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Utah Foundation Footnotes Style Guide

Update according to Christopher 2023.11

Priorities

  1. Make sure the reader can find the resource.
  2. Readability for the average person.
  3. Make the quality of the source easily evaluatable.

Basic format

Author, First I., Second Author, Third Middle Author , and Fourth M.I. Author, Year, "Title here: This format," Publisher URL.

Author

  1. If there is an individual, list the individual. Last name first.
  2. If there is more than one author, list up to four, using the pattern in the basic format.
  3. If there is more than four authors, list the first and slap on an et.al
  4. If there are no individual authors, list the nominal name of the organization. (Usually the branded name on the top left corner of the website)
  5. On well developed websites, you can look at the source and find an author in the meta tags. For example, https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html has the tag <meta property="og:author" content="CDC">
  6. When using an organizational author, go with the specific organization. For Example, go with "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, 2023" instead of just "CDC". Or specific university departments. Etc.

Year

  1. Just four numbers.
  2. Prioritize the updated date, or latest date edited over the original publish date.

Unlabeled Year,

  1. If a pdf, upload it to https://www.metadata2go.com/view-metadata. Look for the creation date, or something similar.
  2. On well developed websites, you can look at the source and find an publish date in the meta tags. For example, https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/index.html has the tag <meta property="article:published_time" content="2023-09-21">
  3. Look for the last major update on Archive.org. You can just enter https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.example.com/example-report-url. Then select the "Changes" button and it will show you updates.
  4. Pay attention to content updates. For example, websites will often have sidebars featuring other content. Sometimes this content updates every week, but the actual posted article you are referencing does not.

Article names

  1. Inside quotes
  2. Sentence capitalization. Colons or other sentence punctuation resets the sentence. Things that would be capitalized in a normal sentence would be capitalized here as well. Such as SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Publisher

  1. Full name of journal if published in journals. Shortened names are inside baseball.
  2. If a book, the standard publisher and location.
  3. Organization doing the publishing if a webpage.
    1. Prioritize the copyright holder, often at the bottom of the webpage
    2. Check out the contact information? Sometimes branded program websites are hosted by a different entity. For example. "https://freshbucksindy.org/produce-rx/" is supported by "Marion County Public Health Department"
    3. If all else fails, fall back on the url. For example https://extension.usu.edu would be Utah State University Extension.

URL

  1. Include the URL. Make sure the URL leads to the exact information you are citing. If you have to take additional steps, list them.
  2. They should be hyperlinks. If the blue bothers you, change the DEFAULT format style (ask Christopher for help).
  3. To the extent possible, everything should have a url, unless specific conditions require otherwise.
    1. if it is a book. list a worldcat url for the book
    2. if it is an unpublished article, load the article to Archive.org
    3. if it is an interview, include a link to the person's bio/contact us page, or even just the contact us page for the organization.
  4. What about queries in the url.
    1. If it is a dynamic page that uses queries in the url, include the queries. For example, in the url https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?StateFIPS=49&StateName=Utah&ID=17854, the elements StateFIPS=49 StateName=Utah ID=17854 are essential parts of the url to build the query.
    2. If they are tracking elements, cut'em. If your site is a static page - especially something like a pdf, then the query elements are not important and get in the way of readability. If you can copy and paste it in without the query elements and get the same thing, then don't include them. For example, https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/104656/err-309.pdf?v=8702.6 the ?v=8702.6 is just cache-busting on the part of the USDA
  5. If you have a google search phrase tag, put it in the hyperlink, but no the url. Not all browsers support them. Like this https://www.farmermark.com/blog/2022/8/5/csas-co-ops-and-farmers-markets-understanding-local-food-options rather than this https://www.farmermark.com/blog/2022/8/5/csas-co-ops-and-farmers-markets-understanding-local-food-options#:~:text=When%20you%20purchase%20a%20CSA,cash%20returns%2C%20you%20get%20vegetables
  6. All our citations should be pushed to the Internet archive, so people can find them if they need them. Get the right plugin. (ask Christopher if you need help).
    1. If they are google drive urls, you are going to have to upload the docs manually.

Questions for possible modification

  • Authors are separated by commas, should the author to the date be separated from something else?
  • Should embedded organizational authors cascade up or down? Deliminator?
  • Should we stick to having the first author's last name be first?
  • Should we have an access date.
  • Should we place publisher first? In many ways that is the key to how reliable the source is.

  • Readability would be improved if it were something like

    $PUBLISHER published "$ARTICLE_NAME" [in $YEAR | on $FULL_DATE], Written by $AUTHORS (if different from publisher), View at $ORIGINAL_URL or at [$ARCHIVE|$DOI]