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Information Literacy Modules: Citation Elements

Documentation

What Is Documentation?

Documentation is the process of providing formally organized information on sources used in academic writing. There are many different styles that can be used to create consistent citations. Some of the more commonly used styles in colleges and universities are: APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), CMS (Chicago Manual of Style), Turabian (a simpler form of CMS intended for student use), AMA (American Medical Association), and CSE (Council of Science Editors). Of these, APA, MLA, and CMS are the most frequently utilized at this college. This is not necessarily the case at other colleges or universities.

Sometimes students will be provided with what is known as a style sheet. Colleges, universities, or a department within a college or university, may provide style sheets to be used for consistent documentation in place of the previously mentioned publications. 

Students will many times wind up being asked to use different styles in separate classes. The various disciplines tend to favor one style or another, so depending on the class taken, the style used may change. This can be confusing without consulting the printed style manual, or style sheet, and following the format consistently. To find the correct style for a given class, follow the instructor’s instructions. If asked to use a style sheet (even if it is based on MLA or APA), only use the style sheet. If instructed to use the style manual for a specific group, use either the style manual itself, a textbook that supplies the style (e.g. The Bedford Handbook, Everyone’s an Author, etc.), or handouts produced by your institution’s Library. The Library communicates with the faculty in the various departments to make sure the students have access to the correct styles. The problem with searching Google for examples on various styles is: depending on where the examples are coming from, there could be institutional specific differences. One website that provides good, consistent style information is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

Two quick notes on consistency. There are times when a student may encounter a source that is not covered in the required style. When this happens, there are two possible ways to format the source. Create a citation that follows the rules of the given style, or consult an outside source that specializes in the type of source in question. For example, government publications. Ask the instructor of the course which approach to take. Second, if no style is specified by your instructor, pick one and follow a single source's information on that style (e.g. Bedford Handbook, MLA Handbook, Chicago Manual of Style).

Regardless of the style used in a class, there are certain elements in the sources being documented that are included in the citations. Below are examples of commonly used elements in citations and how to determine the type of source by examining the citations.

Citation Elements - Author

Documentation. Citation Element: Author.

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Citation Element: Author. Regardless of documentation style, one of the most central elements is the author. Giving credit to an author’s work is one of the principle reasons documentation is important. Each style has different ways of handling the author element, but it is normally the main entry (i.e. first entry) in a citation.

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Citation Element: Author of Book. This is a title page from a book. The author’s name is, in this case, located on the middle of the page. When citing from this document, Heath Massey is being credited for his work. In a citation, his name is given as the first element. It would look like this in several styles: APA. Massey, H. MLA. Massey, Heath. CMS. Heath Massey, (in foot/end note). Massey, Heath, (in bibliography). View of the title page from a book. The author's name, Heath Massey, is indicated.

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Citation Element: Author of Periodical Article. This is the first page from a journal article. The authors’ names are listed under the title. When citing from this document, all eight people need to be considered for their work. In a citation, these names are given as the first element. It would look like this in several styles: APA. Schmitt, C. E., Morales, B. M., Schmitz, E. M. H., Hawkins, J. S., Lizama, C. O., Zape, J. P., Hsiao, E. C., & Zovein, A. C. MLA. Schmitt, Christopher E., et al. CMS. Christopher E. Schmitt, et al. (in foot/end note). Schmitt, Christopher E., Blanca M. Morales, Ellen M. H. Schmitz, John S. Hawkins, Carlos O. Lizama, Joan P. Zape, Edward C. Hsiao, and Ann C. Zovein. (in bibliography). View of a journal article from a database. The author's list of names is indicated.

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Citation Element: Author of Chapter from a Book. In this example another title page from a book is shown. The name is accompanied by the term “Edited by.” When citing from this document, Michael Thompson is most likely not going to be the author. Each chapter will probably have different authors. It is the authors of the chapters that are being cited in the body of the document. There are times in a bibliography (an alphabetical listing of materials, for instance a further reading list) that an editor such as this would be placed in the author element, but only when no direct information is cited from the item. See the next slide for how to find the correct author information. View of a title page from a book. The editor, Michael J. Thompson, is indicated.

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Citation Element: Author of a Chapter, Example. These are the beginnings of chapters. As can be seen in the top example, the author of the chapter is listed, as well as the title of the chapter. This is the name that will be placed in the author element of the citation. The name will be handled as shown in previous examples. For comparison, below is another chapter from this book, with a different author. Each chapter used from a book like this will have a citation entry. This is because when documenting sources, it is the intellectual property that is being cited, not just the book. These chapters represent these authors’ ideas and work. It is important to always pay attention to how a work is organized and presented. View of the first page of a chapter. The name of the author, George E. McCarthy, is indicated. The title of the chapter is also visible. View of the first page of a different chapter from the same book. The author, Christoph Henning, is indicated. The title is also visible.

