Legal Writing Reviewer

#1 Purpose: Be able to define legal writing, its types and categories. Be able to name examples within each category LEGAL WRITING Definition – legal writing is the kind of writing used by lawyers, law professors, judges and other workers in the field of law to express legal rights, obligations and opinions. Types – legal writing may be informative, persuasive functional. 1. Informative writing conveys information on an issue involving the law or a person’s legal rights. This type of writing does not take sides. Its goal is objective communication by predicting the law’s “path” vis-à-vis a set of facts regardless of who is involved. Examples: memoranda, letters to clients and statement of facts in brief. 2. Persuasive writing convinces the reader to accept a certain viewpoint. Here, the writer argues for a particular side or perspective. He is expected to use available legal tools to support his thesis. These may be pieces of evidence offered in court, sections of the law, decisions of the Supreme Court, opinions of legal authorities on a subject. Examples: academic legal writing, motions, pleadings and argument section of the brief.

3. Functional writing is designed for specific use or result in law. These are deeds, wills, contracts or drafts of laws and ordinances which legally bind those involved. Some specific format, ceremony or legal requirement may be present in this type of writing. This type of writing need not be analytical nor persuasive. It is enough to be accurate and complete yet understandable. TWO (2) BROAD CATEGORIES OF LEGAL WRITING Legal Analysis 1. Predictive Analysis – a predictive document deals with a legal question in 3 ways: a. Analysis – the facts and law are analyzed and studied closely. The facts are the applied to the law (or jurisprudence) and they are interpreted according to the meaning of the law. b. Prediction – The outcome of the legal question, whoever positive or negative, is predicted. c. Recommendation – the writer, based on the facts and law, gives his advice or recommendations as to what is the best line of action under the circumstances.

Examples: opinion memorandum written for senior partners and legal opinion letter for clients. The opinion may be in favor or against the question raised by the client. Predictive documents belong to the informative type of legal writing. 2. Persuasive Analysis – a persuasive document attempts to persuade a judge, arbiter or any other deciding authority to decide the case in favor of the writer’s client. Examples: pleadings, motions and brief.

LEGAL DRAFTING This is the functional type of legal writing. Here, the writer creates alegally binding document, or uses as already available template found in Legal Forms handbooks. Among the examples are: contracts, deeds (e.g., of sale or mortgage) wills and testaments for private persons, and laws, regulations and ordinances which bind the public in general Legal drafting requires no legal author. A separate subject in the law curriculum, “Legal Forms,” deals with legal drifting.

DEFINITION OF TERMS Memorandum – literally “to be remembered” is a paper that explains and summarizes specific points of law for a judge for another attorney or for a client. Pleading – The formal presentation of claims and defenses by parties to a lawsuit. The specific papers by which the allegations of parties to a lawsuit are presented in proper form; specifically, the complaint of a plaintiff and the answer of a defendant plus any additional response to those papers that are authorized by law. Motion – a written or oral application made to a court or judge to obtain a ruling or order directing that some act be done in favor of the applicant. The applicant is known as the moving party, or the movant. Examples: A motion to dismiss asks the court to dismiss an action because the initial pleading, or complaint, fails to state a cause of action or claim for which the law provides a remedy. A motion for summary judgement also known as a motion for judgement on the pleadings, asks the court to make a judgement solely on the facts set forth in the pleadings, without the necessity of trial. A court will grant a summary judgement motion when the material facts of the case are not in dispute and all that remains to be determined are questions of law.

Brief – a written document drawn up by attorney for a party in a lawsuit or by appearing pro se that concisely states the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Issues of a lawsuit; Facts that bring “the parties to court” Relevant laws that can affect the subject of the dispute; and Arguments that explains how the law applies to the particular facts so that the case will be decided in the party’s favor.

Appellate Brief – a writing that must be filed with an appellate court so that the court may evaluate whether the decision of the lower court should be reversed because of some error or impropriety that occurred during the trial. A statement of the issues presented for review, a summary of how pertinent laws affect the facts, and a summary of how pertinent laws affected the facts, and a statement of the relief being requested are essential elements of an appellate brief. The appellee’s brief will argue that the lower court acted properly in its judgement and request its affirmance, while the appellant’s brief will attempt to convince the court to reverse or vacate the lower court’s judgement because it acted improperly.

#3 When you cite a source, you show how your voice enters into an intellectual conversation, and you demonstrate your link to the community within which you work. Working with sources can inspire your own ideas and enrich them, and your citation of these sources is the visible trace of that debt Principles of Citing Sources

Why Cite Sources in Your Academic Writing?  To Become a More Mature Thinker When writing an essay, it can sometimes feel as if you’re including quotations merely to back up your argument or to fulfill a requirement to use a certain number of sources. Each of these motives can lead you to drop sources into a pre-set argument, with little real interplay between the sources’ ideas and your own. Although it may sometimes feel like an exercise, using sources in your writing is not an end in itself, not a skill to learn in isolation. Instead, most teachers ask you to use sources because they know that your own thinking will be enhanced when you consult the ideas of previous writers on a topic. Seen in this light, sources can help you develop and deepen your ideas as early as the brainstorming and drafting stages. Think of yourself as having a conversation with the sources—when you move back and forth between your own thinking and what sources have to say, you push your ideas further than you would by going it alone. The resulting essay should give your reader the sense that you’re joining an ongoing conversation, that you respect other thinkers, and that you’re adding something new to the conversation. If there’s one fundamental misunderstanding that many student writers have about acknowledging sources, it’s that doing so lessens the impact of the writer’s

own contribution. In nearly every case, the effect will be the opposite: it’s when you most clearly signal your debt to sources that your own thinking becomes most visible. Academic scholarship, at its heart, is about the interplay of ideas. The best research is not, in that sense, wholly original, but rather develops from previous discoveries. In assessing his accomplishments, Isaac Newton once wrote to a friend that: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” (Newton, in fact, was incorporating an idea voiced by Bernard of Chartres in the 12th century.) Incorporating other people’s ideas into your writing allows you to stand on their shoulders as you explore your topic. 

To Recreate a Sense of Lively Debate and to Establish Intellectual Context You may be used to relying on sources primarily for information, but essays that engage with claims or ideas about a subject—as well as introducing relevant information—allow you to join the conversation on the liveliest terms. When you do incorporate sources, it can be tempting to use only quotations that support your own ideas. But while it can be helpful to refer to writers with whom you agree, sometimes the most effective sources are those from which you differ. Introducing claims and concepts from sources and acknowledging thoughtful dissent puts your ideas in a dynamic and contested framework. By showing that knowledge is dynamic, you show that there is something worth debating or analyzing further. Your sources also convey information about the intellectual context of your research. Although the content of a quotation is what’s most important, the very sources of the ideas or information you use will help an educated reader understand the implications of your argument. When you establish this context for your ideas, you create a space in which your reader can think in a new way about an established problem or question.  To Give Credit Where It’s Due Most students are familiar with this reason for citing sources: just as you want credit for your writing and ideas, other writers deserve credit for their work. For one thing, recognition is often the only or the primary reward for scholarship. But, more importantly, giving credit allows you to claim your own contribution. The very project of a university education consists of joining an ongoing conversation about ideas that began in Antiquity. You cannot participate in this exchange if you are not clear about how other voices have influenced your own. It takes most people many years to develop a rich and complex voice in conversation with sources. But you can begin to develop this voice by always marking the boundaries between the source and your reflections on it.  To Lead Us to Further Research Academics conceive of scholarship as an ongoing and collaborative enterprise. Rather than try to invent a field from scratch, we read what others have discovered and try to build on or extend it in our own work. One scholar’s sources can therefore be an invaluable contribution to another’s research. So while we read your work looking for your original ideas, we also want help knowing how to pursue related questions. In this way, acknowledging your sources greatly enhances your paper’s

value, as it shows readers where they might look to test, explore, and extend your conclusions. Appraising and Choosing Sources   

What Are Scholarly Sources? Using Sources as Objects of Analysis Sources of Opinion, Whether Fair or Biased Please note: If you are not an expert researcher, the general discussion below will help you understand some of the questions involved with selecting sources. But what qualifies as evidence or as a reliable source is different in different disciplines, and sometimes among different courses in the same discipline. It’s very important to check with your teachers about appropriate sources for the research you’ve been assigned. What are Scholarly Sources? Scholarly sources are those that have been approved by a group with recognized expertise in the field under discussion. Books published by University Presses fall into this category, as do articles published in peer-reviewed journals— journals where the editors send pieces out to be read by experts in the field before deciding to publish them. The Yale library subscribes to several databases that specialize in scholarly sources (such as Academic Search Premier). See Databases for more information. If you use sources for facts or ideas in your writing, some research projects will demand that you rely heavily if not exclusively on scholarly sources. Scholarly sources are not infallible, but their publication process includes many steps for verifying facts, for reducing political bias, and for identifying conflicts of interest (for instance, for informing readers when a drug company has funded research on its own product). In a narrow sense, every other source could be called a popular source. But this does not mean that all popular sources are of equal reliability. Nor does it mean that you should use only scholarly sources for all of your writing at Yale. Depending on the research context, some projects will permit a mix of scholarly and popular sources. As a general rule, the more specialized the course or the research project you’re working on, the more you should restrict yourself to using verified, expert sources in your paper. In a history seminar about World War II, you would usually be expected to consult the most definitive, academic studies of the period. But in a literary essay analyzing Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, you may be able to rely on a popular history for facts about World War II, because the focus of your paper is on interpreting the novel. This is not to say you can rely on what your friends say about the war or on the “facts” in Saving Private Ryan. But a trade paperback issued by a major publisher may be sufficient. To understand this difference, it may help to recognize that when you write for a departmental class, you are writing for an audience more expert than the common reader. When writing about Republican and Democratic voting patterns on stem cells, science reports from a general interest magazine like Newsweek might be considered sufficiently authoritative. But when you write about stem cells for a Biomedical Engineering class, your teachers and classmates are considered more expert than the average non-scientist reader. For this audience, your sources must

have stronger science credentials, must generally be working scientists, not journalists. Newspapers are not as easy to classify as other sources. Newspapers are not scholarly sources, but some would not properly be termed popular, either. Every source must be questioned for its stake in the material.The New York Post is notoriously inflammatory, for instance, and also seems to love television shows broadcast on the Fox network (owned by the same company). But some newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, have developed a national or even worldwide reputation for thoroughness. On issues of fact, major mainstream magazines such as Newsweek and Time are also generally reliable. Finally, it’s worth noting that many Internet sources are less reliable than print sources. Because it’s relatively inexpensive to put material on the Web (when compared to the cost of print publication), it’s easy for private individuals to post their unverified opinions on websites. It’s also cost-effective for corporations or other organizations to post websites that appear to be factual but actually serve to promote the group’s agenda. Not all Internet sources are unreliable, and some unreliable sources—when used carefully—can serve a role in research (see “Sources of Opinion” below). But you should take special care when doing research on the Internet; see Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Using Sources as Objects of Analysis Any source can be cited if it’s being used as what we might call an “object” source—for instance, if the text is an object of analysis, such as the poem in a literary criticism paper. In these instances, you are not relying on the source for authoritative information about a topic, but are instead investigating the source, itself, and using paraphrase and quotation to argue about the source’s meaning. Depending on the course, academic papers can analyze movies, commercials, buildings, magazine advertisements, popular songs, or dialogue recorded on a city bus. It’s still necessary to identify the origin of your source, but if your paper makes clear that you do not accept the text as a source of fact, but are instead developing your own ideas about the text and how it works, you can profitably use almost anything in an essay. Sources of Opinion, Whether Fair or Biased Depending on the research context, you may have sources that are not as reliable as scholarly sources but that still add texture or authority to your argument. In the humanities, for instance, critics’ opinions often demonstrate bias (even celebrate it). But because of their authors’ professional experience, such opinions can be used as ideas to extend your own analysis—or to serve as counterarguments that clarify your own claims. When critics highlight the same element of the text that you focus on, for instance (the ending of a play, the entrance to a building, the color scheme in a movie), their attention can serve as evidence that the component is significant, even as you use your paper to argue for a different interpretation. See Why Cite? for more discussion of counter-argument. Some magazines—like Discover—are more authoritative than a general news magazine but less authoritative than a scholarly journal. In the sciences, studies done by

interested parties would normally not be accepted uncritically (such as pollution studies commissioned by chemical companies). But they may still identify key elements of the topic that require attention. Finally, almost any source can be used as evidence that someone believes the idea you quote. Although that may seem self-evident, such evidence can be surprisingly helpful when developing an argument, especially for articulating the research problem of your essay. If theHarvard Crimson publishes a negative article about Yale’s football team, you probably can’t trust that it’s an unbiased assessment. But such an article can still be cited as evidence that “some people have negative opinions about Yale football.” It can also be cited as evidence that “Football matters enough at some Ivy schools to merit coverage in the campus newspaper.” If you compare it to other articles in the issue that describe cross-campus cooperation, then the football article might be used to suggest “Feelings are divided at Harvard about its rivalry with Yale.” In the sciences and social sciences, you might discuss popular, non-expert representations of a key issue, explaining where they go astray—and therefore why your paper is necessary. Understanding Different Citation Formats   

