The University of the Arts Libraries • Research Tools and Resources

Style Manuals, or Writing and Citing: Citing Print and Electronic Resources

A style manual or guide is a book or document that gives rules and examples of usage, punctuation, and typography used in the preparation of written copy for publication. How to properly cite bibliographic or electronic sources in a paper is one element of a style manual; other kinds of information in a style manual often include the basics of research, proper grammar and syntax, and so on.

Why is this important and why should you learn about it in college? See Introduction to Research and Documentation for an essay on the ideas and concepts behind scholarly communication and responsible documentation.

UArts students who are taking or have taken First-Year Writing should have a copy of A Writer's Reference by Diana Hacker. This book contains sections on how to cite sources in your bibliography as well as a good section on how to do research.

• Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. 6th ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.
  Greenfield Reference 428.2 H115w 2007
  A companion Web site (not the entire book) is available online: http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref/

Another Hacker book available in print and electronically is

• Hacker, Diana. Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
  Greenfield Reference 025.04 H115r
  Music Reference LB2369 .H23R4 2002
  A great little book. Part I "offers guidelines on posing an appropriate research question and mapping out a search strategy. Part II gives general guidelines on finding and evaluating sources. Part III describes research practices across the curriculum and lists specialized library and Web resources in many disciplines. Part IV includes four documentation styles--MLA, Chicago, APA, and CBE--and ends with a list of style manuals. ... Part V is a glossary of library and Web terms."--from the introduction, p. 1. See also the online version of Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online from Bedford/St. Martin's: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

Even, if not especially, Wikipedia wants to impress upon its users the importance of citing one's sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CS

The University Libraries have many different style guides. A few are listed below, including those for APA style and MLA style.

The most important part of choosing a style is to choose one style and be consistent. Consistency allows your reader to understand your citations.

In general you will want to record the following information for your sources:

For books you should record

• author (complete name: last, first, middle initial if used)
• title
• place published
• publisher
• date

TIP: If the book you're citing is held by the UArts University Libraries, check the UArts library catalog record. The publisher information above is a bit complicated but the library record is usually a good example of how to do it in MLA style.

For articles you should record

• author of article
• title of article
• title of journal/magazine
• volume and/or number
• date (include month, season, whatever is used)
• page numbers

For Web sites you should record

• Author's last name, first name
• Title of the short work, in quotation marks
• Title of the site, underlined (or italicized)
• Date of publication or last update
• Sponsor of the site (if not named as the author)
• Date you accessed the source
• The URL in angle brackets

Please note that these are just a few examples and are provided in MLA style. Consult your style manual, an online style manual, or a style manual in the library for more information and examples.

The citation style used by the American Psychological Association is the preferred style for the social sciences, which include education. If you are a student in any of the education programs (art education, museum education, dance education, music education) at the University of the Arts, you should probably follow APA style in your papers. Ask your instructor if you're not sure of which style to use.

The APA links below are for electronic citations only. For traditional print citations see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Greenfield Reference 808.02 P96 2005 and Music Reference LB2369 .P82 1994).

• Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association
  
  
• Frequently Asked Questions About the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.)

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style
The Modern Language Association is a professional organization serving teachers of English and foreign languages. MLA style is commonly followed in the liberal arts disciplines and is usually what most people have used before. Your instructor should tell you which style to use.

Undergraduate students should use MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi. 6th edition.
Music Reference LB2369 .G5M68 2003
Greenfield Reference 808.02 G35mla 2003.

Graduate students should use MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing by Joseph Gibaldi. 2nd edition.
Greenfield Reference 808.02 G35m 1998

Other sources for citing electronic sources in MLA style:

• Columbia Guide to Online Style - http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos2006/basic.html - Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor.
  See also the printed Columbia Guide to Online Style, Greenfield Reference 808.027 W152c and Music Reference LB2369 .W25C6 1998.
  
  
• Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet - http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/1.2/inbox/mla_archive.html - Andrew Harnack and Gene Kleppinger

Other Style Guides

• A Brief Citation Guide for Internet Sources in History and the Humanities - http://h-net.msu.edu/~africa/citation.html - Melvin E. Page
  
  
• Chicago Manual of Style. 15th edition. University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  Greenfield Reference 808.02 Un355c 2003
  Music Reference LB 2369 .U6 2003
  The Chicago Manual of Style is a classic in the field. Go to The Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide - http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html and scroll to the bottom for examples of citing electronic sources.

• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. University of Chicago Press, 1999.
  Greenfield Reference 808.02 T84m 1996
  Music Reference LB 2369 .T929 M15 1996

Send questions or remarks about this page to page author Sara MacDonald, Public Services Librarian.
Last updated 31 March 2008 sjm