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If you have a long paragraph of citations from the same database, what can be eliminated from the subsequent notes? I am trying to shorten some notes to fit a defined space. Insofar, I have already eliminated repetition of the link to the database, but can I safely eliminate items such as the descriptive "database with images"?
mbcross, shortened citations…
mbcross, following the principle that online materials are cited the same way that print materials are cited (EE4 §2.33), then we can say that shortened citations to online databases follow the same pattern as shortened citations to articles in a journal or individually-authored chapters in a book:
Creator/Author If Needed, "Title of Database/Article/Chapter," descriptor if needed, Creator/Editor of website, journal, or book If Needed, Title of Website, Journal, or Book, descriptor if needed, Specific Item.
A citation to a self-named site such as Ancestry or FamilySearch does not need to cite the Creator, and databases at these sites rarely have an author. Therefore, the specific pattern for shortened citations to databases usually would be
"Title of Database/Article/Chapter," database with (or without) images, Title of Website, Specific Item (which often includes a path and waypoints, as well as image number).
However, this shortened format cannot be used if you choose to create a multi-layered citation that features an imaged document in the first layer of the citation, while relegating the website and its database to the second layer. That's a much more complicated situation that depends upon the nature of the record and how effectively its citation could be shortened, as well as the structure of the website and/or database and whether you are citing specific ARKs, PALs, or URLs for the image.