Official Sites More Notes on Chicago Style Footnotes Chicago Style Bibliographies Academic disciplines have varying expectations for how to list citation information. In some instances, even two journals in the same field will use different styles. This guide covers the three main styles used at Yale. All three of these styles require the same basic information, but the order of that information varies, in part because different academic fields emphasize different elements of a source when referring to previous research. The first two styles are known as “in-text” citation styles, which means that you give some information about the source directly after the quotation, but leave the rest to a list of References (APA) or Works Cited (MLA) at the end of the paper. (1) MLA style, defined by the Modern Language Association, is most common in the humanities. Because humanities research highlights how one piece of writing influences another, MLA style emphasizes the author’s name and the page in the original text you’re using. This information allows scholars to track down easily the exact sentences you’re analyzing. (2) APA style, defined by the American Psychological Association, is most common in the social sciences. Although the author’s name is an important element in APA citations, this style emphasizes the year the source was published, rather than the page number, which allows a reader to see quickly how the research you’re writing about has evolved over time. The alternative to in-text citation is to use footnotes, which give source information at the bottom of the page. The footnote style we demonstrate here is called Chicago style, defined by the University of Chicago. Chicago style is especially popular in historical research. When developing a historical explanation from multiple primary sources, using footnotes instead of inserting parenthetical information allows the reader to focus on the evidence instead of being distracted by the publication information about that evidence. The footnotes can be consulted if

someone wants to track down your source for further research. Chicago style is more flexible than MLA and APA formats, and therefore more complicated to explain. Please see More Notes on Chicago Style Footnotes for more information about how Chicago style is treated in this guide. All three of these styles have different conventions for how to refer to a source in the body of your paper. See Signaling Sources in the Body of Your Paper for more information. Note: Some works written with MLA or APA style also include what are called discursive footnotes. Rather than giving only the author and title of the sources, these notes discuss in a sentence or two some aspect of the evidence that is not part of the paper’s main argument. Discursive footnotes are also welcome in Chicago style, and many papers that use Chicago style footnotes will mix discursive footnotes with others that just give bibliographical information. See Where to Cite for more information about this kind of footnote. You should check with your instructors about the style they want you to use. When in doubt, remember that the goal of your citations is to help a reader who wishes to consult your sources directly. Give enough information to make such retrieval easy. The examples below are correct, and can be relied on as guides for citing your sources. But the examples don’t always highlight very slight variations in format among the styles (for instance, whether to use a colon or parentheses to separate the issue number from the volume number in a quarterly journal). For more information about each of these citation styles, see the websites listed below.

Official Sites http://www.mla.org(link is external) http://www.apastyle.org/(link is external) http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/index.html(link is external) Although not officially linked to the authors of MLA, APA, or Chicago style, the following websites are from reputable colleges and offer discussions of the various styles that can supplement the advice in Writing at Yale. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/(link is external) http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/1.2/inbox/mla_archive.html(link is external) More Notes on Chicago Style Footnotes In this guide, we use the phrase “Chicago style” to refer to references that take place in footnotes. (The alternative to these notes is “in-text citations”; see Why are there Different Citation Styles? for more information.) But Chicago style is actually very flexible, and offers writers a choice of several different formats. It even invites the mixing of formats, provided that the result is clear and consistent. For instance, the fifteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style permits either footnotes or in-text citation styles; it provides information on in-text citation by page number (like MLA style) or by year of publication (like APA style); it even provides variations in footnote style, depending on whether or not the paper includes a full Bibliography at the end. Because the primary advantages of using footnotes are simplicity and concision, this guide describes only one variation of Chicago style: shortened

footnotes in a paper that gives a full Bibliography. What this means is that our examples of Chicago footnotes do not give full bibliographical information at the bottom of the page. Instead, our footnote examples give brief references that would be supplemented, at the end of the paper, with a full Bibliography. The basic form for a shortened footnote reference is: footnote number, author’s last name, title of the work, and page number you’ve quoted from. If the title is more than four words long, you would normally list a shortened version of it. If your teacher tells you to use Chicago style, or footnotes, you should check to see if the shortened format is acceptable. If you need to give the full citation, the format for each note is nearly identical to MLA format, except that a full footnote generally begins with the first name of the author. If in doubt, we suggest the shortened format (the one we demonstrate here) because it’s the most elegant. It’s also what the Chicago editors recommend. Note that the footnotes illustrated in this guide focus on publication information, giving only the data necessary for your reader to track down the source. But footnotes can also be used to comment on a source. Such footnotes are often referred to as discursive footnotes, and they are also used in MLA and APA style to add information about a source. Historians, especially, sometimes add brief discussions of a source in the footnote that accompanies its first mention. Ask your teachers for examples of writing that use this technique, or browse through the sample papers posted on other parts of the Writing Center website. See Where to Cite for more information about this kind of footnote. Chicago Style Bibliographies For published, print sources, instructions for listing sources in a Chicago Bibliography are the same as for an MLA Works Cited page. For unpublished or electronic sources, listings in a Chicago Bibliography are slightly different than for an MLA Works Cited. This guide mentions those variations where relevant. Signaling Sources in the Body of a Paper In academic writing, nearly every reference to a source has two parts: the indication in the body of your paper that you’re referring to a source, and the publication information a reader needs to track that source down later. The three citation styles used in this guide—MLA, APA, and Chicago style footnotes—use different methods for that initial signal that a source is being used. Both MLA and APA are what’s known as “in-text” citation styles, which means that you give some brief information about the source directly in your sentence or

paragraph, but refer readers to a section later in your paper for the full publication details. (MLA calls this later section the “Works Cited,” while APA calls it the list of “References.”) In MLA format, references to a source should mention the author’s name and the exact page you’re using directly in your paragraph. You would normally give the page number in parentheses, directly after you quote or paraphrase the source. You may give the author’s name in the parentheses, too, or include it in your sentence. Here are two very simple examples of how this might look: In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle suggests that such people “think happiness is some plain or obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or honour” (2). The Nicomachean Ethics suggests that such people “think happiness is some plain or obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or honour” (Aristotle 2). In either case, the reader will know to look for “Aristotle” in your Works Cited to find the rest of the information about your source. In APA format, references to a source should mention the author’s name and give the publication year of the source. You would normally give the year in parentheses. You may give the author’s name in the parentheses, too, or include it in your sentence. (If you include the name in your sentence, give the year directly after; if you put the name and year in parentheses, put them at the end of the sentence where you quote or paraphrase the source.) Here are two very simple examples of how this might look: Geller (2001) found that women who shop with their mothers spend twice as much on a dress as those who shop with friends. Studies suggest that women who shop with their mothers spend twice as much on a dress as those who shop with friends (Geller, 2001). In either case, the reader will know to look for “Geller” in your list of References to find the rest of the information about your source. The alternative to “in-text” citations are footnotes, which give publication information at the bottom of the page. This guide describes Chicago style footnotes (and only one aspect of Chicago style—see Why Are There Different Citation Styles? and More Notes on Chicago Style Footnotes for more information). With footnotes, you are not required to mention the author, page, or year directly in your sentence. You only need to include the footnote number and to put the author and page number at the bottom of the page. But you might include one or more of these details directly in your sentence, anyway, depending on what you were trying to emphasize about the quotation. Below are some simple examples of what it might look like to introduce a source using footnote style. The references are to a band called “Rage Against the Machine,” whose music has an explicitly political message. Rage’s adamancy in the need for an uprising is expressed by its call-to-arms, “Sleep now in the fire!”3 Rage’s adamancy in the need for an uprising is even more visible in its 1999 call-toarms, “Sleep now in the fire!”3

One band’s adamancy in the need for an uprising is expressed by its call-to-arms, “Sleep now in the fire!”3 These examples give almost identical information, but they emphasize different elements. The first one characterizes the band as having an overall mood or message. The second one begins to imply that Rage’s ideas may have evolved over time. The third seems to treat the band as one of a collection of bands with political agendas. In any of these cases, your reader will know to look at footnote number three for information about your source. Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism What Is Plagiarism? Plagiarism is usually defined as a discrete offense, a specific failure to give credit to a particular source. But it actually raises a much more fundamental question for writers: “Where is my voice in this project?” Seen in this light, the strategies that help you avoid plagiarism can also be strategies that help you gain power as a writer. Once your guiding question about your relationship to sources is “Where is my voice?” you are well on your way to using sources in an effective and legitimate way. Plagiarism is the use of another’s work, words, or ideas without attribution. The word “plagiarism” comes from the Latin word for “kidnapper” and is considered a form of theft, a breach of honesty in the academic community. Plagiarizers suffer serious consequences in Yale College—including suspension or expulsion from school. (See the Yale College Undergraduate Regulations for more information.) But beyond the risk of penalties, there are urgent moral and intellectual reasons to avoid plagiarism. When you write for an academic audience, you’re joining an ongoing conversation. When you plagiarize, you join that conversation on false grounds, representing yourself as someone you are not. What is more, the act of stealing another’s words or ideas erases your voice. It may be difficult to think of yourself as making an original contribution in the context of a class taught by an expert. But every assignment is an invitation to add something new to the conversation sparked by the course. You cannot make an original contribution if you are not the owner of the words and ideas that you present. Plagiarism takes many forms, but it falls into three main categories: using a source’s language without quoting, using information from a source without attribution, and paraphrasing a source in a form that stays too close to the original. There are variations on these categories that you may not be familiar with, so see the Warningsection for a fuller discussion of the rules and see the Fair Paraphrase section for a discussion of how to use a source’s idea in your own argument. You must always make clear in your written work where you have borrowed from others—whether data, opinions, questions, ideas, or specific language. This obligation holds whether the sources are published or unpublished and whether they are in print or on the Internet. When in doubt, be sure to check with your instructor

about how to acknowledge sources in your papers, especially since every academic discipline has its own conventions. Warning: When You Must Cite Although you should use sources creatively and flexibly to help you generate ideas and sharpen your argument, there are some hard-and-fast rules about the way sources should be acknowledged in your project. Click on the links for more explanation of the various rules. ALWAYS CITE, in the following cases: 1. When you quote two or more words verbatim, or even one word if it is used in a way that is unique to the source. Explanation 2. When you introduce facts that you have found in a source. Explanation 3. When you paraphrase or summarize ideas, interpretations, or conclusions that you find in a source. For more explanation, see Fair Paraphrase. 4. When you introduce information that is not common knowledge or that may be considered common knowledge in your field, but the reader may not know it. For more information, see Common Knowledge. 5. When you borrow the plan or structure of a larger section of a source’s argument (for example, using a theory from a source and analyzing the same three case studies that the source uses). Explanation 6. When you build on another’s method found either in a source or from collaborative work in a lab. Explanation 7. When you build on another’s program in writing computer code or on a notcommonly-known algorithm. Explanation 8. When you collaborate with others in producing knowledge. Explanation ALWAYS CITE, in the following cases: 1. When you quote two or more words verbatim, or even one word if it is used in a way that is unique to the source. Most writers realize that they must acknowledge a source when quoting a memorable phrase or sentence. They’d be sure to credit Mark Twain when quoting: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” And you probably also understand that you do not need to cite words that are very common to your topic. When writing about Hamlet, you do not need to put the words “Hamlet” or “Shakespeare” in quotation marks, or cite a source for them, even though you may have read sources that use these words. But when a single word or two are used in a distinctive way, so that the author is creating a new concept or applying it to a new topic, you must give acknowledge the source. When John Baker redefines the significance of the mirror test by saying that chimpanzees’ awareness of their reflection is not full consciousness, but a limited “kinesthetic self-concept,” it’s clear that those two words, as specialized terms of art, should appear in quotation marks in your paper. Even though neither “kinesthetic” nor “self-concept” is unusual on its own, as a phrase they belong to the author. But even a single, non-specialist term— such as “consilience”—may become tied to an author (in this case, E.O. Wilson) through an influential publication, in which case you should put the single word in quotation marks, at least in your first mention of it in your text.

2. When you introduce facts that you have found in a source. Facts that are generally accessible (the date of the Declaration of Independence, for instance) need not be cited to a particular source, but once you go up one level of detail on the information ladder, you probably need to cite the source (the number of people who signed the Declaration, for instance). And note that commonly known facts found in a particular or unusual context should be cited, so that the reader knows how your argument may have been influenced by the context in which you found it. For more, see Common Knowledge. 3. When you paraphrase or summarize ideas, interpretations, or conclusions that you find in a source. For more explanation, see Fair Paraphrase. 4. When you introduce information that is not common knowledge or that may be considered common knowledge in your field, but the reader may not know it. For more information, see Common Knowledge. 5. When you borrow the plan or structure of a larger section of a source’s argument (for example, using a theory from a source and analyzing the same three case studies that the source uses). You may not be used to thinking of the plan of a source as proprietary to its author, but if you follow a source’s plan too closely without acknowledging that you saw it there first, you’re presenting as your own an analysis that someone else shaped. For example, if use Mark Hauser’s discussion of primates’ knowledge of other minds from Wild Minds and you discuss the same three experiments that he analyzes, then you must acknowledge this debt. The simplest way to do this is to say “Like Mark Hauser, I find the three experiments carried out by X, Y, and Z groups to be useful in considering the extent of chimpanzee awareness.” An even better way—because it highlights your distinctiveness as a writer—is to distinguish the different use to which you will put the analysis. If, for instance, you’re focusing on primate social skills rather than strictly on their awareness of other minds, you might write: “Mark Hauser examines three experiments carried out by X, Y, and Z for what they can tell us about knowledge of other minds. For my purposes, though, these same experiments shed important light on the social capacities of primates.” These statements can come in a discursive footnote or in the main body, although if the statement distinguishes your argument from the source’s, it has an important role in the body of the argument. See Gordon Harvey, Writing With Sources, Chapter 3, for an excellent discussion of unfair borrowing of another’s plan. 6. When you build on another’s method found either in a source or from collaborative work in a lab. Relying on someone’s research method is like #5 above—borrowing a text’s plan or structure. If your approach to a problem is inspired by someone else’s work on a similar or analogous case, credit the original researcher. Building on the work of others is appropriate and desirable, but methods, like specific words and phrases, are a form of intellectual property.

