Citation formatting

Citation Formatting

Purpose

Generate formatted citations and bibliographies from ike corpus documents using MCP tools. Produce academically correct inline markers, footnotes or author-date references, and a final bibliography or reference list — distinguishing verified corpus citations from manually supplied ones.

Supported Citation Styles

Format	Key	Inline Style	End Matter
Chicago Notes & Bibliography	chicago (default)	[^N] footnotes	Bibliography: Primary / Secondary Sources
Chicago Author-Date	chicago-author-date	(Author Year, page)	References (flat alphabetical)
Taylor & Francis Harvard	tf-harvard	(Surname, Year, p. #)	References (flat alphabetical)
MHRA Footnotes	mhra	[^N] footnotes (with p./pp.)	Bibliography (flat, no split)

When no style is specified, use chicago.

Process

Execute the following steps in order for every citation request.

Step 1 — Corpus instructions

Call get_server_instructions before doing anything else. The server may return corpus-specific citation guidance (preferred style, house rules, custom field mappings) that overrides the defaults below. Apply that guidance for the rest of the session.

Step 2 — Retrieve metadata for each document

For each document to cite, call get_document_metadata(short_id). Capture at minimum:

• title
• authors (list of names)
• publication_year
• document_type (book, journal article, book chapter, edited volume, etc.)
• publisher, place_of_publication, journal_name, volume, issue, pages where present
• doi or url if available

If a required field is absent from metadata, note it as [missing] in the citation and flag it to the user.

Step 3 — Apply style rules

Format the inline marker and footnote/reference entry according to the chosen style and the document type. Full templates are in the per-format reference files (references/chicago.md, references/tf-harvard.md, references/mhra.md, references/chicago-author-date.md). Shared rules are in references/style-guides.md. Key points:

• Chicago / MHRA footnote styles: number markers sequentially through the whole document. Never use "Ibid." — always use the shortened form on repeat references.
• Author-date styles (tf-harvard, chicago-author-date): no shortened form; repeat the standard inline pattern throughout.
• Page numbers in inline markers come from the user's quotation context, not metadata.

Step 4 — Get viewer links for corpus documents

For every verified corpus document, call get_citation_link(short_id) to obtain the viewer URL. Append [View](<viewer_url>) to the bibliography entry for that document.

Step 5 — Present the formatted output

Output the inline text with markers in place, followed by the formatted end matter:

1. Verified (corpus) sources — cited via MCP tools; viewer link included.
2. Unverified (manual) sources — user-supplied bibliographic details; formatted consistently with the chosen style but without a viewer link; labelled [unverified] in the end matter.

For chicago, split the bibliography into Primary Sources (corpus documents) and Secondary Sources (everything else). All other styles use a flat alphabetical list.

Verified vs Unverified Distinction

Verified means: the document exists in the corpus, its metadata was retrieved via get_document_metadata, and a viewer link was obtained via get_citation_link. Text and page numbers used in the citation come from content retrieved through MCP tools or supplied by the user from those documents.

Unverified means: the user provided author, title, and publication details manually. Format these entries identically to verified ones, but append [unverified] after the entry and omit the viewer link.

Key Rules (Summary)

• No "Ibid." in any format. Footnote formats use shortened form; author-date formats repeat the standard inline pattern.
• Chicago splits bibliography into Primary / Secondary Sources; all other formats use a flat alphabetical list.
• Footnote numbers are sequential across the entire document — do not restart per section.
• Author-date formats do not use a shortened inline form; the same (Author Year, page) pattern repeats every time.
• Page ranges use an en-dash (–), not a hyphen (-).
• When a document has 4 or more authors, use the first author's name followed by "et al." (Chicago/Chicago-AD) or "and others" (MHRA).
• Always prefer DOI over other URLs when both are available.

Choosing a Style

When the user does not specify a style, ask if they have a preference before defaulting to chicago. Suggest:

• chicago — humanities monographs, archival work, history
• chicago-author-date — social sciences
• tf-harvard — Taylor & Francis journal submissions
• mhra — modern languages, literary criticism (UK)

Detailed Reference

Per-format templates are in references/chicago.md, references/tf-harvard.md, references/mhra.md, and references/chicago-author-date.md. Shared rules (edge cases, viewer links, verified vs unverified) are in references/style-guides.md. Consult the relevant format file when constructing any citation not covered by the summary above.