TOPIC 7

CITATION & DOCUMENTING INFORMATION SOURCES

According to Wikipedia (2013), a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression (e.g. [Newell84]) embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of discussion at the spot where the citation appears.

When we are using someone’s information, we have to cite the information taken, if failure to do so, it will cause plagiarism or also can be considered as stealing someone’s information. There are a few styles that have been introduced to cite information; the common well-known style is APA style. So, what is APA stands for? It stands for American Psychological Association (APA), was established in 1928 by Social Science professionals to provide guidelines for publication in Social Science Journals such as Psychology, Sociology, Education, and Nursing. There are rules that we have to follow in order to cite the information which are for authors, titles, and documentation. In order to cite the information, we have to follow the format of each of the categories such as, books, edited books, journal articles, article from internet, chapter from books, translation books, magazine articles, and many more.

Refers to the References list at the end of the paper

þ The List

ü is labeled References (centered, no font changes)

ü starts at the top of a new page

ü continues page numbering from the last page of text

ü is alphabetical

ü is single spaced

ü Uses a hanging indent (1/2 inch – can be formatted from the Paragraph dialog box in MS Word)

þ Reference contains the following components:

ü - author names or names

ü -publication date

ü -title of the work

ü Publication data

          Sawyer, C., McCarty, P., & Parkin, G. F. (1994). Chemistry for environmental engineering. (4th ed.).  New York : McGraw-Hill.

Documenting Authors (Books)

v One Author:  Koch Jr., R. T. (2004).

format: Author. (Year). Title of Book. Place of Publication : Publisher.

v Two Authors: Stewart, T., & Biffle, G. (1999).

Format: List all the authors. Use ampersand (&) before the last author.(Year). Title of the book. Place of Publication : Publisher.

v Three to Six Authors: Wells, H. G., Lovecraft, H. P., Potter, H. J., Rowling, J. K., & Kirk, J. T. (2005).

Format: List all the authors. Use ampersand (&) before the last author.   (Year).Title of the book. Place of Publication : Publisher. 

v More than Six Authors:  Smith, M., Flanagan, F., Judd, A., Burstyn, E., Bullock, S., Knight, S., et al. (2002).

Format: First author until sixth author, et al. 

(Year). Title. Place of publication : Publisher.