Article Title for newspaper news briefs

Mooredan, in the situation you describe the "article title" would be the "Local News."  Typically, an article title will be centered in the middle of the column of print and put in bold face or all caps, so readers can spot it easily.  If the "article" is a regular feature with random items of news (which  seems to be what you are describing) then we cite the name of the feature. If the feature is a collection of random news and we wish to call out one specific item or paragraph, then yes, we treat it as a "specific item" and identify it at the end of our citation to page and column.  

Incidentally, in our First Reference Note, we also need to include the location of the newspaper—city and state. If either or both pieces of location data is not part of the newspaper's title, then we add it in parentheses or square editorial brakcets (EE 14.11).  In this case, you'd have

"Local News," Garnett (Kansas) Journal, 10 May 1907, p. 7, col. 5, for "Daniel Showalter"; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Aug 2017).

Hello, 

I have a couple of questions about citing newspaper articles. 

1. Most of the articles that I'm citing do not have descriptive titles, they are the main title of a recurring section of the newspaper such as the one I list below: "The Shop and Railroad News." If you have a newspaper article that contains regular titles and subtitles, should you use both or should you use the most descriptive or easy to find?

Here is an example: 

Main section title: "The Shop and Railroad News" (This is a regular title in the daily newspaper that I use often when there are not any article titles.)

Subtitle: "Honored by Friends" (occasionally an article that I use has a subtitle or even a third title above the article)

Should both (all) be included in the title of the article, and if so, how would that look ("The Shop and Railroad News – Honored by Friends" or "The Shop and Railroad News: Honored by Friends")? The main title is at the top of the newspaper; however, it is actually easier to find the information by the subtitle "Honored by Friends." I should point out that I'm also using column number(s) in my citation. 

2. Using the example above: 

"Local News," Garnett (Kansas) Journal, 10 May 1907, p. 7, col. 5, for "Daniel Showalter"; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Aug 2017).

When using a name, such as "Daniel Showalter," is this the name of the person in the article that you are writing about? If so, if there is more than one individual in the article that you would like to highlight, how should they be listed? Should commas be listed between each name (simple example: John Be, Otto Carr, and Ted Dunn)? Should the names be listed in order alphabetically by last name or should they be in the order that they first appear in the article?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Issue 1. “Most of the articles that I’m citing do not have descriptive titles, they are the main title of a recurring section of the newspaper. … If you have a newspaper article that contains regular titles and subtitles, should you use both …?”

Amy, the technical term for what you are describing as “main title” and “regular title” would be series title.  Yes, you should always cite this, but it is also essential to cite the title of the individual item in that series. The appropriate way to do it would be your second example, using the colon—i.e., Series Title: Article Title

Issue 2 … “Daniel Showalter”

Can you post a copy of this article so that we can see exactly what we are dealing with?  (While the company has restrictions upon reposting its material, a one-time use for this educational purpose would be considered fair use.)

Working only from your example and your question, I’m not sure that I understand your question. The quotation marks around “Daniel Showalter” imply that you are quoting something, as in the exact title of an individual blurb within the “Local News” column. But then your example of multiple names implies that you are not quoting something.

Thanks for your quick response! I'm new to this and your feedback is most useful. I'm used to citing scientific papers. Genealogy is a completely different ballgame. Sorry for my lack of response. I thought I would receive an email when someone responded to my comment. Maybe that is only for new threads? 

As to issue 2, I'm equally confused about "Daniel Showalter." I don't have a newspaper article because this was the initial example in this thread. Here is the newspaper information and citation provided above:    

"Daniel Showalter, of Garnett, and Mary L. Moore, of Welda, were married today by Probate Judge Lewellin."

"Local News," Garnett (Kansas) Journal, 10 May 1907, p. 7, col. 5, for "Daniel Showalter"; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Aug 2017).

