Basics: citations, references, bibliography, footnotes and attribution
In sociology1 we use the "ASA style."2 In the most general terms it requires that sources receive attribution in the text by the use of parenthetical in-text citation with full reference in a bibliography. But first, some terminology:
A citation is a notation in the text that indicates the source of a fact, idea, term, or quote. The function of a citation is intellectual honesty — it must point the reader to an item in the bibliography (and even a location in that item) so that the source can be checked.
A reference is the full information a reader needs to locate a work cited in the text.
A bibliography is a list of references. What is the difference between a bibliography and "works cited"? Strictly speaking the latter includes only works cited in the text of your paper while the former might in addition include works relied on but not specifically cited. In practice it is nearly a distinction without a difference — they are used interchangeably.
In ASA style, footnotes are only used only when necessary to explain or amplify text. They are not used to cite sources.
Attribution is a general term for acknowledging of the use of someone else’s words, ideas, information, or data. [3] Attribution is important in connection with alternatives to copyright like creative commons licensing that we use to encourage re-use of our work, but that is about the legal rules and norms around re-use; citation is about scholarly rules and norms that we adhere to as members of the intellectual/scholarly community.
Proper citation has three components: (1) what needs to be cited, (2) how to cite sources in the text, and (3) how to fully reference each source in a bibliography.
What needs a citation
Short answer: everything. That's an overstatement, of course, but let's begin with an important point: there is no shame in having too many citations. Students often feel that this makes it look like "none of these ideas are mine," but this is not something to worry about. Your "paycheck" as a scholar is about how you synthesize and aggregate and build on what is already known. It is the arrangement into coherent arguments of facts and other people's ideas that earns you the A. But let's get back to some concrete specifics.
- Direct quotations from works authored by someone else need to be set off in quotation marks and the source must be cited.
- Paraphrases of the words of others must be cited.
- Facts and truth claims (anything subject to the question: "how do we know that?") require citations.
- Opinions or perspectives on an issue.
It is helpful, I think, to recognize that proper citation has multiple functions. One is to acknowledge the creator of something you are "remixing." Another is to tell your reader where she can verify something you have said OR follow up on it ("if you'd like to know more, here's where to start…"). Yet another is to say "don't just take my word for it: here's a peer-reviewed source for this claim!"
How do I cite my instructor's lecture (or lecture notes)? The first answer is: you don't.3 Ideally, substantive comments made in lectures are drawn from reading material or works for which the lecture provides attribution and that's what we should cite. First preference would be to go back to the original (you don't need to cite the fact that the lecture pointed you toward the source). Second best would be to use "as cited by X in a lecture" or something like that. If you are quoting or paraphrasing something that is more "what my teacher said" than "what my teacher referred to" (or "what my teacher said someone else said") or if it's an original locution or claim for which the lecturer deserves credit (or blame) or would want credit4 then we can cite it as being drawn from that lecture. See below for format.
How to cite in the text
In general, in-text citations contain the last name of author and year of publication. Include page number(s) if you quote from a work or refer to specific passages. Page is separated from year with a colon and no spaces. A page range is separated by a hyphen with no spaces.
The original statement of the idea that crime is not an inherent property of an act is "we should not say that an act offends the common consciousness because it is criminal, but that it is criminal because it offends that consciousness" (Durkheim 1997:40).
Each citation of the same source is cited in the same way (that is, no ibids or loc cit).
If the text mentions the author's name it is omitted from the citation:
Durkheim is the source for idea that crime is not an inherent property of an act: "we should not say that an act offends the common consciousness because it is criminal, but that it is criminal because it offends that consciousness" (1997:40).
For two authors give both last names. For three authors list all three at the first citation, but use et al. for subsequent citations. For more than three authors use et al. in all citations.
As illustrated above, quotations begin with quotation marks and end with quotation marks but the citation is NOT a part of the quote but IS a part of the sentence and so it goes OUTSIDE the quotations marks but before the period.
