12 April 2014
When creating "short titles" for publications and documents with long titles, we should never omit words from the start of the title. Doing so will make it difficult for readers to match our short titles and long titles correctly.
If we omit words from the middle of a long title, we should use an ellipsis (three dots) in the place where the words are omitted. For example:
(Book) FULL TITLE
H. F. O’Beirne, Leaders and Leading Men of the Indian Territory, with Interesting Biographical Sketches: Choctaws and Chickasaws, with a Brief History of Each Tribe, Its Laws, Customs, Superstitions and Religious Beliefs, Profusely Illustrated with over Two Hundred Portraits and Full-Page Engravings (Chicago: American Publishers Association, 1891), 111.
SHORTER TITLE, USING AN ELLIPSIS
H. F. O’Beirne, Leaders and Leading Men of the Indian Territory ... Choctaws and Chickasaws (Chicago: American Publishers Association, 1891), 111.
If we omit words from the end of a long title, an ellipsis is not required.
(Document) FULL TITLE
Uxbridge Monthly Meeting (Uxbridge, Massachusetts), “Book of Records for Epistles, Certificates, Testimonies of Denial and Acknowledgements [1783–1811],” p. 24, disownment of Enoch Philips;New England Yearly Meetings of Friends, vol. 135; Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
SHORTER TITLE, NO ELLIPSIS
Uxbridge (Mass.) Monthly Meeting, “Book of Records for Epistles, Certificates, Testimonies of Denial [etc.],” p. 24.
Extracted from EE 2.67, 7.13, 12.21, and other passages that treat this subject much more fully.