Questions and Answers
Each quarter in the National Parliamentarian, the National Association of Parliamentarians presents an analysis of real-world situations to enhance members' understanding of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary principles.
A selected set of popular questions and answers from past issues are available on the NAP website for review. The featured questions change each month.
Question 11: Parliamentary Citations (2Q 2004) As a parliamentarian, I see references to the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order cited as Robert’s, RRO, RONR, RONR (10th Edition), or RONR (10th ed.), sometimes with page numbers, section numbers, and/or line numbers. Which is correct? Answer: So long as a citation is consistent and allows a reader to find the reference cited, there is no “incorrect” citation. However, a preferred method would be to use the citation demonstrated on the page opposite the title page of RONR. “CITE THIS BOOK with page and line numbers as in the following example: RONR (10th ed.), p. 350, l. 16–17.”
For those interested in parliamentary history, the use of RONR as a citation can be traced to Henry Martin Robert. Robert abbreviated his first work R.O. (for Rules of Order) and his 1915 edition R.O.R. (for Rules of Order Revised). The current practice is to abbreviate (without the periods) as RONR (for Rules of Order Newly Revised).
Additional questions and answers are available to members of NAP. If you are a member, login now!
|