About Citing and Documenting Research

Accurately documenting sources used for research is an important part of the writing and research process. Documentation is important because:

• It is used to give credit for information originally written elsewhere.
• Documentation enables others to find the same information again.
• Failure to give credit for drawing on the work of others constitutes plagiarism.

All documentation (bibliographies, endnotes, citations, references, lists of works cited, etc.) should be done according to the style appropriate for the audience that will be reading or reviewing the writing.  Ask each of your teachers or mentors which style they want you to use.  The library subscribes to many different documentation style manuals including:

• APA (American Psychological Association):  for social sciences
• MLA (Modern Language Association):  for literature, arts, and humanities
• Chicago/Turabian:  for all subjects
• CSE (Council of Science Editors):  for physical and life sciences

Select examples appear below. For any source, electronic or print, there isn't always a perfect example. If appropriate examples do not exist, consult the official style manual or an authoritative website and adapt the closest example found. It may be necessary to take parts of separate examples and make a "hybrid" citation. When in doubt, it is better to include more information than less. Ask for help at the Reference Desk at any time.

Citation Examples

APA Style 

 

(A new edition of style changes is forthcoming)
 

Note: Double-space entries in the list of references, indent second and additional lines

Book (with two authors and edition):

Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational

behavior (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Scholarly journal article:
White, E. C. (1992). Sound bite news. Journal of Communication, 42, 5-18.


Popular magazine article:
Hirsch, M., Brant, M., Lipper, T., & Hosenball, M. (2002, August 2). Hawks, doves, and dubya.

Newsweek, 140, 24.

Journal article (retrieved from an electronic database):
Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993).

          
Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology,

          78, 443-449.  Retrieved October 23, 2005, from PsycINFO database.     
          

Journal article (on the Internet)
Denning, W. M. (1997). Business curricula for the new university. Educom Review, 31.

Retrieved May 23, 2001, from http://educom.edu/web/pubs/review

Website:
Canarie, Inc. (1997, September 27). Towards a Canadian health Iway: Vision, opportunities and
         
          future steps. Retrieved November 8, 2005, from
         

          http://www.canarie.ca/funding/ehealth/publications/healthvision.pdf

NOTE: If using APA format, use (n.d). when a publication date is not available for a web site.

MLA Style

 

(A new edition of style changes if forthcoming)

Note: Double-space entries in the list of references, indent second and additional lines one half inch

Book (with two authors):
Howe, Russell W., and Sarah Hays Trott. The Power Peddlers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.

 

Scholarly journal article:
Bharati, Sarah. "Pilgrimage in the Indian Tradition." History of Religions 3.2 (1982): 135-67.
         

Popular magazine article:
Bender, William H. "How Much Food Will We Need in the Twenty-First Century?" Environment
         

Nov. 1997: 6-11.

Popular article (from an online database offered through a university, with only first page number given):

Fox, Justin. "Who Wants to be an Internet Billionaire?" Fortune 8 Nov. 1999: 40- . Business Source Premier. 
          

EBSCO. Weber State U, Stewart Lib., Ogden, UT. 15 Aug. 2005 <http:www.epnet.com>.

Note: MLA Handbook, 6th ed. indicates that including the URL for a subscription database is optional

Internet site:

Liu, Alan. The Voice of the Shuttle. 30 Oct. 1999. U. of California, Irvine. 6 Jul. 2001

<http://vox.uci.edu/shuttle.html>.

Chicago/Turabian Style

 

Note: Single space each entry in the list of references with one blank line between entries.  First line of each entry is flush left and any runover lines indented five spaces.

Book (with two authors):
Lynd, Robert, and Helen Brown. Middletown: A Study in American Culture. New York: Harcourt, 1929.
         

Scholarly journal article:
Jackson, Richard. "Running Down the Up-escalator: Regional Inequality in Papua New Guinea."

        Australian Geographer 14 (May 1979): 180.

Popular magazine article:

Armstrong, Larry. "The Learning Revolution: Technology Is Reshaping Education."    Business Week,

       28 February 1994, 80-88.

Journal article (on the Internet):
Browning, Tonya. "Embedded Visuals: Student Design in Web Spaces." Kairos: A Journal for Teachers
        of Writing in Webbed Environments 3, no. 1 (1997); available from http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/
        2.1/features/browning/index.html; Internet; accessed 21 August 2005.

 

Website:
National Consumers League. Helping Seniors Targeted for Telemarketing Fraud. 1997; available from
        http://www. fraud.org/elderfraud/helpsen.htm; Internet; accessed 2 February 2001.

CSE Style

Note: Single space within each entry in the list of references and separate entries with a blank line.

 

 

Book (with more than one editor):
Leeper FJ, Vederas JC, editors. Biosynthesis: polyketides and vitamins. New York (NY):
Springer; c2000.

Scholarly journal article:
Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. A practical guide to exercise training for heart failure patients.
J Card Fail. 2003;9(1):49-58.

Journal article (on the Internet):
Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, Hunjan R, Brown D. Mumps outbreaks across
England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ [Internet]. 2005 [cited 2005 May 31];
330(7500):1119-1120. Available from: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119 

 

Website:
Lawrence RA.  A review of the medical benefits and contraindications to breastfeeding in the
United States [Internet]. Arlington (VA): National Center for Education in Maternal and Child
Health (US); 1997 [cited 2005 Jun 28].  40 p. Available from: http://www.ncemch.org/pubs/
PDFs/breastfeedingTIB.pdf

Internet Resources

APA Citation Style   (http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/apa.html)

APA Online  (www.apastyle.org)

APA Style Resources  (www.psywww.com/resource/apacrib.html)

APA - U of Maryland  (www.umuc.edu/library/guides/apa.shtml)

Citing Government Information  (http://library.weber.edu/ref/government/citinggovinfo.cfm)

Colorado State Writing Lab  A good starting place.   (http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/index.cfm)

Concordia University Libraries Guides  (library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html)

MLA Citation Style  (http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/mla.html)

MLA - U of Maryland  (www.umuc.edu/library/guides/mla.shtml)

Turabian Citation Guide  (http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/turabian.pdf)

Turnitin.com   The Research Resources here are valuable guides on plagiarism, how to cite, when to cite, etc. Highly recommended

 

Printed Style Manuals

(located on reference table 2B in Stewart Library)

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed.  Washington: APA, 2001.

Council of Science Editors. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. 7th ed. Reston, VA: The Council, 2006.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed.  New York: MLA, 2003.

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th
ed. Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 1996.

    Please see the above print and online resources for
           more detailed information and examples