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Citation Element: Author of Newspaper Article. This is a view of a database result for a newspaper article. The author’s name is shown next to the Author/Byline heading. How this information is presented will vary by database. The format for the name follows the previous examples. View of a newspaper article in a database. The author's name, Paiching Wei, is indicated.

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Citation Elements - Title

Documentation Citation Element: Title

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Citation Element: Title. While the Author element provides credit to the person(s) who created the work being documented, the title element tells what was created. This is the next element that is used regardless of style. There are times when an author is not identified for a source. In these cases, many styles will place the title as the main entry for the citation in place of the author.

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Citation Element: Title of Book. In looking at this book example, the title is located at the top of the page. There is a title, and a subtitle. Both parts need to be included in a citation. Most citation styles require book, journal, magazine, newspaper, movie, etc. titles to be italicized. Underlining the title was the standard in the past, and may still be seen when looking at a source’s documentation. A book title is handled in various ways, see the following examples: APA. The origin of time: Heidegger and Bergson. MLA. The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson. CMS. The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson (in foot/end note). The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson. (in bibliography). View of title page from a book. The title and subtitle are indicated.

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Citation Element: Title of Periodical Article. This is the first page from a journal article. The title of the article is what follows the author element. The title of the Journal will be included, but since the article represents the authors’ work it comes first. Articles, short stories, poems, and other short works are not italicized. It would look like this in several styles: APA. Flourescent tagged episomals for stoichiometric induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming. MLA. “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming.” CMS. “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming,” (in foot/end note). “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming.” (in bibliography). View of a journal article from a database. The article title is indicated.

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Citation Element: Title of Periodical. Since the journal’s title will also be included, here are examples of what that looks like: APA. … stem cell reprogramming. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, MLA. … Stem Cell Reprogramming.” Stem Cell Research and Therapy, CMS. … Stem Cell Reprogramming,” Stem Cell Research & Therapy (in foot/end note). … Stem Cell Reprogramming.” Stem cell Research & Therapy (in bibliography). Same view as the previous frame of a journal from a database. The Journal's title is indicated.

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Citation Element: Title of Book Chapter. The chapter from an edited book example is handled much like the article from a journal/magazine/newspaper, etc. See examples below: APA. Last of the schoolmen: Natural law and social justice in Karl Marx. In M. J. Thompson (Ed.), Constructing Marxist ethics: Critique, normativity, praxis. MLA. “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx.” Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, CMS. “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx,” in Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, (in foot/end note). “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx.” in Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, (in bibliography). View of the title page of an edited book. The editor's name is indicated. View of the first page of the chapter being cited. The title, subtitle, and author's name are indicated.

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Citation Element: Title of Newspaper Article. This is a view of a database result for a newspaper article. The title is above the author and publication information, in bold. How this information is presented will vary by database. The format for the title follows the previous examples.View of a newspaper article form a database. The article's title is indicated.

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Citation Elements - Publication Information

Documentation, Citation Element: Publication Information

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Citation Element: Publication Information. The remainder of the information in a citation points to publication and retrieval information. How that information is handled varies from style to style. Instead of describing each portion of the publication information, full citation examples for each source examined will be compared. The retrieval information in documentation refers to how the source is accessed. It could be in print or electronically. Each style also has preferred methods for displaying this information.

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Book with single author. Please see next slide for example citations. Key: Blue highlight = Author Pink highlight = Title Green highlight = Pub Info View of a book's title page. The Title is highlighted in pink, the author's name is highlighted in blue, and the publisher's name is highlighted in green. View of the titles page verso, or the copyright/publication page. The publisher's information is highlighted in green.

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Citation Examples: Book with Single Author. APA. Author Blue highlight. Publication green highlight. Title Pink highlight. Publication green highlight. Massey, Heath. (2015). The origin of time: Heidegger and Bergson. SUNY Press. MLA. Author Blue highlight. Title Pink highlight. Publication green highlight. Massey, Heath. The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson. SUNY P, 2015. CMS. Author Blue highlight. Title Pink highlight. Publication green highlight. 1 Heath Massey, The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2015), 102. (in foot/end note) Massey, Heath. The Origin of Time: Heidegger and Bergson. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2015. (in bibliography) Please note that page numbers are not included in most book citations (works cited, reference lists, bibliographies). Specific pages may be used with in-text citations, depending on the style. The foot/end note example for CMS is such a citation, and does include a specific page number.

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Journal article with multiple authors. Please see next slide for example citations. Key: Blue highlight = Author Pink highlight = Title Green highlight = Pub Info View of a journal article from a database. The Title of the article and the journal are highlighted in pink, the authors' names are highlighted in blue, and the publication information is highlighted in green.