7. When you build on another’s program or on a not-commonly-known algorithm in writing computer code. Although writing code may seem different from writing papers, the same standards of acknowledgment apply. If you rely on someone else’s program, you must credit that person. Some software algorithms are so well known that they rise to the level of Common Knowledge. Programmers use such pieces of code without acknowledgement. But if the code is not well known, someone reading your program might think you’ve authored parts that are borrowed. For a useful example of unauthorized code borrowing, see this page of the Princeton University website(link is external). 8. When you collaborate with others in producing knowledge. You may sometimes co-author a paper or other text during college; these opportunities are often more frequent in the professional world. When two or more people all contribute substantially to a piece, they normally list all their names as authors. But there are also occasions when someone gives help that does not rise to the level of co-authorship. If you work with a lab partner to set up an experiment, for instance, but run and analyze the results yourself, you should credit the lab partner in a footnote or by reference within your paper. Similarly, if you and a partner present a scene from a play, and you later write a paper using some of the insights you gained during production, you should credit the other actor. University life is structured so that your ideas will receive constant testing and refinement in discussion with others. You do not need to cite in your papers every conversation you have about the ideas or evidence. But you do need to develop a judgment about which conversations are incidental and which result in ideas that merit reference in your texts. If you take this warning as an opportunity, and make an effort to reveal the trail of your thinking in footnotes and acknowledgements, you’ll soon develop a sense of how to credit collaboration appropriately. Fair Paraphrase One of the decisions you need to make when engaging with a source is whether to quote the source’s language directly or to paraphrase it in your own words. [See Why Cite? for advice about how to make this decision.] Restating a source’s idea in your own words may not seem too difficult, but offering a paraphrase that distinguishes your voice from the source’s voice and furthers your own argument is actually rather challenging. Below are three examples of an attempt to paraphrase the passage from Dennett’s Consciousness Explained. The first and second are examples of plagiarism because they both blur the line between the writer’s voice and the source idea. The first alters the original without changing its form or content. The second retains long phrases verbatim from the original. Only the third example is an effective and fair paraphrase: The writer marks the boundaries between her voice and the source’s voice, and she puts the source’s idea to work in service of her own argument. Reading these examples should help you to see how to make paraphrase an effective strategy for building an argument grounded in sources.

Below is the original passage as it appears on page 39 of Daniel Dennett’s Consciousness Explained (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991). Almost all researchers in cognitive science, whether they consider themselves neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers, tend to postpone questions about consciousness by restricting their attention to the “peripheral” and “subordinate” systems of the mind/brain, which are deemed to feed and service some dimly imagined “center” where “conscious thought” and “experience” take place. This tends to have the effect of leaving too much of the mind’s work to be done “in the center,” and this leads theorists to underestimate the “amount of understanding” that must be accomplished by the relatively peripheral systems of the brain. For instance, theorists tend to think of perceptual systems as providing “input” to some central thinking arena, which in turn provides “control” or “direction” to some relatively peripheral systems governing bodily motion. This central arena is thought to avail itself of material held in various relatively subservient systems of memory. But the very idea that there are important theoretical divisions between such presumed subsystems as “long-term memory” and “reasoning,” (or “planning”) is more an artifact of the divide-and-conquer strategy than anything found in nature.

Paraphrase 1 Most cognitive scientists, whether they are neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers, tend to avoid questions about consciousness by focusing mainly on peripheral and subordinate systems of the mind/brain, which are thought to assist a mysterious center where consciousness and subjective experience happen. The effect of this is to leave too much of the mind’s work for the center, and this means that theorists understate how much understanding must be done by the outer systems of the brain (Dennett 39). 

See discussion on Paraphrase 1

Paraphrase 2 The problem with cognitive science today is that researchers focus on the peripheral and subordinate systems of the mind/brain without clarifying how these are connected to the brain’s center, the place where conscious thought and experience take place. The result is that they leave too much of the mind’s work to be done in some dimly imagined “center.” This fuzziness about whether there is a control center leads them to underplay the mind’s work that must be accomplished by the relatively peripheral systems of the brain (Dennett 39). 

See discussion on Paraphrase 2

Paraphrase 3 Dennett points out that when theorists take a “divide-and conquer” strategy by focusing narrowly on a given subsystem of the brain/mind, their theoretical models

implicitly assume a center of consciousness that has not been proven to exist. By leaving in place the Cartesian notion of a control center, the models may underestimate the work that these supposedly “peripheral” systems perform (39). 

See discussion on Paraphrase 3

Discussion Regarding Paraphrase 1 Cosmetic changes don’t cut it The writer of this Paraphrase 1 has plagiarized from the original because she has simply replaced the words of the original with synonymous words and phrases, instead of rewriting the key ideas in her own words. She takes the structure of the original for her own, including the phrasing of the original’s sentences (the same introductory and main clause structures) and the overall movement from sentence to sentence. This kind of cosmetic changing that leaves the original intact is unacceptable. Dennett: “Almost all researchers in cognitive science, whether they consider themselves neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers, tend to postpone questions about consciousness by restricting their attention to the “peripheral” and “subordinate” systems of the mind/brain, which are deemed to feed and service some dimly imagined “center” where “conscious thought” and “experience” take place.” Paraphrase 1: “Most cognitive scientists, whether they are neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers, tend to avoid questions about consciousness by focusing mainly on peripheral and subordinate systems of the mind/brain, which are thought to assist a mysterious center where consciousness and subjective experience happen.” Why (good) paraphrase is important If you need to stay close to the original, then quote the passage directly. It is often the case, however, that you do not need to include all the information from the original in your own essay. If you do not need all the information in the original, do a fair paraphrase that represents the essence of the original’s idea, but leaves out what is unnecessary to your own project. For example, it is unlikely that, in your own argument, you need to include the list “neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers”; these titles are part of Dennett’s particular argument (he’s trying to say something about how widespread he thinks this phenomenon is in the sciences). A fair, careful paraphrase allows you to incorporate the essence of a source’s insight without also incorporating the author’s peripheral claims or comments that don’t relate to your argument. Signal the shift from your own voice to the source’s The reader assumes that any word or phrase that is not in quotation marks represents your own thinking, unless you signal otherwise. Imagine the faulty paraphrase dropped into a larger paragraph from the writer’s essay and you’ll see how the reader could move from the writer’s argument right into Dennett’s idea without even knowing that a transition in voice had taken place. This is because the writer has not signaled the shift to another’s voice. The only ways to signal this are: a) to quote directly, in which case the quotation marks signal the shift; or b) to announce through a signal phrase that the subsequent idea (though paraphrased in

your own words) belongs to someone else: “Dennett points out that when theorists …” Always mark the boundary between your own voice and the voice/idea of the source with such a signal phrase. You should also give the page number from which your paraphrase came, but this doesn’t absolve you of the need to represent the idea in your own words and signal the shift in voice from your own to the source’s.

Discussion Regarding Paraphrase 2 Using un-cited language from the original to create a patchwork is plagiarism It may be more difficult to see why Paraphrase 2 is plagiarism. After all, the writer has indicated many of Dennett’s distinctive words and phrases with quotation marks. But as shown below, the writer of Paraphrase 2 has taken phrases verbatim from the original, rearranged them somewhat, and woven them into the fabric of her own writing—without attributing them to the source. This is called “mosaic” or “patchwork” plagiarism. It does not matter that more of this phrasing is her own than was the case in Paraphrase 1; she has still borrowed significant patches of direct language from Dennett without attribution. Remember that using more than two words in a row from a source without attribution is considered plagiarism. Dennett: “Almost all researchers in cognitive science, whether they consider themselves neuroscientists or psychologists or artificial intelligence researchers, tend to postpone questions about consciousness by restricting their attention to the “peripheral” and “subordinate” systems of the mind/brain, which are deemed to feed and service some dimly imagined “center” where “conscious thought” and “experience” take place. This tends to have the effect of leaving too much of the mind’s work to be done “in the center,” and this leads theorists to underestimate the “amount of understanding” that must be accomplished by the relatively peripheral systems of the brain.” Paraphrase 2: The problem with cognitive science today is that researchers focus on the peripheral and subordinate systems of the mind/brain without clarifying how these are connected to the brain’s center, the place where conscious thought and experience take place. The result is that they leave too much of the mind’s work to be done in some dimly imagined “center.” This fuzziness about whether there is a control center leads them to underplay the mind’s work that must be accomplished by the relatively peripheral systems of the brain (Dennett 39). If you don’t use quotation marks, you imply that the language is your own Although the writer’s rephrasing of the source’s idea suggests that she has a better understanding of it than did the writer of Paraphrase 1, she is still far too close to the original. In order for this to be a legitimate paraphrase, the writer would need to restate the core of the idea in her own words and to craft sentences with a new structure. Even though Paraphrase 2 cites Dennett, the fact that there are no quotation marks leads the reader to think that this is the writer’s own language. The key principle to remember is that where you do not use quotation marks, the reader assumes that you are the author of all the words in your paper.

Discussion Regarding Paraphrase 3 Dennett points out that when theorists take a “divide-and conquer” strategy by focusing narrowly on a given subsystem of the brain/mind, their theoretical models implicitly assume a center of consciousness that has not been proven to exist. By leaving in place the Cartesian notion of a control center, the models may underestimate the work that these supposedly “peripheral” systems perform (39). Take the pith of the original Paraphrase 3 is a strong and fair paraphrase because it captures the essence of Dennett’s idea—that scientists still assume a “control center” in their research—in the writer’s own words. The sentence structure and flow from sentence to sentence is unique to the writer, rather than following the original too closely. Paraphrase 3 is also shorter than the original—another good sign, since an effective paraphrase takes the pith of the original and leaves behind secondary commentary or asides in the original source. Signal the boundaries between your voice and the source’s voice In Paraphrase 3, the writer has carefully signaled the place where the source’s idea begins and ends, so that if we imagine this paraphrase in a larger paragraph of the writer’s own, we would have no doubt about the boundaries between the two voices. Own the material Paraphrase 3, through its analytical confidence, shows that the writer truly understands the original and is making use of it. Instead of slavishly following the original, she has assimilated the idea into her own thinking and transformed it through that understanding. The writer of Paraphrase 3 is using her restatement of Dennett’s idea as an occasion to further her own idea about how our conventional notion of consciousness needs to change. This paraphrase is pointed in a direction—the direction of the writer’s argument. We can see this in the way that the writer has distilled the original for her own purposes. And we can also see it in the heightened language of the phrase “supposedly ‘peripheral’ systems,” the dynamic signal phrase “Dennett points out,” and in the writer’s use of her own keyterms, all of which alert us to the writer’s point of view. Use keyterms to translate the source’s idea into your essay’s idiom The writer of Paraphrase 3 introduces a term (“divide-and-conquer”) that Dennett uses earlier in the book chapter as a useful metaphor to capture the idea for the reader. And she has introduced a term of her own—“Cartesian notion of a control center”—that is informed by, but not unique to, Dennett’s discussion. A strong paraphrase uses the writer’s own keyterms—keyterms that have appeared earlier in the essay and will reappear after the paraphrase—to summarize the core of the source so that the reader understands how Dennett’s idea contributes to the writer’s unfolding argument. These keyterms help the reader to line up the source idea alongside the other ideas the writer has already introduced into her argument. They contribute to the overall sense that the writer’s ideas are developing in relation to, not separately from, the source’s ideas. Common Knowledge

If you are familiar with the notion of “common knowledge” from earlier writing experiences, you may have noticed that its definition is easy to state, but can be hard to apply in a particular case. The “common” way to talk about common knowledge is to say that it is knowledge that most educated people know or can find out easily in an encyclopedia or dictionary. Thus, you might not know the date of the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve, but you can find it out quite easily. Further, the term “common knowledge” carries the sense of “communal” knowledge—it is community information that no particular individual can fairly claim to own. One sign that something is community knowledge is that it is stated in 5 or more sources. So, if it’s known to educated people, or can be easily looked up, or appears in many sources, it is likely to be “common knowledge” and so does not need to be cited. But here is where things become tricky: As you write papers in college and move deeper into your field of study, what counts as common knowledge becomes much less clear. Within a given discipline, there is a body of common knowledge that an outsider (even an educated college student who doesn’t happen to be in your field) might not know. For example, within psychology, it is common knowledge that chimpanzees recognize themselves in a mirror; in literature, it is common knowledge that James Joyce is a major modernist author. In referring to the mirror test or calling James Joyce a modernist, you wouldn’t need to cite anyone. But as soon as you begin to say something, for instance, about what the results of the mirror test mean for a model of consciousness, you would need to cite a source. The point, then, is to think about your audience: What has been said in the class or repeated in textbooks and other sources often enough to suggest that it is common knowledge within the discipline? Because the notion of “common knowledge” is ambiguous and depends on context, you should always check with a professor or TF if you have any doubts. Some reference books will say “if in doubt, cite it,” but you don’t want to over-cite, so check with your readers to try to fix the line between common and specialized knowledge. Sometimes you become so conversant in a subject that you can explain complex theories, methodolologies, or historical timelines without reference to a source. You may notice this phenomenon as you research and write your senior essay. At this point, you’re becoming an expert in the field and things may start to seem obvious to you that are not obvious to an intelligent lay reader. You will want to check with your department about the level of expertise you’re expected to assume. You may also want to show your writing to a Residential College Writing Tutor, a Writing Partner, or a friend who’s a good reader. As a senior essay writer, you will probably need to cite less than you used to, but more than you may think. This advice about “common knowledge” is true for all disciplines—think about your audience and the course attitude, recognize when you’re writing as an expert, and always check with professors if you’re in doubt. The sciences, however, have a somewhat different notion of “common knowledge,” coming partly out of research practice and partly out of more collaborative work methods. Ideas, findings, and methodologies that are new knowledge (and therefore specialized rather than common knowledge) become old knowledge more quickly in the sciences. The

answer, again, is to consider the messages you’re getting from the course about what concepts are common or foundational, and to check in with professors or TFs. High-Risk Situations Avoiding plagiarism means avoiding high risk situations. The following list is adopted from Gordon Harvey’s Writing With Sources:

