articles in the Logos version of Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
that do cite the author's name (e.g., see article on "Abiathar"), even
these do not cite the author name when copying to a word processor, but
only cite the entire dictionary.

Yes, this is a known
problem. It's a question of going back and re-tagging all these old
resources with an internal field that gives the author name for all
articles where it's available, which is an ongoing task Logos is working on. See Bradley's post here: http://community.logos.com/forums/p/28743/219446.aspx#219446