Understanding and Locating Citations

Library Resources 101

Questions

What is a citation?

Why do we cite?

In Your Own Words

“process of documenting where you found a piece of information”

“act of giving credit to a source that you may have used to obtain material for your work”

“where it is from” “where the source came from”

Concise Dictionary of Library and Information Science (1996)

Citation:Reference to a document or part of a document from which a passage is quoted, or to a source regarded as an authority for a statement or proposition.

Popular Citation Styles APA

From American Psychological Association Used mostly for Social Sciences

MLA From Modern Language Association Used mostly for the Humanities

Other Chicago Turabian ……

Basic Elements of a Citation

(1) Einstein, M. (2004). Media diversity:

Economic, ownership, and the FCC. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

BOOK: Author(s) Year of publication Title of the book Location and name of the publisher

In Different Styles

APA Style

Einstein, M. (2004). Media diversity: Economic, ownership, and the FCC. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

MLA Style

Einstein, Mara. Media Diversity: Economic, Ownership, and the FCC. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004. Print.

Basic Elements of a Citation

(2)Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive

mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory & consciousness (pp. 309-330). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

CHAPTER from EDITED BOOK: Author(s) of the chapter Year of publication Title of the chapter Editor(s) of the book Title of the book

Page numbers of the chapter in the book Location and name of the publisher

Basic Elements of a Citation

(3)

Albada, K. F. (2000). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television. Journal of Communication, 50, 79-110.

ARTICLE: Author(s) of the article year (and sometimes date) of publication Title of the article Title of the journal/magazine/newspaper

Volume number (Issue number) Page numbers

In Different Styles

APA Style

Albada, K. F. (2000). The public and private dialogue about the American family on television. Journal of Communication, 50, 79-110.

MLA Style

Albada, K. F. “The Public and Private Dialogue about the American Family on Television.” Journal of Communication 50 (2000): 79-110. Print.

APA Style

See http://library.uwsp.edu/Guides/VRD/APA_2010[1].pdf for common examples.

Consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Ref BF76.7.P83 2010) for more information

MLA Style See

http://library.uwsp.edu/Guides/VRD/MLA_2009[1].pdf for common examples

Consult MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Ref PE1478.M57 2009) for more information

Now, Books or Articles? That is the question…

Book citations always have information on publishers:

Einstein, M. (2004). Media diversity: Economic, ownership, and the FCC. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory & consciousness (pp. 309-330).

Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Article citations always have numbers (volume & pages) but no information on publishers:

Albada, K. F. (2000). Public and private dialogue about the American family on television. Journal of Communication, 50, 79-110.

How to find them? Books, book chapters, theses,

government publications… Look up (book) title in the Library Catalog (“Find books,

videos & more…”) Find the book by call number If necessary, use Universal Borrowing (UB) and then

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Articles Look up journal title in Journal titles A-Z Go to the right volume and pages in that journal (could be

a hard copy; could be online) If necessary, use Interlibrary Loan (ILL)