A block (aka indented or long) quotation is used when the quoted material is longer than four lines. They may be presented in smaller font, are in a separate, indented paragraph that may be single-spaced even if the text is double-spaced. Block quotations are NOT enclosed in quotation marks. The citation comes at the end within the indented block outside the final period.
The labeling theory of deviance focuses on rule-making and rule-enforcing as something social groups
do and holds that the designation "deviant" is a social construction:
ALL social groups make rules and attempt, at some times and under some circumstances,
to enforce them. Social rules define siruarions and the kinds of behavior appropriate to
them, specifying some actions as "right" and forbidding others as "wrong." When a rule is
enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of
person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is
regarded as an outsider. (Becker 1963:1)
If the author is mentioned in the text preceding the block quote, put the year in parentheses after the author name and then attach the page number in parentheses after the text of the quotation5:
According to one of the founders of the "labeling perspective" of deviance, Howard S. Becker (1963):
ALL social groups make rules and attempt, at some times and under some circumstances,
to enforce them. Social rules define siruarions and the kinds of behavior appropriate to
them, specifying some actions as "right" and forbidding others as "wrong." When a rule is
enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of
person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is
regarded as an outsider. (1)
How to reference different kinds of works in the bibliography
The acid test for the information needed in a bibliography entry is whether it allows a reader to track down the source you are referring to. This means enough publication information to find the edition of a book or the issue of a journal or the webpage from which you have drawn information.
Standard ASA style has reference list following the text and endnotes (if any) in a section headed References[2]. The reference section:
- is double-spaced like the rest of the text
- lists all cited references in alphabetical order by first author last name (note that the ASA style uses surname and first name, NOT initials only as in other styles (unless, of course, the author used initials in the original). In ASA style the initials include a period and a space, e.g., K. T. Erikson.)
The paragraph formatting for sources is hanging indent — the first line of an entry is not indented, subsequent lines are.
Book titles and the names of journals are italicized. Article titles, web page titles, and chapter titles are surrounded by quotation marks.
Books[2]
Author1 (last name inverted), Author2 (including full surname, last name is not inverted), and Author3. Year of
publication. Name of Publication (italicized). Location of publisher, state, or province postal code (or
name of country if a foreign publisher): Publisher’s Name.Example:
Bursik, Robert J., Jr. and Harold G. Grasmick. 1993. Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community
Control. New York: Lexington Books.
Journal articles[2]
Author1 ( Last name inverted), Author2 ( including full surname, last name is not inverted), and Author3.
Year of Publication. "Title of Article." Name of Publication (italicized) Volume Number (Issue Number):
page numbers of article.Example:
Aseltine, Robert H., Jr. and Ronald C. Kessler. 1993. “Marital Disruption and Depression in a Community Sample.”
Journal of Health and Social Behavior 34(3):237-51.
Newspaper articles[1]
Byline/Author1 ( Last name inverted), Author2 ( including full surname, last name is not inverted), and Author3.
Year of Publication. "Title of Article." Name of Newspaper (italicized) date of publication,
pp. page numbers of article.Example:
Cohen, Patricia 2011. "Genetic Basis for Crime: A New Look." New York Times, June 19, 2011, pp. A1, A12.
Articles/Books/etc. from online sources[2]
Use the same pattern as those described above but page numbers may be omitted and the URL and date of access are included.
Example:
Schafer, Daniel W. and Fred L. Ramsey. 2003. “Teaching the Craft of Data Analysis.” Journal of Statistics Education
11(1). Retrieved December 12, 2006 (http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v11n1/schafer.html).Cohen, Patricia 2011. "Genetic Basis for Crime: A New Look." New York Times, June 19, 2011. Retrieved 12 Jan
2012 (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/arts/genetics-and-crime-at-institute-of-justice-conference.html).
Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides[4]
In the unusual situation of citing online lecture notes or class presentation slides, provide the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document) and cite like any other electronic resource.
Example:
Hallam, A. 2009. "Duality in consumer theory" [PDF document]. Iowa State Econ 501 lecture notes online. Retrieved 12 Aug 2011
(http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/index.html).