Groff: How do you create bibliographies in APA?

bubnoff · 08-29-2009, 05:21 PM

I am using the following command to create the document:

Code:

 refer -p final_ref.cit group6_final.roff | groff -ms -f T > group6_final.ps

As you may have surmised, this is indeed homework, however, the question is not related to the homework whatsoever. The paper is for a course in Library Science. So I didn't follow the homework protocol. I just prefer
groff to OpenOffice and Co..

Here's the pertinent document source:

Code:

.R1
bibliography final_ref.cit
.R2

Here is a sample from the bib file.

Code:

 %A T. T. Baldwin
 %A W. H. Bommer
 %A R. S. Rubin
 %D 2007
 %T Developing Management Skills: What Great Managers Know and Do.
 %C New York
 %I McGraw Hill
  
 %A Ng, P.T.
 %D 2004
 %T The Learning Organisation and the Innovation Organisation
 %J Human Systems Management
 %V 23
 %N 2
 %P 93-100.

And finally, this is the final product/output:

Code:

References
1.   T. T. Baldwin, W. H. Bommer, and R. S. Rubin, Developing Management Skills:
     What Great Managers Know and Do., McGraw Hill, New York (2007).
2.   Ng, P.T., “The Learning Organisation and the Innovation Organisation,” Human
     Systems Management, 23, 2, pp. 93-100. (2004).
3.   Hallowell R., Knoop, C., and Siong, N. B., “Transforming Singapore’s Public
     Libraries,” Harvard Business School Case Study., President and Fellows of Harvard
     College., Boston (2001).

Some formatting lost due to code tags, but you get the idea. It's a beautiful groff document ...
just need to jump through that last APA hoop.

This is not an APA style bib. The prof requires APA. Date should follow author in parentheses.

This is a boring question so thanks for reading.

Bub

bubnoff · 08-30-2009, 04:27 PM

I switched to LaTeX for this one since the natbib package
has a APA style you can use. I prefer the terse-ness of groff,
however, so for future reference it'd be cool if someone left some tips, in passing, if you feel generous.

Here's my tip for folks needing APA and either prefer LaTeX, or don't mind learning something new.

Step 1: Create your bib database: similar to groff:
Mine is called grouprefs.bib.

Code:

@book{Baldwin04,
        author  =       {Timothy T. Balwin and William H. Bommer and Robert S. Rubin},
        title   =       {Developing Management Skills: What Great Managers Know and Do},
        publisher =     {McGraw Hill},
        address =       {New York},
        year    =       {2007}
}

@article{Ng04,
        author  =       "P.T. Ng",
        title   =       "{T}he {L}earning {O}rganization and the {I}nnovation {O}rganization",
        year    =       "2004",
        journal =       "{H}uman {S}ystems {M}anagement",
        volume  =       "23",
        number  =       "2",
        pages   =       "93--100"
}

Step 2: An example of APA citation markup (LaTeX)

Code:

``It will be hard to get an employee to go the extra mile in customer service when she feels underpaid and is
 struggling to meet her own family needs'' \citep[p.131]{Baldwin04}.

Step 3: Toss in that bibliography: Use the 'apalike' style
to get APA.

Code:

 \bibliographystyle{apalike}
 \bibliography{grouprefs}

Step 4: Note that my reference database file is named in
brackets in the `bibliography' command. Leave off the extension ...BibTeX will find it.

Step 5: Time to compile this bad boy:
First run with LaTeX or PDFLaTeX ...etc.

Code:

latex group6-INFO640-Singapore-v2.tex

Note: You'll get a bunch o' errors on this run but fear not, they will be resolved in good time.

Step 6: Run bibtex on your tex file, but LEAVE OFF the extension ( .tex ). Bibtex is smart.

Code:

 bibtex group6-INFO640-Singapore-v2

Step 7: Run the LaTeX command two more times to get the citations and bibliography included.

END. You now have an APA compliant paper in LaTeX.

None of this will improve your crappy inept writing, but at least your paper's formatting will have a bit more charisma and charm.

If you know groff, please leave links, threads or tips for getting APA style. I have some of the online tutorials and
documents but don't find style info.

PS: All LaTeX information came from the following document:

Text Formatting with LaTeX ~ A Tutorial.
put out
by
Academic and Research Computing 2007.

You should be able to Google it.

Thanks for reading!

Bub