Don’t wait until the last minute to write an essay. If you feel panicked about finishing a paper, let your instructor know. Use secondary sources only if asked to do so by the instructor. Don’t rely too heavily on a single source of information or opinion because it may lead you into unconsciously plagiarizing the plan or ideas of the original. 5. In taking notes, be careful to distinguish the source’s idea from your own response to the source by quoting directly (using quotation marks) and indicating the source and page number next to each quotation or note (never take notes loosely or anonymously). Establish a system for distinguishing your insights from those of the source. 6. Don’t feel that you have to sound as learned as the sources you are reading. 7. Don’t look at another student’s paper when you are blocked. 8. Don’t write from someone else’s notes, since you don’t know precisely the source of each idea. 9. Don’t actually write a paper in tandem with another student, unless the essay is explicitly defined as a group project. 10. If you encounter an idea you already thought of in a source, mention the source in your argument in a subordinate clause (“My claim, like Dennett’s, is that …”), but also try to show how your take on the question is somewhat different. 11. Hold onto drafts and notes until an essay is completed. Citing Books - General Information 1. 2. 3. 4.

 Books vs. Articles How to Cite Books   

Books Books with Editors or Translators Prefaces, Forewords, & Introductions

Books vs. Articles You may be surprised to learn that it’s not always easy to tell whether your source is a book. In an everyday sense, we know a book when we see it—it’s a bound, printed document that’s thicker and heavier than a magazine. But in a research context, there’s an important subcategory of book called an anthology. An anthology is a collection of articles by different authors. Most anthologies list on the title page the name of an editor who selected the articles (some anthologies have multiple editors). Anthologies can be especially useful for researching a topic, because they often collect a range of approaches to the same issue, frequently by reprinting articles from scholarly journals. (See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more discussion of journals.) But when using an article from an anthology, it’s very important to list your

entry by the author and title of the article, and not by the editor of the book. For more information, see Article in a Book.

Books

MLA: Thernstrom, Melanie. Halfway Heaven: Diary of a Harvard Murder. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Print. [author, by last name.] [title.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.]

APA: Thernstrom, M. (1997). Halfway heaven: Diary of a Harvard murder. New York, NY: Doubleday. [author, by last name, initial.] [(year).] [title.] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.]

Chicago: 1. Thernstrom, Halfway Heaven, 83. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title, page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: Thernstrom’s book was published by the Doubleday Publishing Group, but the convention is to shorten the name by eliminating common words that refer to publishers, such as “Book,” “Company,” or “Press.” Also note: If the book contains chapters written by different authors, it may be an anthology, and so should be cited differently. See Books vs. Articles for more information. Older Works If the book you’re citing is being republished many years after it first appeared, you may want to include the original publication date to your listing, in addition to the new publication. This additional information lets the reader know more about the intellectual context of your source. The older your text, the more helpful it is to include this information. (If the book you’re using is a second or later edition, just add an abbreviation after the title, for instance, 2nd ed.) So in the example below, the particular edition of The Tempest being used was published in 1999; the writer has added “1623” to remind readers of the play’s first publication date.

MLA: Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. 1623. Ed. Peter Holland. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print.

[author, by last name.] [title.] [“Ed.” editor, by first name.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.]

APA: Shakespeare, W. (1999). The tempest. P. Holland (Ed.). (Original work published 1623.) [author last name, initial.] [(year).] [title.] [editor, by initial (“Ed.”).] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 2. Shakespeare, Tempest, 3.2.21. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title, act.scene.line for quoting plays.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.]

Books with Editors or Translators MLA: Wertsch, James, ed. The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology. Armonk: Sharpe, 1981. Print. [editor, by last name, “ed.”] [title.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.] APA: Wertsch, J. (Ed.). (1981). The concept of activity in Soviet psychology. Armonk, NY: Sharpe. [editor last name, initial. (“Ed.”).] [(year).] [title.] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 3. Wertsch, Concept of Activity, 7. [fn. #.] [editor last name, shortened title, page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] There are two different kinds of books that have an editor: anthologies and older works. Anthologies As discussed in Books vs. Articles, an anthology is a collection of articles by different authors; most anthologies list on the title page the name of the editor who selected the articles (some anthologies have multiple editors). When listing the anthology in your Works Cited or References, list by the editor’s name, followed by a comma, then add “ed.” (for “editor”). The example above (Wertsch) is an anthology. Older Works In the case of older works, sometimes an editor has worked on the text even though it has a single primary author. For instance, many publications of Shakespeare’s plays credit an editor who made decisions about which previous copies to trust and which words need additional explanation. In those cases, if the material you’re

quoting is from the main text, you list by the original author’s name, followed by the title, then add “Ed.” (for “edited by”) and the editor’s name. As with other books, you would list the publication year for the book you’re using at the end of the listing. But you may also want to include the original publication date just after the title, to give readers a little more context for your citation. So if you were quoting from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, you’d cite it as below. MLA: Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. 1604. Ed. Peter Holland. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print. [author, by last name.] [title.] [“Ed.” editor, by first name.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.] APA: Shakespeare, W. (1999). The tempest.P. Holland (Ed.). New York, NY: Penguin. (Original work published 1604.) [author last name, initial.] [(year).] [title.] [editor, by initial (“Ed.”).] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 4. Shakespeare, Tempest, 3.2.21. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title, act.scene.line for quoting plays.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style spells out “edited by” or “translated by” where relevant. Also note: If the material you’re using is not from the main text, you may want to list by the editor. For instance, if you’re quoting in your essay something Peter Holland says about The Tempest, you might list by Holland’s name. See Prefaces, Forewords, & Introductions for more information. Translators For translated works, list by the name of the original author. After the title, add “Trans.” (for “translated by”) and the translator’s name, followed by a period. MLA: Derrida, Jacques. Dissemination. Trans. Barbara Johnson. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1981. Print. [author, by last name.] [title.] [“Trans.” translator, by first name.] [city of publication: publisher, year. Medium.] APA: Derrida, J. (1981). Dissemination. (B. Johnson, Trans.). Chicago, IL: U of Chicago P. [author last name, initial.] [(year).] [title.] [(translator, by initial, “Trans.”).] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 5. Derrida, Dissemination, 91. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title, page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style spells out “edited by” or “translated by” where relevant.

Prefaces, Forewords, & Introductions MLA: Hunter, J. Paul. Introduction. Frankenstein. By Mary Shelley. New York: Norton, 1996. vii-xii. Print. [author of introduction, by last name.] [section name.] [title.] [By author of main work.] [city of publication: publisher, year.] [page numbers.] [medium.] APA: Hunter, J. P. (1996). Introduction. In M. Shelley, Frankenstein (pp. vii-xii). New York, NY: Norton. [author last name, initial] [(year).] [section name.] [In author of main work,] [title (“pp.” page numbers).] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 6. Hunter, “Introduction to Frankenstein,” vii-xii. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” pages quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Sometimes the material you cite will not be from the main body of the book, but from a preface, foreword, or introduction written by a different author. The principle is to list the source by the name of the writer whose work you’re citing. For instance, when quoting from a preface, list by the preface’s author, followed by the word “Preface.” Then list the book title, the book’s author, and the rest of the publication information. Note: When citing a book section (such as a preface or introduction) that is not by the primary author, give the first and last page numbers for the section at the end of your listing (in this example “vii-xii”). How to Cite Articles       

Article in a Book Article in a Journal Article in a Magazine Article in a Newspaper Article or Book with Two or Three Authors Article or Book with Four or More Authors Multiple Sources by the Same Author

Article in a Book MLA: Bialostosky, Don H. “Liberal Education, Writing, and the Dialogic Self.” Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age. Eds. Patricia Harkin and John Schilb. New York: MLA, 1991. 11-22. Print. [author of article, by last name.] [“title of article.”] [title of book.] [“Eds.” book editor(s) by first name.] [city of publication: publisher, year.] [full page numbers for article.] [medium.]

APA: Bialostosky, D. H. (1991). Liberal education, writing, and the dialogic self. In P. Harkin & J. Schilb (Eds.), Contending with words: composition and rhetoric in a postmodern age (pp. 11-22). New York, NY: MLA. [author last name, initial.] [(year).] [title of article, no quotation marks.] [In editor(s) of book (“Eds.”),] [title of book] [(“pp.” full page numbers for article).] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbrievation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 7. Bialostosky, “Liberal Education,” 17. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style adds “In” before the book’s title. As discussed in Books vs. Articles, an anthology is a collection of articles by different authors; most anthologies list on the title page the name of an editor who selected the articles (some anthologies have multiple editors). If your essay uses material from one of the articles, you should list the information by the author of the article. The title and editor of the anthology come later. Multiple Articles from a Collection Note: If you cite more than one article from the same collection, you should list the collection itself as a separate item. For each article, list by the article’s author and title, then give the editor’s name and the first and last page number of the article. Extending the example above, if you were citing two different articles from Contending with Words, you would give the information as follows in your Works Cited. (Example below in MLA style; adjust as needed for other styles.) Bialostosky, Don H. “Liberal Education, Writing, and the Dialogic Self.” Harkin and Schilb 11-22. Print. [article author.] [“article title.”] [last name of editor(s) and full page numbers for article.] [medium.] Clifford, John. “The Subject in Discourse.” Harkin and Schilb 38-51. Print. [article author.] [“article title.”] [last name of editor(s) and full page numbers for article.] [medium.] Harkin, Patricia and John Schilb, ed. Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age. New York: MLA, 1991. Print. [editor(s), “eds.”] [collection title.] [city of publication: publisher, year.] [medium.]

Article in a Journal MLA: Masri, Heather A. “Carnival Laughter in The Pardoner’s Tale.” Medieval Perspectives X (1995): 148-156. Print.

[author of article, by last name.] [“title of article.”] [title of journal.] [volume number] [(year):] [full page numbers for article.] [medium.] APA: Masri, H. A. (1995). Carnival laughter in the pardoner’s tale. Medieval Perspectives X, 148-156. [author, by last name, initial.] [(year).] [title of article, no quotation marks.] [title of journal] [volume number,] [full page numbers for article.] Chicago: 8. Masri, “Carnival Laughter,” 151. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Articles can appear in many sources, including books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and websites. Knowing which type you’re using matters both for how you cite the information and for how you use the source to develop your argument. In the context of research writing, the word “journal” indicates a publication that comes out on a regular schedule (often monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually) with a common publisher or editorial board. Magazines come out on similar schedules, but differ in several key ways from journals. One way to distinguish a journal from a magazine is that journals don’t usually accept color or photographic advertisements. Many journals are supervised by experts in a given field; some are published by universities or other non-profit organizations that specialize in the topic under discussion. When developing your research, you need to know whether you’re using a scholarly journal or a popular magazine because these two kinds of sources convey very different levels of expertise, depending on the topic. See the discussion of Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. When compiling a Works Cited of list of References, the distinction between journals and magazines matters because there are different conventions for how each should be listed. The listing for an article in a journal begins with the name of the article’s author and the title of the article. (In APA style, the publication year appears between the author and title.) These are followed by the title of the journal and the volume number. (Most journals keep a running count of their previous publications.) The final two pieces of information are the publication year in parentheses (for MLA & Chicago), and the inclusive page numbers of the article. Note: Many scholarly journals publish more than one issue per year. By convention, these journals often assign what’s called a “Volume” number to all the issues in a given year: Science Fiction Studies, for instance, published four issues in 2005, but refers to these issues, as a group, as Volume 37. You always include the volume number when listing an article from a scholarly journal; note in the example above that the article comes from Medieval Studies Volume X. But whether or not you also include the “Issue” number depends on how the journal numbers its pages. Some scholarly journals number the first page of every issue with a “1.” This system is referred to as pagination by issue. In other journals, the first issue of the year starts with page “1,” but then the numbers on the second issue pick up where the first issue left off. (So if the last page of issue 1 is “253,” the first page of issue 2 is numbered “254.” This continues with every issue that year, starting again with page “1” in the

first issue of the next year.) This system is referred to as continuous pagination. For journals with pagination by issue, you must include both the Volume number and the Issue number in your listing; for journals with continuous pagination, you only need to include the Volume number. Article in a Magazine MLA: Considine, J. D. “Radical Shriek.” Guitar World Dec. 1999: 62+. Print. [author of article, by last name.] [“article title.”] [magazine title] [issue date:] [first page number “+”.] [medium.] APA: Considine, J. D. (1999, December). Radical shriek. Guitar World, 62-68, 210-214. [author, by last name, initial.] [(issue date).] [article title, no quotation marks] [magazine title,] [full page numbers for article.] Chicago: 9. Considine, “Radical Shriek,” 212. [fn. #.] [author last name, “title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Articles can appear in many sources, including books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and websites. Knowing which type you’re using matters both for how you cite the information and for how you use the source to develop your argument. In the context of research writing, the word “magazine” indicates a publication that comes out on a regular schedule (usually weekly or monthly, but sometimes quarterly) with a common publisher or editorial board. Journals come out on similar schedules, but differ in several key ways from magazines. One way to distinguish a magazine from a journal is that most magazines accept color advertisements and are printed on glossy paper. When developing your research, you need to know whether you’re using a scholarly journal or a popular magazine because these two kinds of sources convey different levels of expertise, depending on the topic. See the discussion of Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. When compiling a Works Cited or list of References, the distinction between journals and magazines matters because there are different conventions for how each should be listed. The listing for an article in a magazine begins with the name of the article’s author and the title of the article. (In APA style, the publication year appears between the author and title.) These are followed by the title of the magazine. Give next the date of publication (exact date if it’s monthly or biweekly; month and year if it’s monthly) and the page numbers, if they run consecutively. If the article skips pages and is continued later in the magazine, MLA style calls for just the first page number and a plus sign; APA style requires listing all the page numbers.

