User:J. Johnson/sandbox4

Test-driving some ideas I have for the Harv documentation.

Default mode
In its default mode harvnb generates an "author-date" style short-cite from the following parameters:


 * &#123;&#123; harvnb |  | | | |  | p= | loc= &#125;&#125;

with
 * - last names of up to four authors, requires at least one.
 * - year (four digits) required. May have letter suffixes.
 * - page (or page range) of specific page(s) referenced in the source.
 * - Additional location information such as a section or figure number.

harvnb follows the standard convention that a list of four or more authors is reduced to the name of the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others").

To link to the correct full citation requires a matching anchor. The citation templates automatically generate the proper "author-date" anchor. The family of templates currently do not do this unless harv is specified.

Alternate mode
While harvnb requires an initial string of text, there is no requirement that it be a "proper" name. This permits some useful alternatives using the following form:



Example: newspapers
When citing newspaper articles the name of the newspaper is often considered more important than the actual authors (which often are not identified). It is also conventional bibliographic practice that newspaper articles are listed under the name of the newspaper, and in chronological order. And a more precise date is usually required for daily or weekly publications. In such cases a valid short-cite might be:



This is generated with the following template:



The anchor for the link is given to the citation or the template being linked to using a harvid template in a ref parameter. In this case that would look like:


 * ref

The harvid template should be given exactly the same parameters as used in the harvnb template.

Example: multi-volume works
The Assessment Reviews of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consist of multiple reports with many independently authored (and therefore separately cited) chapters. In such cases, where "Smith et al. 2014" could refer to either chapter 11 ("Human Health") in the report of Working Group II in the fifth review, or to chapter 11 {"Agriculture") in the report of Working Group III in the fifth review, the "author-date" form is inadequate. An indexed form of short-cite, such as



is more meaningful, and handier to use and keep track of. This is generated with:



For both {citation} and {cite} templates the anchor is specified with:


 * ref

Again, harvid must be given exactly the same parameters as used for the short-cite.

Other examples
Other examples of alternative ways to use Harv templates can be seen at Global Warming.