Q. I’ve been asked to change the author-date style used in a list of works cited to the author-title humanities style. But some of the authors have multiple works, some with the same year of publication. In the author-date style, it was written 1949a, 1949b, and so on, and cited in the text as (author 1949b). When I move the date to follow the publisher’s name, how do I handle that? Can I write “City: Publisher, 1949(b)”? Some of those entries refer to journals, which would mean “Journal Name 2 (1949b): 3–7.” Which looks silly. Please help me out of this awkward spot!
A. The request to put the list of works cited in humanities style while leaving the text citations as author-date is unreasoned and unworkable, as you’ve figured out for yourself. The styles should be the same. If you must change the list of works cited, then you must also change the text citations. I’m sorry not to be more helpful—unless perhaps this advice from Chicago will help you make a case for leaving things as they are.