Rules for Working with Style Templates
There are four basic rules of dependence that govern how text, spaces, and field names influence each other when they are used in a style template. If necessary, these rules can be circumvented in specific situations using the special formatting characters described in the next section of this chapter.
Note: The middle dot (·) character indicates a space in examples.
Rule #1: Basic Dependence
Any text or punctuation that is not separated from a field by an ordinary space is dependent on the adjacent field.
In this context, "dependent" means that the text or punctuation adjacent to a field only appears in your bibliography if the adjacent field contains data. For example, in this excerpt:
Volume·(Issue)
the parentheses around "Issue" only appear in a formatted reference if there is an issue number for the reference.
Rule #2: The Preceding Field Takes Precedence over the Following Field
When punctuation appears between two fields with no intervening spaces, it is dependent on the preceding field.
In this example:
Volume:Issue
the colon is dependent on the Volume field. This means if there is no volume in the reference, the colon will not appear. If there is a volume, the colon will appear.
Note: This example shows a case where the rules of dependence might not do what you want. For example, you might want to have the colon only show when there is an issue. This can be done using the Forced Separation character. See Special Formatting Characters.
Rule #3: The First Space after a Field Is Dependent on That Field; Additional Spaces Are Independent
The first ordinary space following a field is always dependent on that field. Any consecutive spaces after that are independent and will always appear in the formatted references.
For example, if EndNote formats an anonymous book using a template that has the Author field followed by a space and the Title field:
Author.·Title
the title will not be preceded by a space in the final formatted reference because the space, just like the period, is dependent on the Author field. However, if the style includes two spaces between the Author and the Title:
Author.··Title
the title will be preceded by one space for all anonymous references. The first space, being dependent on the Author field, disappears when there is no author, however the second space is independent, so it remains in the formatted reference.
Independent spaces can be forced to be dependent on an adjacent field using the special formatting characters.
Rule #4: Independent Text Always Appears in the Bibliography
Any text or punctuation that is not dependent on a field name always appears in the formatted references. For example, if:
Edition·ed.
is entered into a style’s Book template using only an ordinary space to separate the text "ed." and the field "Edition" the text "ed." will appear in all Book references—regardless of whether or not there is an edition for that reference.
Note: The nonbreaking space can be used in place of a regular space to link independent text to a field. See Special Formatting Characters.