In the EE book, I don't see this type of format used for newspapers (including "Daniel Showalter"). Then I thought, maybe this means that the citation is also supposed to also include people's name(s) who are listed in the article, especially in a situation like this, when the information is part of a recurring section in the newspaper and isn't an individual article with a unique article title. I have quite a few articles like this in my own research. If it would be helpful for me to send you one of my articles, I can do that too. :) I hope this makes sense. Thanks again!

Amyheemy, my apologies for the halfway answer re “Daniel Showalter.” I was out of the office yesterday and answered on my phone, on which I could not go back and re-read the whole thread that began in 2017. I focused only on your question.

Regarding the point that EE itself has no example that ends with the name of a person: yes, there are many “quirks” that EE does not cover, despite its size. It may cover that quirk in relation to another type of record, but it cannot repeat all quirks under all record types or it would end up the size of the OED.

When EE’s example for a specific source type does not cover a specific quirk, it helps to focus on two things:

The basic format

What items are essential?  Where, in the scheme of things, would our special situation fit?

The QuickCheck Model on p. 785 illustrates the basic format for newspapers, which has four fields:

• “Article Title”
• Newspaper Title
• Issue date
• Page and column

The “page and column” field that ends the citation to a newspaper article serves as the "specific item" field in citations to all types of things. If we wish to call attention to one specific person or subject appearing on that page and column, then we add the name there, quoted exactly. We would add the name after the column because that's the natural order of things: we look for the page, we look for the column, then we would look for the name.

2. Analogous situations

This newspaper situation, in which we need to reference a specific person on a specific page that discusses many people is analogous to, say,

• citing an individual person from a city directory. We follow the format for citing a published book until we get down to the specific item field (page) and then add, in quotation marks, the exact name of interest
• citing an individual person named in a database. We follow the format for citing a database at a website (basically the same format as citing a chapter in a book), then in the specific item field we cite the item or person of specific interest.

Does this clarify things?

Hello, 

Not a problem at all! I'm just happy to get some guidance. I feel like I am getting hung up on some of the "quirks." All that you said makes sense. I think a general rule of thumb is make sure that the basic format (QuickCheck Model) is present in the citation. Then, if further clarification is needed to help someone else find information in the citation, then include it. I think the book also said to be consistent, so I think that is something else that is important for me to think about.

I think the "specific item" field is tripping me up because when someone is reading the information that I write in my genealogy book, it seems like it would be inferred that I would be referencing an article about that person. Here is a made up example: 

According to the Testerville Newspaper, Joseph Test lost an arm working for the Testerville railroad on March 1, 1877. (superscript)7

In this situation it seems like it would be obvious that the article would include his name because that is the person that I'm referring to the text. Therefore it wouldn't need to be included in the citation. However, if the sole reason for including it is to be really clear, especially for people who may not be used to reading a book with citations, then I understand the reasoning. I suppose the other reason that it would be useful is if the person's name was spelled incorrectly in the article such as "Jepeph Test" [Joseph Test].

This is where my science citation-writing mind takes me. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not, but I thought it might give some insight as to why I was confused. Maybe it could help someone else. 

Thanks again!

Amy, it absolutely makes sense. The two examples you give also demonstrate why citation is an art, not a science—why there is not a rigid formula, only basics essentials that we build upon as needed.

With regard to your first example: as we continue to expand our research into new types of sources, we find many instances in which our citation will have no obvious relevance to the text. The people we research often appear in records of others, or one type of record will appear in a register that carries a different type of name. In those instances, the typical use of "specific item" field for (say) page number or item number will require additional details or explanations to clarify the reference.

Oh good! I must be grasping some of these concepts. Ha! I haven't come across that yet, because I just started. I can see how that would happen though because already I'm running into a lot of these little citation quirks.

Thanks for having this website because this platform combined with the book really helps. Although I have a couple of additional questions, the majority of my questions have already been answered because of this website. Thank you so much! 

Glad to help, Amy.