Article in a Newspaper MLA: Sullivan, Ronald. “Jury Quickly Acquits Man Charged in Brush with Officer.” New

York Times 27 Apr. 1991: A28. Print. [author of article, by last name.] [“article title.”] [newspaper title] [date:] [page number.] [medium.] APA: Sullivan, R. (1991, April 27). Jury quickly acquits man charged in brush with officer. New York Times, p. A28. [author, by last name, initial.] [(date in parentheses).] [article title, no quotation marks.] [newspaper title,] [“p.” page number.] Chicago: 10. Sullivan, “Jury Quickly Acquits,” A28. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] In the context of research writing, the word “newspaper” indicates a publication that comes out on a regular schedule (usually daily or weekly) with a common publisher or editorial board. One way to distinguish a newspaper from a magazine or a journal is that most newspapers are printed on newsprint, a rougher and less stiff kind of paper than that used for magazines. In popular understanding, newspapers convey an impression of reliability. When compared to glossy magazines, many of which carry celebrity photographs on their covers, newspapers seem more serious and factual. But the fairness and reliability of publications produced on newsprint varies considerably. These differences don’t affect how you compile a Works Cited or list of References, but they make a big difference in how you use the sources when developing your argument. See the discussion of Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. The listing for an article in a newspaper begins with the name of the article’s author and the title of the article. (In APA style, the publication year appears between the author and title.) These are followed by the title of the newspaper. In MLA style, the date of publication comes next. Then come the page numbers, if they run consecutively. If the article skips pages and is continued later in the magazine, MLA style calls for just the first page number and a plus sign; APA style requires listing all the page numbers. Some papers publish more than one edition each day, adding changes for late news and sports scores; in that case, list the edition after the date (first, early, late, etc.). Also note whether the paper is divided into sections, in which case you should include the section in front of the page numbers. In the example above, the article began on page 28 of section A. Note: Some stories in magazines and newspapers are printed without identifying an author. In that case, list by the title of the article, and make sure to include 1-2 key words from the title in your essay so that readers can find the bibliographical information they need to retrieve your source.

Article or Book with Two or Three Authors MLA: Faulkner, Wendy, and Erik Arnold. Smothered by Invention. London: Pluto, 1985. Print. [first author by last name, second author by first name, linked by “and”.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.] APA: Faulkner, W., & Arnold, E. (1985). Smothered by invention. London, England: Pluto. [both authors by last name, initial, linked by ampersand.] [(year).] [title.] [city of publication, country: publisher.] Note: APA style lists the city and state (using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods) for U.S. publishers and the city and full country name for publishers outside the United States. Chicago: 11. Faulkner and Arnold, Smothered by Invention, 41. [fn. #.] [authors’ last names, shortened title, page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] List the authors’ names in the order they appear on the book’s title page, not in alphabetical order. (After the authors’ names, follow the other instructions on this website for the type of book or article you’re citing.) Note: MLA style lists the second author by first name, and employs the full word “and” instead of the ampersand (&) used in APA style. Chicago style uses last names only for the footnote, with “and,” and follows MLA instructions for the Bibliography. See More Notes on Chicago Style for more information. Also note: When there are four or more authors, MLA style uses a different format to list them. (See Article or Book with Four or More Authors.) Article or Book with Four or More Authors MLA: Belenky, Mary, et al. Women’s Ways of Knowing. New York: Basic, 1986. Print. [first author by last name, “et al.”] [title.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.] APA: Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, N., & Tarule, J. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing. New York, NY: Basic. [all authors by last name, initial.] [(year).] [title.] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 12. Belenky et al., Women’s Ways of Knowing, 202. [fn. #.] [first author last name “et al.”, shortenedtitle, page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] When a book or article has four or more authors, MLA style includes only the name of the first author listed on the title page, followed by “et al.” (which means “and others”). After the authors’ names, follow the other instructions on this site for the type of book or article you’re citing.

Note: APA style does not abbreviate the list of authors in the References unless there are seven or more. Also note: Chicago style abbreviates the list of authors in the footnote but gives all author names in the Bibliography unless there are ten or more. In the example above, Women’s Ways of Knowing was written by Mary Belenky, Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger, and Jill Tarule, but the listing in an MLA Works Cited gives only Belenky. Multiple Sources by the Same Author MLA: Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” When a Writer Can’t Write: Research on Writer’s Block and other Writing Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford, 1986. 134-166. Print. [author by last name.] —. “Writing With Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow.” College Composition and Communication 46.1 (1995): 62-71. [three hypens to replace author’s name.] APA: Bartholomae, D. (1986). Inventing the university. In M. Rose (Ed.), When a writer can’t write: Research on writer’s block and other writing problems (pp. 134166). New York, NY: Guilford. [author by last name, initial.] Bartholomae, D. (1995). “Writing with teachers: A conversation with Peter Elbow.” College composition and communication 46 (1), 62-71. [author’s last name, initial. List the items by date, starting with the earliest.] Chicago: 13. Bartholomae, “Inventing the University,” 145. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” page quoted.] 14. Bartholomae, “Writing With Teachers,” 68. [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] If you cite two works by the same author, MLA style asks that you list them in alphabetical order by the title, and include the author’s name only for the first source. For the other sources, include three hyphens (as above) to indicate that the work is by the same author. (After the authors’ names, follow the instructions on this site for the type of book or article you’re citing.) In APA style, you list all books in the same format, but you order them in chronological order, starting with the earliest. (In cases where an author has two or more texts published in the same year, add a letter after the year to distinguish between them. For instance, if you used two Bartholomae texts from the same year, you’d refer to them as (1986a) and (1986b).

In Chicago style, footnotes to two works by the same author use the standard format. In the Bibliography, follow MLA guidelines. See More Notes on Chicago Style for more information. Note: If you cite one source with Bartholomae as the sole author, and one for which he has a co-author, you write out both authors’ names in the second listing. (Example below in MLA style; adjust as needed for other styles.) Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” When a Writer Can’t Write: Research on Writer’s Block and other Writing Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford, 1986. 134-166. Print. [single author’s name.] Bartholomae, David and Anthony Petrosky, eds. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford, 1993. Print. [both authors’ names.] Internet Sources - General Information  Special Demands of Internet Sources  Copying Text without Plagiarizing How to Cite Internet Sources  Print Sources Posted Online  Online Versions of Print Periodicals  Databases (like Lexis-Nexis)  Online Journals  Organization Websites  Topic Websites  Private Websites  Blogs  Online Video (like YouTube)  Forums, Listservs, Chats, & Bulletin Boards  Email & Instant Messages  Wikipedia Special Demands of Internet Sources Internet vs. Print Sources Some professors will discourage you from using sources you find or access over the Internet. Although such restrictions may be excessive, there are reasons to be wary. It’s much easier to publish information on the Internet than to publish a book or periodical in print. Since it’s easier, Web posters are not always as careful to make sure that the information is accurate. For one thing, print publishing is more expensive, so many print publishers are careful not to make mistakes or to cut corners, in case what they publish turns out to be unreliable—and therefore useless. The seeming anonymity of the Internet also encourages some people to write things quickly, without checking to be sure of their facts or their conclusions. Most of us have had the experience of sending by email something we wrote quickly—perhaps when rushed or angry. Often these are things we wouldn’t print, sign, and mail, because those extra steps give us time to consider our words more carefully, and also because we recognize a higher expectation that things in print should be trustworthy.

No Author, No Authority In the context of writing in college, material from much of the Internet is less reliable than print sources because it’s hard to tell who wrote or posted it. As discussed in the section Why Cite?, the essence of academic scholarship is a conversation among authors. On many websites, it’s difficult to determine the author of the material. If the site creator’s name is listed, it’s still sometimes hard to tell whether the information has been reprinted from some other source. If you reach a website through a search engine, you may have to find the site’s homepage or search around in the “contact” information in order to identify the author or the organization that sponsors the site. Even if you find the author’s name, Internet sources make it harder to tell what status that person has in his or her field. Is the author an expert, a fan, or just a crackpot? After finding a website that seems useful and tracking down the author’s name, you may need additional research (perhaps using Google) to learn whether the author has any claim to credibility. But of course, countless reliable sources can be accessed on the web, and even unreliable sources have some uses in research writing. (See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more about unreliable sources.) These days, many students and scholars use Web sources extensively in research and teaching. But they take extra care to assess and report the provenance of these sources. Types of Websites In this guide’s discussion of Internet sources, we draw distinctions between various kinds of websites: those sponsored by organizations, those devoted to a single topic, and private websites that are maintained by a single person—often a devoted fan of the topic under discussion. To some degree, these categories distinguish more and less reliable sources of information. But the distinctions are neither clear nor entirely stable. Some organizations, while established leaders in their fields, have very few resources available to maintain and update their websites. Some private individuals, although hosting websites as a hobby, are experts in their fields and consider accuracy on their sites to be the highest priority. It’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use material from the Internet. If you give a sense of what kind of Web source you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. Basics of Citing Websites When listing Internet sources in your References or Works Cited, the most important thing to remember is that your goal is to make it easy for a reader to consult your sources. (This same goal is paramount when listing print sources.) For most sites, that means you should include the full URL for the page you cite in your paper (the web address that begins “http”). But websites change, and the address you used won’t always be active when your reader tries to view a source. For that reason, it’s important to include both the date you accessed the site and also a full account of the person, group, or organization that sponsors the site. Knowing more about the author helps readers to assess the source and also, sometimes, to find the source when the website has been moved or revised. The general form of a citation from an Internet source is: Author’s name. Title of Document. Title of Website. Sponsor of Website. Date of Document. Date of Access. URL.

As you will see in the discussion of specific categories, however, some of these items may be hard to determine. Avoiding Plagiarism The ease of using electronic sources of any kind can make it harder to keep track of where the source ends and your original contribution begins—and you must always keep that distinction clear. See How to Copy and Paste but Not Plagiarize for advice about how to use electronic sources wisely. Respecting Privacy Most of this guide focuses on helping you subordinate sources to your own ideas. In general, we highlight your need to respect authors’ intellectual or property rights, explaining how to give people credit for their ideas while distinguishing your own original contributions. But the ease of using electronic sources also raises dangers about what might be called privacy rights, leading you to make public words that the original author intended only as private communication. When someone speaks in public, participates in an interview, or publishes a piece of writing, he or she implicitly agrees that other people may refer to this material in research. But some electronic sources blur the line between public and private communication. (Private communications also have a different force of authority than deliberately published material; see Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information.) If in doubt about whether a given text should be considered public or private, we urge you to check with the original author before quoting it in your own work. Although the following categories overlap, they may help you decide when more care is warranted to avoid an invasion of privacy. (1) Web versions of sources that also appear in print are generally safe to quote, since most print publishers take care to secure rights before publication. (2) Publicly accessible websites are generally safe to quote. You may occasionally find a website reposting information that’s clearly from category 3, in which case you may wish to contact the original author before using the material. But if you can access the information through regular surfing, without passwords, it’s probably safe to use. (3) Communications sent via email or accessed by membership in a specific group are generally considered private, and you should exercise care in quoting from them in your papers. Even in this last category, there’s not a hard and fast rule you can follow. If your university sends an announcement to all students via email, you may reasonably consider this public information. If your best friend reveals something damaging or embarrassing in an email sent only to you, it’s clearly private. But what if a professor writes to you about something related to the course? Or if you receive a message that’s sent only to the members of a small club? What about the discussion forums that many courses set up for students to exchange ideas about the readings? These cases are all ambiguous. Unless there’s been an explicit agreement that the material is public, we encourage you to check before using such messages in your work.