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Citation Examples: Periodical Article with Multiple Authors. APA. Author blue highlight. Some of the colored highlights are presented as separate images because there are a lot of authors, and the title is long. The examples wrap though several lines. Publication green highlight. The year/date comes after the authors and before the title in APA. Title pink highlight. Publication green highlight. Schmitt, C. E., Morales, B. M., Schmitz, E. M. H., Hawkins, J. S., Lizama, C. O., Zape, J. P., Hsiao, E. C., & Zovein, A. C. (2017). Flourescent tagged episomals for stoichiometric induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 8(132), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-017-0581-7 MLA. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Publication green highlight. Schmitt, Christopher E., et al. “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming.” Stem Cell Research and Therapy, vol. 8, no. 132, 2017, pp 1-9, doi: 10.1186/s13287-017-0581-7. CMS. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Publication green highlight. 1 Christopher E. Schmitt, et al. , “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming,” Stem Cell Research & Therapy 8, no. 132 (2017): 7, doi: 10.1186/s13287-017-0581-7. (in foot/end note) Schmitt, Christopher E., Blanca M. Morales, Ellen M. H. Schmitz, John S. Hawkins, Carlos O. Lizama, Joan P. Zape, Edward C. Hsiao, and Ann C. Zovein. “Flourescent Tagged Episomals for Stoichiometric Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming.” Stem Cell Research & Therapy 8, no. 132 (2017): 7. doi: 10.1186/s13287-017-0581-7. (in bibliography)

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Chapter from edited eBook. Please see next slide for example citations. Key: Blue highlight = Author Pink highlight = Title Green highlight = Pub Info View of title page of book. The Title and subtitle are indicated, as well as the editor and publisher. Since the editor's name is not the main entry, it is considered part of the publication information. View of title page verso, or copyright page. Publication information is indicated in green. View of first page of chapter. The chapter's title and subtitle are indicated, as well as the author's name. Page number ranges of the chapter may be required for this type of book. View of page numbers from ebook interface. This view shows the first page of the chapter. View of page numbers from ebook interface. This view shows the last page of the chapter.

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Citation Examples: Chapter from an Edited eBook. APA. Author blue highlight. Publication green highlight. Pink title highlight. Title of chapter. Publication green highlight. Editor's name. Title pink highlight. Book title. Publication green highlight. McCarthy, G. E. (2015). Last of the schoolmen: Natural law and social justice in Karl Marx. In M. J. Thompson (Ed.), Constructing Marxist ethics: Critique, normativity, praxis (pp.192-232). Brill. MLA. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Publication green highlight. McCarthy, George E. “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx.” Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, edited by Michael J. Thompson, Brill, 2015, pp. 192-232. EBSCOHost, db23.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=956350&site=ehost-live. CMS. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Publication green highlight. 1 George E. McCarthy, “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx,” in Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, ed. Michael J. Thompson (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2015), 210, http://db23.linccweb.org/login?url=http:// search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=956350&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_IV. (in foot/end note) McCarthy, George E. “Last of the Schoolmen: Natural Law and Social Justice in Karl Marx.” in Constructing Marxist Ethics: Critique, Normativity, Praxis, edited by Michael J Thompson, 192-232. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2015. http://db23.linccweb.org/ login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=956350&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_IV. (in bibliography)

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Newspaper article from database. Please see next slide for example citations. A note on page numbers. More and more, newspapers are publishing materials online. Even newspapers that publish print versions have more content online. This presents articles without page numbers. If page numbers were provided near the Section heading, they would need to be included in the citation. Key: Blue highlight = Author Pink highlight = Title Green highlight = Pub Info View of a newspaper article in a database. The Author, Title and Publication information are indicated.

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Citation Examples: Article from a Newspaper. APA. Author blue highlight. Title green highlight. date. Title pink highlight. Title green highlight. Wei, P. (2017, January 7). 10 years of iPhones: A timeline showing phone’s evolution. Cupertino Courier. http://www.mercurynews.com/ MLA. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Title green highlight. Wei, Paiching. “10 Years of iPhone: A timeline Showing Phone’s Evolution.” Cupertino Courier [Cupertino, CA], 7 January 2017. Access World News, infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/161C9867D2949F50?p=AWNB. CMS. Author blue highlight. Title pink highlight. Title green highlight. 1 Paiching Wei, “10 Years of iPhone: A timeline Showing Phone’s Evolution,” Cupertino Courier (Cupertino, CA), Jan. 7, 2017, http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/161C9867D2949F50?p=AWNB. (in foot/end note) Wei, Paiching. “10 Years of iPhone: A timeline Showing Phone’s Evolution.” Cupertino Courier (Cupertino, CA), Jan. 7, 2017. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/161C9867D2949F50?p=AWNB. (in bibliography) MLA and CMS require that city and state be included with lesser known papers. The New York Times or Miami Herald would not include this information.

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