Department of Sociology and Social
Anthropology
Style Sheet
The department requires the use of
the APA bibliographic style and parenthetical citation, both of which are
explained on the following pages.
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.
This style sheet is modified from a
version produced by Prof. E. Whelan.
(August
2005)