Copying Text Without Plagiarizing One convenience of using electronic sources is the ability—once you’ve selected the passages you wish to quote—to copy and paste quotations instead of having the retype them into your paper. Even before you begin drafting a paper, copying and pasting sections from your sources seems an easy way to take notes, so that you

can look the material over later without surfing back to the website. This very convenience, however, also leads writers into danger. In the midst of researching and taking notes, it’s just too easy to paste quotations into your file with the intention to go back later and note down the source. When you return to your draft, it can be hard to distinguish your own writing from the passages you’ve copied. As discussed in Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism, the worst consequence of failing to acknowledge sources is to yourself: if you paste in someone’s words as your own, you will miss the opportunity to add your commentary, and therefore miss an opportunity to grow as a thinker and writer. Most of this guide focuses on such intellectual reasons for working properly with sources, rather than emphasizing the penalties of plagiarism. But because the copy and paste technique is so common, it’s especially important to warn you about its potential for abuse. Every year students come before the Yale Executive Committee having committed plagiarism through pasting material from the Internet into their papers and then forgetting to go back and identify the sources. Even when the oversight seems unintentional, these students are guilty of plagiarism, and must face penalties. But you can avoid this danger with one very simple precaution: Every time you highlight material from a website to use in your paper, save the material to a new file. Copy the URL (the full web address that begins with “http”) at the top of the new file, and give the file a name that briefly identifies the website. Taking this extra step will allow you to review your sources when you’ve made more progress with your paper. So if you were thinking of using a piece of this web page in your paper, you’d copy the relevant portion into a Word file, add the URL, and perhaps call the file “Writing at Yale Copy/Paste Advice.” You’ll still be able to avoid retyping by copying and pasting from the new file you’ve made. But you will have created a record of your excerpts to help you distinguish your sources from your own work. For your own convenience, you may also want to add other citation information below the URL—such as author and date of access—before moving on to examine the next website. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information about how to cite websites. See also Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for advice about how to use Internet sources effectively. Note: Even when you properly identify Internet sources, the very pasting that feels like a time-saver can lead you to use block quotations that are longer and less precise than necessary. Many writers, especially beginning academic writers, are better served by retyping quotations, because this extra step leads them to edit quotations and to paraphrase. You could still cut and paste to help you keep track of interesting passages before deciding which ones to quote in your paper (remembering, as suggested above, to create a new file for each website you work with).

Print Sources Posted Online MLA: Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. 350 B.C.E. Trans. W. C. Ross. The Internet Classics Archives. Ed. Daniel C. Stevenson. 1994. Web. 20 May 2015. [author.] [title.] [original publication date.] [website name.] [website author.] [update date.] [medium.] [date of access.]

APA: Aristotle. (1994). Nicomachean ethics. (W. C. Ross, Trans.). In D. C. Stevenson (Ed.), The internet classics archives. (Original work published 350 B.C.E.). Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen(link is external)(link is external) [author, by last name.] [(posting date).] [title.] [website author, (“Ed.”),] [website name.] [(original publication date).] [Retrieved from URL] Note: in APA style, no access date is necessary for information that will not be changed or updated, like an electronic book or a journal or newspaper article. Also note: when a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available, list the DOI instead of the URL. (A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the Internet.) Chicago: 16. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Online Versions of Print Periodicals MLA: Scott, Janny, and David Leonhardt. “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide.” New York Times 15 May 2005. Web. 20 May 2015. [author.] [“article title.”] [periodical title] [publication date.] [medium.] [date of access.] APA: Scott, J., & Leonhardt, D. (2005, May 15). Shadowy lines that still divide. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/national/class/OVERVIEWFINAL.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0(link is external)(link is external) [author.] [(publication date).] [article title.] [periodical title.] [Retrieved from URL] Note: in APA style, no date of access is necessary for information that will not be changed or updated, like an electronic book or a journal or newspaper article. Chicago: 17. Scott and Leonhardt, “Shadowy Lines.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access.

If a print journal, magazine, or newspaper maintains a version of its publication URL online, articles that you cite are listed in your Works Cited or list of References by the name of the article’s author. In MLA style, the name is followed by the title of the article—in APA, the publication date comes after the author. (If no author is identified, list by the article’s title. In that case, be sure to give at least a few key words from the title in the body of your paper, so that readers know how to find the source in your bibliography.) Next list the title of the journal, magazine, or newspaper. Give the publication date of the article next for MLA, followed by the date that you accessed the site. For APA , give the full URL—the Web address that begins with “http.” When a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available, list the DOI instead of the URL. (A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the Internet.) Note: If you use a database service (such as Lexis-Nexis) to access electronic sources, you must credit the database. See Databases (like Lexis-Nexis) for more information. Also note: Although online versions of print sources are often more reliable than online journals or private websites, their reliability is no greater than that of their print versions. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Databases (like Lexis-Nexis) MLA: Wallis, Claudia, et al. “The New Science of Happiness.” Time 17 Jan. 2005: A1A55. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 May 2015. [author, by last name.] [“article title.”] [periodical title] [publication date]: full page numbers for article.] [database name.] [medium.] [date of access.] APA: Wallis, C., Coady, E., Cray, D., Park, A., & Ressner, J. (2005, January 17). The new science of happiness. Time, A1-A55. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier [author(s), by last name, initial).] [(publication date).] [article title.] [periodical title,] [full page numbers for article.] [Retrieved from database name or URL] Note: in APA style, no date of access is necessary for information that will not be changed or updated, like an electronic book or a journal or newspaper article. Chicago: 18. Wallis et al., “The New Science.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Also note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style adds the URL (the Web address that begins with “http”), and does not name the database service directly if that name is

part of the Web address. For Chicago, as for APA„ when a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available, list the DOI instead of the URL. (A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the Internet.) Several companies maintain databases that make it easier to find articles on the topic you’re researching. Using these databases is especially helpful for connecting you to scholarly sources, which have been vetted by experts in their field before publication. The Yale library system subscribes to many such databases, allowing you to access them for free. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information about using scholarly sources. If you use a service like this—such as Lexis-Nexis— to find an article that you then cite in your paper, you must include the database name in your Works Cited or list of References. (The principle is that you want your reader to know how to retrieve your source for further research.) Note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Also note: Although online versions of print sources are often more reliable than Online Journals or Private Websites, their reliability is no greater than that of their print versions. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. Online Journals MLA: Hitchens, Christopher. “Unfairenheit 9/11.” Slate 21 June 2004. Web. 20 May 2015. .(link is external)>.(link is external) [author, by last name.] [“article title.”] [online journal title] [posting date.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: Hitchens, C. (2004, June 21). Unfairenheit 9/11. Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2004/06/unfaire nheit_911.single(link is external)(link is external) [author.] [(posting date).] [article title.] [online journal title.] [Retrieved from URL] Note: in APA style, no date of access is necessary for information that will not be changed or updated, like an electronic book or a journal or newspaper article. Chicago: 19. Hitchens, “Unfairenheit 9/11.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access.

An online journal is a website that publishes new material on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), with a journal title or other masthead, but that does not release a print publication. An online journal is not the same as the online version of a periodical that also publishes in print. (See Online Versions of Print Periodicals.) The distinction matters, because online journals—while often more reliable than private websites—are often considered less reliable than print sources or Internet versions of print sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. When including an article from an online journal in your Works Cited or list of References, list it by the name of the article’s author. This information is followed in MLA style by the article’s title, by the publication date in APA style. (If no author is identified, list by the article’s title.) Next list the online journal’s name. Give the publication date of the article (for MLA), followed by the date that you accessed the site. Finally, give the full URL—the Web address that begins with “http.” When a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is available, list the DOI instead of the URL. (A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the Internet.) Note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Organization Websites MLA: Fangmann, Alexander. “Illinois Supreme Court Strikes Down Pension Cuts.” 11 May 2015. World Socialist Web Site. Web. 20 May 2015. . [author, by last name.] [“section or page title.”] [posting date.] [organization name.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: Fangmann, A. (2015, May 11). Illinois Supreme Court strikes down pension cuts. Retrieved 20 May 2015, from the World Socialist Web Site:https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/05/11/illi-m11(link is external)(link is external) [author, by last name, initial.] [(posting date).] [page title.] [Retrieved date of access,] [from organization name:] [URL] Chicago: 20. Fangmann, A. “Illinois Supreme Court.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access.

Many organizations maintain websites hosting information about the organization or about the field that they work in. Some examples include commercial companies, universities, non-profit organizations, political groups, and government agencies. The reliability of these websites varies widely, as these organizations often use their websites to promote specific causes and may therefore emphasize only the facts and ideas that support their goals. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. But sometimes these organizations have the most comprehensive coverage of topics that pertain to them. For certain topics, it’s also useful to examine what the interested parties say, even if you must remember to balance it with research into other points of view. If you are conscientious about identifying who sponsors the site, your reader will be better prepared to examine the material you present. Websites hosted by university departments and programs would generally be considered reliable sources, especially in their areas of scholarly expertise. (More caution is warranted when the site discusses politics or issues of university governance. Be careful, too, to distinguish sites created by individual faculty members from those sponsored by the larger institution.) Whenever possible, you should identify the author of the material you use from a website. Some pages you access will have separate titles or sub-titles, which can be used like the titles of an article in a journal. This title is followed by the name of the main website, if there is one, and the name of the sponsoring organization. After this comes the full URL for the material you’re using.The final item is the date that you accessed the site. Note: It’s sometimes hard to find the author of material on an organization website. In that case, list by the title of the site—if there is one—or by the name of the organization. If you can’t find any of this information, even after searching through the site’s links, you may be using a private website or topic website, and should review the information for those sources. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Topic Websites MLA: “The Horcrux of Love.” Mugglenet.com: The #1 Harry Potter Site. 3 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 May 2015. . [“section or page title.”] [website name.] [posting date.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: The horcrux of love. (2013, Jan. 3). Mugglenet.com: The #1 Harry Potter site. Retrieved 20 May 2015, from http://www.mugglenet.com/2013/01/the-horcruxof-love(link is external)(link is external)

[section or page title.] [(posting date).] [website name.] [Retrieved date of access,] [from URL] Chicago: 21. “The Horcrux of Love.” [fn. #.] [“shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Websites that are print sources posted online, online versions of print periodicals, online journals, or organization websites are discussed separately. By “topic websites,” we mean sites that are dedicated to a single issue, such as the life of a famous person, the main ideas of a social movement, or the details of a popular television show. This category is a little hard to define. Unlike online journals or other periodicals, topic websites are not usually revised on a regular schedule, although material may be added from time to time. And unlike organization websites, topic websites do not usually promote the products or mission of a particular institution— which means they also don’t have the organization’s reputation to back up their authority. Finally, topic websites may also overlap with private websites, which often focus on a single issue that their author is passionate about. Still, the category is worth knowing about, because a lot of background information on general topics like “Medieval Literature” or “Film Noir” is found on websites that don’t easily fit any of the other categories. You’ll want to double-check material you find on Topic Websites, and you may need to treat them as popular sources rather than scholarly sources. If you take these precautions, topic websites are sometimes useful for giving a broad overview or putting you on the track of more authoritative sources. (See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information.) When these websites appear to be wholly or primarily the work of one author, list by the author’s name, followed by the title of the article or specific page you’re using (if there is one), the website title (often the name of the topic), the date of posting (if known), the date you accessed it, and the full URL—the Web address that begins with “http.” If the site you’re using is sponsored by an organization of some kind (like a company, a university department, or a political group), it may qualify as an organization website, and you should review the information for those sources. Note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Private Websites MLA: Mohanraj, Mary Anne. “The Early Years: 1971-1985.” Mary Anne Mohanraj. 20 May 2015. Web. (link is external). [author.] [“section or page title.”] [website name.] [date of access] [medium.] [.]

Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: Mohanraj, M. A. The early years: 1971-1985. Mary Anne Mohanraj. Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www.mamohanraj.com/BioPhotos/bio1.html(link is external) [author.] [section or page title.] [website name.] [Retrieved date of access,] [from URL] Chicago: 22. Mohanraj, “The Early Years.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Private websites come in many forms. Some dabble in multiple topics, about which the site’s author may not even profess any special expertise. Some announce themselves as fan sites, indicating that the author has an intense interest but no special background or credentials. Still others are quite professional in presentation, with authors who profess or demonstrate vast experience. Just a few years ago, unreliable websites were often riddled with typographical errors or burdened with amateurish design and graphics. But it’s increasingly easy to host websites that look polished and professional, which can make it hard to judge whether the site’s sponsors take seriously the responsibility to check and update their information. For the purpose of academic research, most private websites should be considered popular sources, which can be useful as sources of opinion but should generally not be relied on for authoritative information. (See Popular vs. Scholarly Sources for more information.) It’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use private websites. If you give a sense of what kind of web source you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. Private websites also raise issues of privacy, as some sites that require password access may not invite republication of their material in scholarly research. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. When using material from a private website, list by the author (if known), then by the title of the article or specific Webpage you’re using (if known), and the date of posting (if listed). Follow this by the title of the website, if applicable. If the site is part of an identifiable online group (like “Facebook” or “tumblr”), include that title next. Next, list the date that you accessed the site and the full URL—the Web address that begins with “http.” Some of these details may be hard to identify. In the example above, for instance, it was not possible to determine when the specific section of the website was last updated. Only the date of access is given.

