Citing

Citing Print and Electronic Sources

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
CBE (Council of Biology Editors): for natural 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 Web site 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

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, 2002,
from PsycINFO database.
Web site:
Canarie, Inc. (1997, September 27). Towards a Canadian health IWAY: Vision,
opportunities and future steps. Retrieved November 8, 2000, from
http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/pdf/health/healthvision.doc

NOTE: Use (n.d). when a publication date is not available for a web site
MLA STYLE: 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. 2001 <http:www.epnet.com>. Note: MLA Handbook, 6th ed. indicates that including the URL for the database is optional

Internet site:: <http://vox.uci.edu/shuttle.html>.
CHICAGO / TURABIAN STYLE
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:
Business Week, 28 February 1994, 80-88.
Journal article (found 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 2001.
Web site:
National Consumer's League. Helping Seniors Targeted for Telemarketing Fraud.
1997; available from http://www. fraud.org/elderfraud/helpsen.htm; Internet,
accessed 2 February 2001.
CBE STYLE
Note: CBE style does not specify the use of italics or underlining, leaving this to the discretion of the writer. If highlighting is desired, the writer is advised to use italics, not underlining. The following examples use the name-year system of CBE.

Book (with more than one editor):
Weiss R, Teich N, Varmus HE, Coffin J, editors. 1985. RNA tumor viruses. Cold

Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Scholarly journal article:
Stehelin D, Varmus HE, Bishop JM, Vogt PK. 1976. DNA related to the
transforming gene(s) of avian sarcoma viruses is present in normal avian DNA. Nature 260(2): 170-73.

Journal article (found on the Web):
Glockle WG, Zhao W. 1995 Oct. Expression of junoncogene in rodent and

human breast tumors. Biophysical J Abstr 1(3).
<www.biophysj.org/cgi/content/abstract/1/3>. Accessed 1996 23 Oct.
Web site:
California Institute of Technology. 2001. Davidson Lab home page.
<http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mirsky>. Accessed 2002 12 Aug.
: APA Citation Style - Cornell University
(http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/apa.html)

APA Online (www.apastyle.org)

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

Citation Styles - CBE (www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite8.html)
: Citing Government Information (http://library.weber.edu/ref/government/citinggovinfo.cfm)
: Citing Government Information Using MLA

(http://www.library.unr.edu/depts/bgic/guides/government/cite.html)
Citing Sources Covers APA and MLA (http://www.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing)

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)

Sources Covers APA and MLA (www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/contents.html)

Turabian Citation Guide (http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/turabiangd.html)

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Citing

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