Citation, Documentation of Sources

Q. How do you cite T-shirts?

Q. When one is citing an ancient source whose author is unknown or disputed and which is published in the original language, is the editor’s name put before the title in footnotes and bibliography? Does the modern translator’s name go first?

Q. When using the same five sources throughout the same paper, do I create a new endnote (using a new number) throughout the paper (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.)? For example, if my paper has twenty-two citations, will I use endnotes 1–22? Or do I just refer to the same five numbers throughout the paper?

Q. I’m struggling with the correct format for websites. It’s when the author is unknown that I run into trouble. For a print source, we’d begin with the article title, but CMOS says that the website’s owner “may” be used as the author. Does “may” mean “should”? How do we distinguish between the website’s name and owner? For example, if I’m citing an authorless article from CNN.com, do I begin with CNN.com as the author, and then also include CNN.com as the website? Can you sort this out?

Q. In citations and references, what is the preferred format for codes and standards issued by scientific organizations? As an example, “RASB Standard 531: Antigravity and what to do when it fails” (one of many standards published by the Rebel Alliance Scientific Branch, each on a different topic and with a different number) would be set differently by each of our several editing groups here, and we are trying to find common ground. Would you suggest we treat it along the lines of (1) a book title, (2) a multivolume work, (3) an article in a periodical, or (4) something else entirely?

Q. Hello—I need to correctly format an Australian law for a nonlegal publication. May I use the format suggested in CMOS for British historical records? I realize that this is specific to UK publications, but it seems like the best approximation.

Q. I normally have cited at the beginning of a paraphrase. For instance, if I am using three sentences to express a scholar’s point, I would reference after the first sentence. I recently was advised that this is not correct and that the last sentence of the three is the sentence that needs the reference. Can you enlighten me on which is correct?

Q. When I am citing a periodical that does not provide the page number, but does provide the volume and issue, is it necessary to cite the issue number (e.g., Hameed 2009, 3:1)? Or how should this be cited?

Q. What do you do about reproducing a table found in a work you are citing? Can it be used and cited the same way text can be?

Q. I am editing a nonfiction trade book for an author who wants to use endnotes that begin with specific words in the text but that have no note numbers in the text. We are in rather strong disagreement about this. First, what do you call this style? Second, is this the new standard in trade publishing?