Practical models for technical communication - Shannon Kelley 2021
Citing sources
Research methods for technical communication
Throughout college you’ll encounter a variety of citation styles. The two styles you are probably most familiar with are Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA), but you will likely at some point encounter Chicago style and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) style, if you haven’t already.
Citation standards are the agreed-upon system for creating a paper trail for your research. They show other researchers where your information comes from so they can more fully understand your conclusions. Citation also acts as a kind of insurance against claims of plagiarism or copyright violation.
In most instances, general audiences will be satisfied that you use one clear system to identify your sources. Choose the citation system that works best for your audience, and use that system exclusively. You don’t want your audience distracted by inconsistencies in your formatting.
In the workplace, no one’s going to fault you for citing your sources. Your colleagues and even your future self may thank you for pointing them in the direction of sources they can use for similar projects. When in doubt, use the citation method most common to your industry.
This section is not meant as a thorough review of citation styles. The citation examples that follow demonstrate the main similarities and differences among the most common styles you will encounter as a student. As you review this section, make note of the basic rules, and find an up-to-date reference guide that can help you along the way.
MLA Style
MLA stands for “Modern Language Association,” which is the organization founded in 1883 to promote the study of language and literature in the U.S. The MLA citation standards are used by humanities and literature classes in U.S. colleges and universities.
Works Cited
Each works-cited entry in MLA starts with four main pieces of source information:
” Author name (last name, then first name)
” Title of source (use quotation marks around shorter works and use italics for longer works like books)
” Title of container (the name of the publication where the source can be found)
” Additional information (other contributors, volume and issue number, publisher, date, page numbers for shorter works, and URLs)
A Works Cited page is formatted with a hanging indent and organized alphabetically.
Format
Author. “Title of Source.” Title of Container, Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Date, Location (pp.). Title of Database, https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy or www.website.com/page/specific-page.html.
Example
Doe, Jane. “Flight of the Killer Alpacas: An Examination of Early Alpaca Literature in Post-Colonial Andean Cultures.” Journal of Historical Alpaca Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, 2017, pp. 325—415. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1095/alat/abr073.
In-Text Citation
The in-text (or parenthetical) citation is where you tag the source you’ve used in the body of your document. The basic expectation for in-text citation is that the author name and page number appear after using the source, as shown in this example:
“The history of alpacas in post-colonial Andean cultures shows that these hairy creatures are part of a long-standing literary tradition” (Doe 325).
If you have already mentioned the author name in a signal phrase, all you need is the page number in parenthesis at the end, as shown in this example:
According to Jane Doe, “The history of alpacas in post-colonial Andean cultures shows that these hairy creatures are part of a long-standing literary tradition” (325).
If you have an online source without page numbers, you can use the author name alone (Doe). Notice that the period always goes after the parenthetical citation no matter which kind of source you have.
APA Style
APA stands for “American Psychological Association” and is a style of documentation used primarily by social sciences, such as psychology and sociology.
References
The list of sources for your APA formatted research document is called a reference list. Like MLA, your references are listed in alphabetical order by last name and are formatted with a hanging indent.
Format
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages, https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy.
Example
Doe, J. (2017). Flight of the killer alpacas: An examination of early alpaca literature in post-colonial Andean cultures. Journal of Historical Alpaca Studies, 25(3), 325—415, https://doi.org/10.1095/alat/abr073.
In-Text Citation
APA style also uses a parenthetical citation like MLA style, but APA citations include the author’s last name, the publication year, and the page number each separated by a comma. If you introduce the author’s name and publication year in the sentence, however, you do not need a parenthetical citation at the end, as shown in the following example:
According to Doe (2017), “The history of alpacas in postcolonial Andean cultures shows that these hairy creatures are part of a long-standing literary tradition” (p. 325). (example of direct quote)
If you don’t include the author’s name and publication within the sentence, then you need to include it at the end as a parenthetical citation.
Research shows that alpacas play an important role in the literature of post-colonial Andean cultures (Doe, 2017, p. 325). (example of paraphrase)
Page numbers are only required in APA style when you are using a direct quote from a source. However, you may still want to include a page number for paraphrases to show your reader where to find this idea in the original source.
Chicago Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is a large text that defines Chicago style, a type of documentation most often used in the humanities and within the publishing industry. A version of this style called Turabian is often used by students and researchers in the humanities. The Notes-Bibliography system (NB) uses footnotes or endnotes that correspond to sources marked in the text with a raised (superscript) numbers. Chicago style also has an alternate citation system called the author-date style, which is more common in the social sciences.
See The Chicago Manual of Style online for more on citations in the author-date style.
Bibliography
The list of sources in NB is called the bibliography and organized alphabetically by author.
Format
Author. “Title.” Title of Container volume number, issue number (publication date): pages, https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy.
Example
Doe, Jane. “Flight of the Killer Alpacas: An Examination of Early Alpaca Literature in Post-Colonial Andean Cultures.” Journal of Historical Alpaca Studies 25, no. 3 (2017): 325—415, https://doi.org/10.1095/alat/abr073.
Notes
Chicago style uses footnotes or endnotes instead of parenthetical citation. The number appears as a superscript number within the body of the text, as in this sample sentence:
“The history of alpacas in post-colonial Andean cultures shows that these hairy creatures are part of a long-standing literary tradition.”1
Footnotes are placed at the bottom of each page. Endnotes are placed at the end of the article or the book. Whether you use footnotes or endnotes, the source information should be documented next to the corresponding number in the list of sources.
Format
1. Author’s name (first then last). “Title.” Title of Container volume number, issue number (publication date): pages, https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy.
Example
1. Jane Doe. “Flight of the Killer Alpacas: An Examination of Early Alpaca Literature in Post-Colonial Andean Cultures.” Journal of Historical Alpaca Studies 25, no. 3 (2017): 325—415, https://doi.org/10.1095/alat/abr073.
IEEE System
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a professional organization that has created industry standards for the fields of computer science, engineering, and information technology. IEEE style is most often used for publications in these areas as well as technical articles and periodicals.
References
References are presented numerically in the order they have been cited in the paper. The author name appears with the first initial followed by the last name.
Format
[1] A. Author, “Title of source,” Title of Container, volume number, issue number, page range, publication date, doi: xx.xxx/yyyy.
Example
[1] J. Doe, “Flight of the killer alpacas: An examination of early alpaca literature in post-colonial Andean cultures,” Journal of Historical Alpaca Studies, vol. 25, issue 3, pp. 325-415, Jan. 2017, doi: 10.1095/alat/abr073.
In-Text Citation
IEEE uses a square bracket citation that corresponds to a numbered list of sources on the References page, like this: [1]. You might be familiar with the variant of this system from visiting Wikipedia.