Know Citation Elements
A citation is a standard format for describing a publication or any other source of information.
The main parts of a citation for published materials--whether published
on paper or electronically-- are [1] the name(s) of the author(s), editor(s),
or creator(s) [2] the title of the publication, and [3] the publication
data. Citations to Web sites include the same elements if available, using
the URL and the date of access as part of the publication data. Citations
to other kinds of sources are based on the same pattern as much as possible
while identifying the medium as accurately as possible. The elements that
make a citation can be ordered in different ways, but they must be presented
so that anyone can distinctly identify them. The bottom line is that a
citation should point to the source of information. The one who creates
the citation should include all the elements that are necessary to help
others find the source. In turn, those who read the citation should understand
what the creator is saying.
Various academic disciplines publish style
manuals to guide authors and scholars in writing citations.The professor
who is requiring you to write a research paper probably requires that you
use a certain style manual. Being information literate includes the ability
to read and write citations accurately, and the only way to learn is by
reading and writing citations often. At first you may have to laboriously
follow a style manual, but eventually you will come to think of publications
in terms of their citations. At that point, you will have to use a style
manual only for citing less common types of sources. If you don’t know
which style manual to use, ask your professor. If you don’t have an appropriate
style manual, you can use one at the library. Copies of the most frequently
used style manuals at the university are kept at the Reference Desk in McWherter Library.
Understand Basic Citation
Formats
Two kinds of library
materials you will use most often in your research are books and periodicals
(magazines, journals and newspapers), so those are the sources you must
recognize in citations. Not only do you have to be able to distinguish
between a book and a periodical in the research process, but you have to
be able to cite them properly yourself when you use them in your research
paper. One distinctive clue is that the title of an article in a periodical
is enclosed in quotation marks, though you cannot judge by this fact alone
since titles of essays and other parts of books are enclosed in quotation
marks also. The easiest way to distinguish between a citation to a book
and a citation to an article in a periodical is to look at the publication data. A book citation includes the place of publication, the
name of the publisher, and the year of publication. A citation to an article
in a periodical does not contain the name and location of the publisher;
instead it has the name of the periodical, a volume number, sometimes an
issue number, and a date that often includes a particular month or season.
Examine the two citations which are shown below in the MLA format (the
style manual of the Modern Language Association). What differences do you
see in the kind of information given?
Book citation:
Goldstein, Arnold P. Delinquent Gangs: a Psychological
Perspective. Champaign, Ill.: Research Press, 1991.
Periodical citation:
Lyon, Jean-Marie, Scott Henggele, and James A.
Hall. “The Family Relations, Peer Relations, and Criminal Activities of
Caucasian and Hispanic-American Gang Members.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology
20 (1992): 439-449. |
If you see the basic difference between these
two citations, you have the basis for identifying variations. Citations to books include the name and location of the publisher. Periodical citations contain the title of the article followed by the name of the periodical, its volume and issue number and/or date, and page numbers.
The periodical
citation shown above is for an article in a journal, a scholarly periodical. Magazines and newspapers are also periodicals, though they are usually cited by date rather than by volume number. Otherwise, the format indicates that they are periodicals:
Magazine citation:
Oh, Susan. "Project Turnaround: An Ontario Program
Puts Young Offenders through Boot Camp," Maclean's, April 5, 1999,
p. 20.
Newspaper citation:
Vanzi, Max. "State Loses Momentum in Curbing
Delinquency." Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 1997, pA1. |
When only part
of a book is cited, the documentation may look
similar to an article in a periodical. If you see a publisher's name and location, though, you know that the "article" is in a book. In the example shown below, you will see that an "article" (essay, chapter) called "Crime and Responsibility," written by Henry Tam, is published in the book Introducing Applied Ethics, edited by Brenda Almond and published by Blackwell, located in Cambridge, in 1995. Tam's "article" is on pages 133-155.
Book chapter:
Tam, Henry. "Crime and Responsibility." Introducing
Applied Ethics. Ed. Brenda Almond. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995. pp.
133-155. |
Though there are differences in citation formats, you should see a pattern
of similarities than enable you to recognize the type of source being cited. With this
ability, you will then know what to look for and at least a clue as to
where you may be able to find the cited source. Even if you don't know
where to find the source, you can communicate your need for assistance
more effectively.
Identify Citations in
Databases
Citations in electronic
databases will have whatever format the index or database imposes. But
they will always contain the elements that make up a standard citation:
author, title, and publication data. If you recognize the basic differences
in the book and periodical citations, you can recognize the differences
when those identifying elements appear in database records.
| Social Justice, Winter 1997 v24 n4 p96(21)
Representations
of gangs and delinquency: wild in the streets? (Losing a Generation: Probing
the Myths & Reality of Youth and Violence) Paul A. Perrone; Meda Chesney-Lind. |
The citation shown above is part of a record retrieved from Expanded
Academic Index. You know that this is a citation to an article in
a periodical because Expanded Academic Index covers only periodicals. But
you can also tell that it is a periodical by looking at the citation: the
publication data include a volume and an issue number, a date that includes
a month/season and year, and a page number, which in this case is just
the beginning page number. (The number 21 refers to the number of
pages in the article.) Here is how the citation elements break down:
Authors: Paul A. Perrone and Meda Chesney-Lind
Title of article: Representations of gangs
and delinquency: wild in the streets?
Name of periodical: Social Justice
Date of periodical: Winter 1997; Volume
24, Issue number 4
Pagination: The article begins on page
96 and has 21 pages (pp: 96-117) |
Look at these records from another database (MLA International Bibliography) and see if you can
identify the citations. What kinds of sources are they? (After you look
at each one, click on the "Back" button to get back to this page.)
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Record A
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Record B
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Record C
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If you looked carefully at the records, you saw that there is a data
field called Pub Type that tells you what kind of publication is being
described. Record A cites an article in a journal, Record B cites a chapter
in a book, and Record C cites a dissertation, which is a paper written
by candidates for a doctoral degree. Not all of the resources you use to
find citations will identify the type of source being cited, so you should
be prepared to recognize the source type by reading the citation alone.
There are many kinds of information sources, but most of your citations
will probably be books and periodicals. You may see many different kinds
of sources cited, and you may have to cite them yourself. That is why you
need a good style manual. Many sources such as audio-visuals, government
publications, television newscasts and Web pages are easy to recognize
if they are cited correctly, but, unfortunately, sometimes they are not.
If you cannot recognize what the source is from the citation, check your
style manual or ask a librarian or someone else who may be able to help
identify the source. Before you start looking for the source, you have
to know what it is!
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