Note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Blogs MLA: Martin, George R. R. “A Few More Last Words.” Not a Blog. 8 May 2010. Livejournal. Web. 20 May 2015. (link is external). [author, by last name.] [“title of entry.”] [title of weblog.] [posting date.] [site sponsor or publisher.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: Martin, G. R. R. (2010, May 8). A few more last words [Weblog post]. Retrieved May 20, 2015, from Livejournal: http://grrm.livejournal.com/152340(link is external) [author, by last name, initial.] [(posting date).] [title of entry [format description].] [Weblog post.] [Retrieved date of access,] [from site sponsor or publisher:] [URL] Chicago: 23. Martin, “Last Words.” [fn. #.] [author last name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Blogs—an abbreviation of “weblogs”—are websites or areas of websites devoted to dated reflections by the site’s author. Many blogs are hosted on or presented as private websites where the author claims little special expertise or no professional affiliation relevant to the blog’s topic. In these cases, see the discussion of Private Websites, and use the same care when evaluating the material you access. But blogs are increasingly included as a feature of organization websites (Amazon.com, for instance, now invites authors to post blogs on their work) or as elements of online versions of print periodicals (the New York Times website hosts several blogs by reporters and editors). When using a blog that’s identified with a larger journal or organization, follow the advice listed for those general sources. Even when hosted by a recognized organization, most blogs should probably be treated as popular rather than scholarly sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. The example above also lists “Livejournal” as the site’s sponsor. This information might be considered analogous to the organization that sponsors an organization website. But in some cases, it may not be necessary to give the site sponsor. Livejournal, for instance, does not supervise posters’ comments very closely. A sponsor like “Facebook” has more rules and some restrictions to access, but is still doesn’t stand behind the material as much as an online journal would. When deciding whether to include the site sponsor, use your judgment: if the blog pursues a theme in common with the sponsor, list the sponsor.

Note: It’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use blogs. If you give a sense of what kind of web source you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Online Video (like YouTube) The formats below cover the most common ways to cite video clips that were published online (on sites like YouTube and Vimeo). Video that was first published elsewhere but accessed online (on sites like Netflix and Hulu) is cited differently. See the notes that follow for more information. MLA: TED. “Philip Zimbardo: The Psychology of Evil.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 23 Sept. 2008. Web. 8 Aug 2015. (link is external) [author’s name or screen name.] [“title of video.”] [media type.] [name of website.] [site sponsor or publisher,] [posting date.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: TED. (2008, Sept. 23). Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil [Video file]. Retrieved Aug. 8, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFEV35tWsg(link is external) [author’s name or screen name.] [(posting date).] [title of entry[format description].] [Retrieved date of access,] [from URL] Note: If you know both the author’s name and his or her screen name (and they are different from one another), APA style cites the author’s name first (last name, first initial) followed by the screen name in square brackets (e.g. Booker, J [jbook].). Chicago: 24. TED, “Philip Zimbardo.” [fn. #.] [author name or screen name, “shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. Like other film and video formats, conventions for citing online video are less fixed than those for print or other kinds of online sources. The citation for a video clip that was first published online typically attributes the clip to the individual who posted it on the Internet. Video that was first published elsewhere before being posted online,

is usually attributed to the individuals most responsible for making it—the director or performers. See the citation formats for Film & Video and Television, Radio Program, or Music Video for more information. Depending on who seems most responsible for the existence of the video you’re citing, you may choose to attribute an online video to its creators rather than the individual who posted it. For example, a film that is released online or an ongoing web series, may be more accurately attributed to the director or actors than the person who uploaded it to the Internet. For citation formats that attribute video to the actors or director, see Film & Video and Television, Radio Program, or Music Video.

Forums, Listservs, Chats, & Bulletin Boards MLA: Levy, Michael. “Re: your canon?” Science Fiction Research Association, 19 Apr. 2006. Web. 26 June 2006. <(link sends e-mail)[email protected](link sends email)(link sends e-mail)>. [author, by last name.] [“title or subject line.”] [discussion group,] [posting date.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: Levy, M. (2006, April 19). Re: your canon? [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved June 26, 2006 from (link sends e-mail)[email protected](link sends e-mail)(link sends e-mail). [author, by last name, initial.] [(posting date).] [title or subject line [format description].] [Retrieved date of access from address.] Chicago: 24. Levy, “Re: your canon?” [fn. #.] [author last name, ”title or subject heading.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. There are many electronic forums that allow users with a specific interest or affiliation to discuss topics with each other. Some of these are restricted to members of a group, or of a specific course. (Many Yale courses, for instance, provide forum discussions through the Classesv2 server.) Other such discussions are open to any interested party. Although discussions limited to professionals in a field may be more authoritative, in general you should probably treat material from these forums as popular rather than scholarly sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. Note: Many such forums expect communications to be private. Be sure to check the group’s policies on reproduction of such material. Even if an FAQ or moderator seems to make reproduction permissible, a decent respect for privacy suggests that you secure the poster’s permission before making the material public.

If you use material from an electronic forum, list by author’s name. Follow that with the most specific identifying information you can give about the particular post. Depending on the type of discussion, there may be subject headings or specific message numbers on a given post. You may or may not be able to tell the posting date. In MLA style, include the name of the sponsoring forum. Since most of these discussions do not supervise postings, do not put the sponsor name in italics. Follow this with the date you accessed the material. Even when membership is restricted to a particular organization, most listervs should probably be treated as popular rather than scholarly sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. The last item in your listing—the electronic address—brings up one point on which MLA and APA styles differ starkly: in APA, if the posting cannot be retrieved, you cite it in your paper as a personal communication and do not include it in your list of References. Even in MLA style, it’s better to cite the message in the form that’s most easily accessible to your reader: many listservs archive their messages on the web, for instance, even though the original postings are delivered by email. Try to include the archive address. Also note: As discussed in Signaling Sources, it’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use listservs. If you give a sense of what kind of Websource you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Email & Instant Messages MLA: Donahue, Tiane. “Re: Your WPA Question.” Message to the author. 14 Dec. 2004. Email. [author, by last name.] [“title or subject line.”] [message recipient.] [message date.] [medium.] APA: Do not include in list of References. Cite in your paper as a personal communication. Chicago: 25. Tiane Donahue, “Re: Your WPA Question,” email message to author, December 14, 2000. [fn. #.] [author full name, “subject heading,”] [type of message,] [date of message.] Note: Chicago style footnotes give full information for private messages, but does not list them in the Bibliography. It’s probably obvious that the authority of material that comes in private communications varies greatly with the status of the source. What someone writes to you by email may be useful as a source of opinion, but can seldom be relied on as definitive information, unless you’re in correspondence with a recognized expert. And

even in these cases, the informality of email makes most authors much less careful about checking facts and conclusions, rendering the information less authoritative. Most email messages should probably be treated as popular rather than scholarly sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. Note: Most people consider email to be private. Even if the message is sent to more than one recipient, a decent respect for privacy suggests that you secure the sender’s permission before making the material public. If you received the message as a forward, the obligation to seek permission is even more urgent, as the original author likely has no reason to expect you to use the message in your own work. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. If you do use material from an email, the format for listing in MLA style is fairly simple, as in the example above: Author, Subject, “Email to the author,” and Date. In APA style, you do not include in your list of References any source that can’t be retrieved by your reader. If you use email in your paper, cite it as a personal communication in your text, and do not list it at the end. For Chicago style, private messages are given full citation in a footnote, but not included in the Bibliography. Note: As discussed in the section on Signaling Sources, it’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use private messages. If you give a sense of what kind of source you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Also note: You may notice that listing Internet sources often takes more time and care than listing print sources. Since the authorship and location of Web sources are harder to establish, readers need even more information in order to assess sources and to retrieve them for further study. See Special Demands of Internet Sources for more information. Wikipedia MLA: “King Arthur.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 18 May 2015. Web. 20 May 2015. . [“page title.”] [website name.] [site sponsor or publisher,] [date of last revision.] [medium.] [date of access.] [.] Note: MLA style does not require the use of URLs in citations of internet sources. However, some instructors may prefer that you use URLs. In this case, MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. APA: King Arthur. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 26, 2006, from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur(link is external)(link is external) [page title.] [(“n.d.”).] [In website name.] [Retrieved date, from: URL] Chicago: 26. “King Arthur.” [fn. #.] [“title.”]

[Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Note: In the Bibliography, Chicago style does not generally include date of access. To list material from Wikipedia, you should review the advice for organization websites. But Wikipedia merits additional attention because of its recent growth and popularity. Some professors will warn you not to use Wikipedia because they believe its information is unreliable. As a community project with no central review committee, Wikipedia certainly contains its share of incorrect information and uninformed opinion. And since it presents itself as an encyclopedia, Wikipedia can sometimes seem more trustworthy than the average website, even to writers who would be duly careful about private websites or topic websites. In this sense, it should be treated as a popular rather than scholarly source. See Popular vs. Scholarly Sources for more information. But the main problem with using Wikipedia as an important source in your research is not that it gets things wrong. Some of its contributors are leaders in their fields, and, besides, some print sources contain errors. The problem, instead, is that Wikipedia strives for a lower level of expertise than professors expect from Yale students. As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is written for a common readership. But students in Yale courses are already consulting primary materials and learning from experts in the discipline. In this context, to rely on Wikipedia—even when the material is accurate—is to position your work as inexpert and immature. If you use Wikipedia for general background, check several other sources before using the material in your essays. Some of the facts you find may be attributable to common knowledge (see Common Knowledge for more discussion). You may also be able to track opinions or deeper ideas back to their original sources. In many cases, your course readings will contain similar ideas in better, more quotable language. Many student writers are tempted to use Wikipedia for definitions of terms (the same way a beginning writer might quote a dictionary). But in most cases, a definition drawn or paraphrased from the primary course readings—or from other scholarly sources—will be more effective. See Why Cite? for more discussion of definitions and keyterms. Of course, if you do use language or information from Wikipedia, you must cite it—to do otherwise constitutes plagiarism. The advice here is not to hide what Wikipedia contributes to your ideas, but rather to move beyond Wikipedia and write from a more knowledgeable, expert stance. How to Cite Miscellaneous Sources          

Microform: Microfilm & Microfiche CD-ROMs Film & Video Television, Radio Program, or Music Video Music or Sound Recording Art, Photographs, & Illustrations Unpublished Written Materials Lectures and Live Performances Interviews, Conversations, & Discussions Sources That Cite Other Sources

 

Sources Suggested by Other People Critical Editions

Microform: Microfilm & Microfiche MLA: Sutherlin, Robert N. “Organize Your Stock Associations.” Rocky Mountain Husbandman 5 June 1879: 2. Microform. Work Progress Administration for the Livestock Industry 36 (1942): Reel 1, Microfilm 250. [author, by last name.] [“article title.”] [original publication title] [original publication date: page number.] [medium.] [collection title volume number] [(collection year):] [specific microform information (such as reel, fiche, number, etc.).] APA: Sutherlin, R. N. (1879, June 5). Organize your stock associations [Editorial]. Rocky Mountain Husbandman, p. 2. In Work Progress Administration for the Livestock Industry 36 (1942) [Microfilm]. (Reel 1, Microfilm 250). [author, by last name, initial.] [(publication date).] [article title, no quotation marks] [original publication title, “p.” page number.] [In collection title & volume] [(collection year) [medium].] [(specific microform information).] Chicago: 15. Sutherlin, “Organize Your Stock Associations,” 2. [fn. #.] [author last name, “title,” page quoted.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] “Microform” is the general term for documents reproduced in reduced size on transparent media such as microfilm (which comes in rolls) or microfiche (small sheets). Most sources you access as microforms will have originated as printed materials. Generally speaking, follow the directions for citing the original source, but add the information necessary to access the source on microfilm or microfiche. This may include a name for the microfilm service, volume number, year, and any letters or numbers identifying the specific film roll or fiche number.

CD-ROMs MLA: Clute, John and Peter Nicholls. “End of the World.” The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Danbury: Grolier, 1995. CD-ROM. [author, by last name.] [“section title.”] [CD-ROM title.] [city: publisher, year.] [medium.] APA: Clute, J., & Nicholls, P. (1995). End of the world. In The multimedia encyclopedia of science fiction [CD-ROM]. Danbury, CT: Grolier. [author, by last name, initial.] [(date).] [section title] [In CD-ROM title] [[media].] [city, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] Chicago: 27. Clute and Nicholls, “End of the World.” [fn. #.] [author last name,] [”title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.]

Citing CD-ROMs is probably most similar to citing an article in a book. Both call for author, article or section title, title of the larger work, and date of publication. Both MLA and APA style expect that you identify the medium of recorded sources (in this case, CD-ROM) in your listing. Film & Video MLA: Labyrinth. Dir. Jim Henson. Perf. David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly. Henson Associates, 1986. Sony Pictures, 2009. Blu-ray. [title.] [Dir. director.] [Perf. main performers.] [production company, release year.] [distributor, distribution year.] [medium.] APA: Lucas, G. (Producer), & Henson, J. (Director). (1986). Labyrinth [Motion picture]. United States: Henson Associates. [producer & director, with titles.] [(year).] [title] [[format].] [production country: production company.] Chicago: 28. Henson, Labyrinth. [fn. #.] [director last name, title.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Conventions for citing film and video productions are less fixed than those for print and even many online sources. This ambiguity is caused in part by the group nature of such productions: even if you identify a writer, producer, or director, a performance almost never has the single authorship of a written text or single image. Your citation should always include the same basic elements (as described below), but their order can vary—especially concerning the first item listed. A solid basic format includes title, director’s name, and the name of one or two lead performers. Also include the distributor and release date. If you’re working from a video, DVD, or Blu-ray, MLA style adds the words “Videocassette,” “DVD,” or “Bluray,” followed by the release date of the video. For films accessed on the internet, MLA style includes the sponsoring site, the word “Web,” and date of access (e.g. Netflix. Web. 2 Apr 2013.). Modified Format Because academic essays may focus on different aspects of a film or television production, citation conventions can vary. This is especially true of MLA style, which will be more common in courses that ask you to analyze movies. If you focus primarily on one person’s work in the film, you may decide to list by that person’s name, followed by an abbreviation of their role. Then list the title and the rest of the information described above. (Example below in MLA style; adjust as needed for other styles.) Bowie, David, perf. Labyrinth. Dir. Jim Henson. Henson Associates, 1986. Blu-ray. Sony Pictures, 2009.

