Q. Hello. How do you document pseudonyms which appear in online discussion groups? In these situations, you only have the nickname or pseudonym as a reference (e.g., “Shelly,” “Peaches”), and no proper name to link it to. Is it sufficient to put the nickname or pseudonym in inverted commas in the body of the work, and in the endnote too?
A. Yes, that’s a good way to do it. After using quotation marks at the first mention of a nickname in the text, you can drop the quotation marks for subsequent mentions. In the notes, however, use the quotation marks for every citation.