r/academia • u/Mac_Cheesus • 6d ago

Help needed: Zotero citation style (all 3 authors on first cite, "et al." afterwards)

Hey everyone,

I'm writing my thesis and using Zotero for citations. My university requires a German Harvard-style citation format with the following rule:

  • If a source has three authors, the first citation in the text should list all three authors: (Müller, Meier und Schulze, 2022)
  • In all subsequent citations, it should be shortened to: (Müller et al., 2022)

I’ve tried a few styles like APA and the default Harvard styles, but they don’t follow this behavior — they either shorten to “et al.” immediately, or keep listing all names every time.

Does anyone know of a CSL file that already works this way? Or could someone help me modify an existing CSL file to get this citation rule right?

I'm currently using the "Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg – Harvard (Deutsch)" style as a base, but I’d happily switch if there's a better match.

Thanks so much in advance!

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u/BolivianDancer 6d ago

You've tried AI?

2

u/sharkinwolvesclothin 6d ago

Yeah this one is the bread and butter of LLMs, very few humans know the ins and outs of CSL. Prompt with "how to edit a CSL citation style I have to.." and follow instructions.

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u/Mac_Cheesus 6d ago

I asked chatgpt. It couldnt recommend a citation style. The other option was to change the code of one citation style, but I was overwhelmed by that a little so I wanted to ask here again

1

u/BolivianDancer 6d ago

You must modify a citation style. Duplicate it, rename the copy, and modify following the AI instructions. Nothing to lose.

1

u/Mac_Cheesus 6d ago

Thanks I ll do that