Leaving a Trail: Citations & Citing
Most students are familiar with the need to cite their sources, but often are frustrated with the rules viewed as painstaking and tedious. However, citing sources of information is an important part of research for several reasons. First, it is important to give credit to the originator of an idea, and provide the reader enough information to locate the original publication, and possibly the person responsible for creating the idea. Also, by citing the originator of the idea, students and other researchers avoid the disreputable consequences of plagiarism. Plagiarism is the intentional or accidental uncredited use of source material created by others. At most institutions plagiarism is a severe offense, punished by failing the assignment, the course, or expulsion from the institution. In many cases, a degree that was granted is revoked from the graduate with dire professional results. Although the consequences for plagiarism are serious, the main focus should be on providing information for future researchers on the same topic to locate sources cited.
The first issue to resolve is what format or style manual to use. The citation style used reflects the professional standards and practices for publishing, not the preference of the student. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is usually used in education, psychology and many health sciences. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is used in most of the arts and humanities. APA and MLA are the two most prominent formats used at the college level and professional journals. However, other styles are frequently used in other disciplines, such as the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) used in history, political science, sociology, and Council of Scientific Editors (CSE) frequently used in advanced sciences, such as chemistry, physics and biology.
The writing style varies by discipline as well as the format of citations and in-text citing. For example, APA style avoids informal writing, in preference for more objective style. The scientific process for the author’s research is explained thoroughly in a style that another researcher could duplicate using similar methods. In contrast, MLA style highlights the creative insight an author provides of creative arts, such as theatrical or musical performance, literary work or similar original work. As such, the edition or specific performance the author is citing is an important element of the citation.
Chicago Manual of Style was developed by the Chicago Tribune and is commonly used in the social sciences, especially political science, history, sociology, and the journalism profession. Although most newspapers do not include footnotes and citations in their articles, the CMS is the preferred style for professional publications in those fields of study.
Each style determines the citation format for each type of source, such as articles, books, government documents, pamphlets, websites, etc. No label is included in the citation to distinguish a website from a book, but the reader should be able to interpret the type of source from the format of the citation. For example, all styles require similar elements for citing a book, such as author, title of book, publisher, place of publication, and year. If researchers only use one chapter of a book, then the title of the chapter and page numbers are included. Citing an article from a magazine is different than citing a journal article, as distinguished by the style of date and page numbers. Including the URL denotes the source as a website, although many publications are available as Internet sources and print publications. Careful attention to the citation elements is important to future researchers to be able to locate the sources cited.
In-Text Citations
After deciding what material to use in research, the mechanics of citing the material properly requires careful attention. Some formats use footnotes, which provide a superscript1 number that refers the reader to explanatory notes or source information. Other formats use in-text citations, using a parenthetical phrase to provide source information for the original idea. More about these citation formats is in the section for each format or style in Part V.
