I. Citing in the Text
The advantage of using parenthetical citation is that you do not
need to fuss with footnotes or endnotes; you refer the reader to the
bibliography for further information about the source, which means that you
must always include a bibliography when you use parenthetical, in-text
citation.
The basic format is the same for all kinds of works, whether a
book, an article, a videotape, whatever: you need the last names of the
author(s), the year of publication, and if applicable the page numbers.
When referring to a work as a whole or citing a main theme, you don't need the page number, for
example, (Narayan, 1997).
When citing or paraphrasing a specific part of the work, e.g. a piece of information or idea, and whenever
quoting directly, you need to get more specific about where you got your
information, for example, (Callon & Law, 1989. p. 60) or (Mirowsky &
Ross. Chapter 1).
All quotations should correspond exactly with the original. Short
quotations (three lines or less) should be incorporated into your text,
enclosed within double quotation marks (" ") and provided with the
proper citations to indicate their sources. Longer quotations (four lines or
more) are separated from the text, single‑spaced (versus the
double-spacing you use for the rest of your paper), indented on the left and
right margins, and presented without quotation marks, thus:
The Puritan
wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of the monastic cells into
everyday life, and began to dominate worldly morality, it did its part in
building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order. This order is now bound to the technical and
economic conditions of machine production which to-day determine the lives of
all the individuals who are born into the mechanism, not only those directly
concerned with economic acquisition, with irresistible force. Perhaps it will so determine them until the
last ton of fossilized coal is burnt.
(Weber, 1992. p. 181)
Use
quotations sparingly. Stringing quotations together can make you look like a
lazy writer, or one who doesn't understand what s/he is citing. It also
disturbs the flow of your paper, making it very disjointed. It's best to use
quotations in the following circumstances:
- when the author's own words
make the point in an unusually powerful or elegant way
- when you want to call
attention to or criticize a particular statement
- when you want to illustrate
the author's individual perspective
- when you can find no way to
put the idea in words other than the particular ones the author uses
Often you
can get the same point across in shorter, sweeter language yourself. In those
cases, it is preferable to summarize and paraphrase instead. When you
paraphrase a source, cite it just as carefully as you would a direct quotation.
II. Formatting Bibliographies
There are many
different bibliographic styles. In the Department of Sociology and Social
Anthropology we use the APA (American Psychology Association) style, which is
dominant in the social sciences. Within a particular style, there can be slight
changes over time; the APA occasionally comes out with a new edition of its
rules. Do not be too concerned about the tiny differences in punctuation and
spacing that you will find in otherwise similar styles. The most important
things to keep in mind are:
(1) You must include all
the information the reader needs to track down the source; and
(2)
You must be consistent in your presentation of the information.
With respect to electronic information, which can be especially
challenging, try to direct the reader as closely as possible to the information
being cited. Also, provide addresses
that work.
Within a
bibliographic style, correct presentation varies for different kinds of works.
For example, one cites books and articles differently because the reader needs
different information to track them down. But all articles should be cited the
same way; all books should be cited the same way. That includes punctuation,
italics, spacing, etc.
Always put
your sources in alphabetical order, by last name of the first author.
For more
information on how to cite using APA style, including how to cite other types
of sources besides books and journal articles, see http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/writer_resources/citation_styles/apa/apa.htm.
This website is included in Dalhousie's Plagiarism Student Resources Page (http://plagiarism.dal.ca/student/)
and on the Dalhousie library websites’ “How do I…?” section, under “Cite
resources in a bibliography.”
Another great resource is RefWorks, now
available to the Dalhousie community through the library. This software allows you to compile, edit
and format your bibliography in the citation style of your choice. See http://www.library.dal.ca/libraries/RefWorks.htm.
Note the
'hanging indent'--the first line of a reference starts at the left margin, but
subsequent lines are indented.
III. Examples of the main types of sources
Book - basic format:
Lastname, Initials. (Year). Title of book
(edition, if necessary). City, State/Province if not well-known city:
Publisher.
Examples:
Single author book:
Weber, M. (1992). The
Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
Multiple author book, specific edition:
Mirowsky, J. & Ross, C. E. (2003). Social causes
of psychological distress (2nd ed.).
Edited
volume (collection of articles by different authors, all in one book):
Petersen, A. & Bunton, R. (Eds.).
(1997). Foucault, health and medicine.
Article in an edited book - basic
format:
Lastname, Initials. (Year). "Title of
article." In Initials Lastname & Initials Lastname (eds.), Title of
edited book (pages). City: Publisher.
Example:
Narayan, K. (1997). "How native is a ‘native’
anthropologist?” In L. Lamphere, H.
Ragoné & P. Zavella
(eds.), Situated lives: Gender and culture in everyday life (pp. 23-41).
Journal article - basic format:
Lastname, Initials. (Year).
"Title of article." Title of journal, Volume (Issue if more
than one), pages.
Examples:
Abrams, P. (1988).
"Notes on the difficulty of studying the state." Journal of
historical sociology, 1 (1), 58-89.
Callon, M. &
Law, J. (1989). "On the construction of sociotechnical networks." Knowledge
and society: studies in the sociology of science past and present, 8,
57-83.
Young, D.
J. (1999). Deadly play: Shifting
identities on the last train to
Videotape -
basic format:
Lastname,
Initials (Executive Producer) & Lastname, Initials (Director). (Year). Title
of film [Videotape]. City: Production Company.
Example:
Nichols, M.
(Producer & Director) & Brokaw, C. (Producer). (2002). Wit
[Videotape].
Website
- basic format:
Lastname, Initials (year, date). Title of article. Retrieved
date, from URL.
Example:
Statistics
Entry in online reference database - basic format:>
Database name.
(year). Title of article. Retrieved date, from URL.
Example:
Encyclopaedia
Britannica. (2004). Social
realism. Retrieved
Article in
an online journal – basic format:
Last name, Initial (year).
Title of article. Title of journal. Volume (Issue). Retrieved date, from URL.
Example:
Last name, Initial (year, month day).
Title of article. Name of Newspaper. Retrieved date, from URL
Example:
Scrivner, L.
(2004, January 24). City of cultures, city of faith.