Television, Radio Program, or Music Video MLA: “Occupation.” Battlestar Galactica: Season 3. Writ. Ronald D. Moore. Dir. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. Universal Studios, 2010. Blu-ray. [“program title.”] [album or series title.] [Writ. writer.] [Dir.director.] [distributor,] [distribution year.] [medium.] APA: Moore, R. D. (Writer), & Director, S. Mimica-Gezzan. (6 October 2006). Occupation [Television series episode]. In Ronald D. Moore (Producer), Battlestar galactica. Los Angeles, CA: The Sci-Fi Channel. [writer, by last name, initial (Writer),] [& Director, director.] [(original airdate).] [program title [format].] [In producer (Producer),] [series title.] [location of original distributor: original distributor.] Chicago: 29. Moore, “Occupation.” [fn. #.] [artist or writer last name,] [“shortened title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Conventions for citing television and radio productions are less fixed than those for print and even many online sources. This ambiguity is caused in part by the group nature of such productions: even if you identify a writer, producer, or director, a performance almost never has the single authorship of a written text or image. Your citation should always include the same basic elements (as described below), but their order can vary—especially concerning the first item listed. A solid basic format includes title, writer’s name, director’s name, and perhaps the name of one or two lead performers. For programs accessed on the internet, MLA style ends the citation with the sponsoring site, the word “Web,” and date of access (e.g. Hulu. Web. 2 Apr 2013.). Note that APA style includes the city and state where the program was aired, because some programs are modified for different markets. Modified Format But because academic essays may focus on different aspects of a radio or television production, citation conventions can vary. This is especially true of MLA style, which will be more common in courses where you analyze these programs. If you focus primarily on one person’s work in the production, you may decide to list by that name, followed by an abbreviation of their role. Then list the title and the rest of the information described above. (Example below in MLA style; adjust as needed for other styles.) Sackhoff, Katee, perf. “Occupation.” Battlestar Galactica: Season 3. Writ. Ronald D. Moore. Dir. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. Universal Studios, 2010. Blu-ray. Note: If substantial time has passed between the original air date and the date you viewed the program, you may want to list the original date just after the title, leaving the date you viewed at the end of the citation.

Music or Sound Recording MLA: David Bowie. “Life on Mars.” Hunky Dory. RCA Victor, 1971. Vinyl. [artist.] [“title of piece.”] [title of album.] [production company, 1971.] [medium.] APA: Bowie, D. (1971). Life on mars. On Hunky dory [Vinyl]. London, England: RCA Victor. [writer, by last name, initial.] [(copyright year).] [title of song [Recorded by artist if different from writer].] [On title of album [medium].] [city of production, country: production company.] Note: APA style lists the city and state (using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods) for U.S. production companies and the city and full country name for production companies outside the United States. Chicago: 30. Bowie, “Life on Mars.” [fn. #.] [artist,] [“title.”] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Conventions for citing music and sound recordings are less fixed than those for print and even many online sources. This ambiguity is caused in part by the group nature of such productions: even if you identify a writer, producer, or director, a performance seldom has the single authorship of a written text or image. Your citation should always include the same basic elements (as described below), but their order can vary—especially concerning the first item listed. A solid basic format includes the artist’s name, the title of the piece, and the title of the longer work (if you cite one song from an album or CD). Also include the production company and release date. Modified Format But because academic essays may focus on very different aspects of a music or sound recording, citation conventions can vary. This is especially true of MLA style, which will be more common in courses where you analyze these texts. If you focus primarily on one person’s work in the production, you may decide to list by that name, followed by an abbreviation of their role. Then list the title and the rest of the information described above. (Example below in MLA style; adjust as needed for other styles.) Scott, Ken, prod. “Life on Mars.” Hunky Dory. RCA Victor, 1971. Art, Photographs, & Illustrations MLA: Gozzoli, Benozzo. Chapel of the Magi. 1459. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence. The Chapel of the Magi in Palazzo Medici. By Franco Cardini. Florence: Mandragora, 2001. 40-41. Print. [artist.] [title.] [year created.] [owner, city.] [book source, if used.] [By book’s author.] [city of publication: publisher, year.] [page where image appears.] [medium.]

APA: Gozzoli, B. (1459). Chapel of the magi [Fresco Series]. In F. Cardini, The chapel of the magi in palazzo Medici. Florence, Italy: Mandragora, 2001, pp. 40-41. [artist.] [(year created).] [title of artwork] [[type of work].] [In book’s author,] [book source, if used.] [city of publication, country: publisher, year,] [“pp.” page where image appears.] Note: APA style lists the city and state (using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods) for U.S. publishers and the city and full country name for publishers outside the United States. Chicago: 31. Gozzoli, “Chapel of the Magi,” 40-41. [fn. #.] [artist last name, “title,” page where image appears.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Listing images is probably most like citing an article in a book, with the artist, title, and the museum that holds the work taking the place of author, article title, and book title. If you view the work in person, all you need to add in most cases would be the date the work was produced. If you use a reproduction or illustration from a printed or Web source, simply add the publication information for your source after you identify the artwork. Follow the other instructions on this website for the relevant kind of source. Note that MLA style asks for information both on who owns the work and on any source you used for a reproduction; APA style asks only for the source you used to retrieve the image.

Unpublished Written Materials MLA: Senn, Milton. Report on the Yale Child Study Center. 1962. TS. Sally Provence Papers, 1951-1991, Box 24. Yale U, New Haven. [author, by last name.] [title or other description.] [date of composition.] [TS or MS.] [collection name, number.] [institution, city.] APA: Senn, M. (1962). Report on the Yale Child Study Center. Unpublished report. Sally Provence Papers, 1951-1991, Box 24. Yale U, New Haven, CT. [author, by last name, initial.] [(date of composition).] [title or other description.] [format.] [collection name, number.] [institution, city, state using two letter postal abbreviation without periods.] Chicago: 32. Senn, Report Yale Child Study Center, Box 24. [fn. #.] [author last name, shortened title, page or file #.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] As with all citations, the goal in listing unpublished materials is to make it easy for readers to track down your sources, if necessary. If the materials are available from a library or collection, list them first by author. Include a title or any other distinguishing material, as well as any numbers assigned by the collection to help catalog the materials. Identify the institution that holds the collection. Note: “TS”

(“typescript”) indicates typed materials; “MS” (“manuscript”) indicates handwritten ones. Privately Held Unpublished Material For unpublished material that is not housed in a public collection, each of the three citation styles has different conventions. MLA style allows you to list unpublished material even if it’s not housed publicly; add “Author’s private collection” at the end of your listing. Chicago style recommends a full footnote at the point of citation, but no listing in the Bibliography. (See Email and Instant Messages for a similar example in Chicago style.) In APA convention, only sources that can be publicly accessed are listed in your References. If you use materials in your private possession, APA style dictates that you refer to them this way in your paper and not list them at the end. Lectures & Live Performances MLA: Garber, Marjorie. Lecture on Shakespeare’s Othello. Literature and Arts 4-41– Shakespeare, the Later Plays. Harvard U, Cambridge. 10 Mar 1982. Lecture. [speaker, by last name.] [title or other description.] [sponsoring event or course name.] [institution, city.] [performance date.] [performance type.] APA: Identify as lecture or performance in your paper. Do not list in your References. Chicago: 33. Garber, “Lecture on Othello.” [fn. #.] [speaker last name, shortened title.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] A solo performance or a lecture is cited by the performer’s name. Include a title, if any, or a short descriptive word to identify the format. (Lectures with titles are listed with quotation marks; don’t use quotation marks if you are just using a descriptive phrase.) Include the location and date of the performance. If the event is part of a conference, course, or lecture series, you may add that after the performance title. Use this format when you quote or paraphrase part of your professor’s lectures in your paper. If your paper cites a performance by two or more people, or the production of a play or other previously published or recorded work, what you list first depends on which element of the production your paper focuses on. This ambiguity is caused in part by the group nature of such productions: even if you identify a writer, producer, or director, a group performance never has the single authorship of a written text or image. See the discussion of film and video for discussion of a similar example. In APA style, you do not include in your list of References any source that can’t be retrieved by your reader. If you refer to a lecture or performance in your paper, cite it as such in your text, and do not list it at the end.

Interviews, Conversations, & Discussions MLA: Wallack, Nicole. Institute for Writing and Thinking. New York City. 7 June 2006.

Advisory Board Meeting. [speaker.] [sponsoring event.] [location.] [date.] [format.] APA: Identify as conversation in your paper. Do not list in your References. Chicago: 34. Nicole Wallack, Advisory Board Meeting, Institute for Writing and Thinking, New York City, June 7, 2006. [fn. #.] [author full name, discussion format,] [sponsoring context if any,] [location, date.] Note: Chicago style footnotes give full information for unpublished discussions, but does not list them in the Bibliography. It’s probably obvious that the authority of material that comes in private conversations varies greatly with the status of the source. What someone says may be useful as a source of opinion, but can seldom be relied on as definitive information, unless you’re speaking with a recognized expert. And even in these cases, the informality of conversation makes most people much less careful about checking facts and conclusions, rendering the information less authoritative. Most discussions should probably be treated as popular rather than scholarly sources. See Scholarly vs. Popular Sources for more information. But some discussions will be relevant to ideas you’re developing (especially class discussions), and some of the people you talk to will have useful knowledge of the topics at hand. In addition, even talking about your own ideas can be an invaluable way to develop them further, and this benefit is not restricted to conversations with experts. If you talk with friends or classmates, you may gain new insights for your writing, and you may wish to acknowledge other speaker’s contributions to your work. Doing so is not simply a matter of giving credit where it’s due, but can also serve to add texture to your ideas by articulating alternate positions—exploring such alternatives, briefly, can enhance the impact of your primary argument. The following other sections of this guide may be helpful in thinking about how to employ ideas that arise in conversation: Why Cite?, Scholarly vs. Popular Sources, and Sources that Other People Suggested. How to Cite Discussions & Conversations If you quote or paraphrase what someone said during a meeting, class discussion, or private conversation, list the citation by the speaker’s name. Follow that with a short description of the discussion format (such as “Private conversation”). If the conversation is part of some organized event—like a class meeting—include that information. In APA style, you do not include in your list of References any source that can’t be retrieved by your reader. If you use material from a discussion in your paper, cite it as a personal communication in your text, and do not list it at the end. Note: As discussed in the section on How To Quote, it’s often useful to identify your source in the body of your paper (and not just in your citation or footnote); this identification is especially important when you use discussions. If you give a sense of what kind of source you’re using, the reader will be better able to understand the context of your evidence. The discussion of Special Demands of Internet Sources examines the importance of contextualizing your sources.

Also note: Most people consider conversations to be private. Even if the discussion involves more than one person, a decent respect for privacy suggests that you secure the speaker’s permission before making the material public. The discussion of Special Demands of Internet Sources examines the importance of respecting a source’s privacy. Sources That Cite Other Sources MLA: Hoy, Pat C. II. “The Narrow, Rich Staircase in Forster’s Howard’s End.” Twentieth Century Literature 31 (1985): 221-235. Print. [author of article, by last name.] [“title of article.”] [title of journal.] [volume number] [(year):] [full page numbers for article.] [medium.] APA: Hoy, P. C. II. (1985). The narrow, rich staircase in Forster’s howard’s end. Twentieth Century Literature 31, 221-235. [author of article.][(year).] [title of article, no quotation marks.] [title of journal] [volume number,] [full page numbers for article.] Chicago: 35. Forster, Howard’s End, quoted in Hoy, “Narrow, Rich Staircase,” 224. [fn. #.] [quoted author, title,] [“quoted in” accessed author, “shortened title,” page number.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] The example above is from a critical article where Pat C. Hoy II quotes sections of the novel Howard’s End, written by E. M. Forster. If the source you’re reading quotes another text, and you want to use that quoted material in your own essay, you must give credit to the author who originally selected the quotation. So if Pat Hoy quotes E. M. Forster, and you want to use the same Forster quotation, you must give Hoy credit. You can acknowledge this several ways: add the phrase “Pat Hoy quotes Forster’s…” before your quotation; add the phrase “qtd. in Hoy” in parentheses after the quotation; or add what’s called a discursive footnote at the bottom of the page explaining that Hoy’s work led you to the Forster selection. For more information about these different methods, see Signaling Sources. In each of these cases, you would also include the bibliographical information necessary to help the reader find Hoy’s piece. Some writers try to bypass this obligation by looking briefly at the original source (in this case Forster), either online or by checking the book out of the library. If you end up using different material and making a different argument, you may still want to credit Hoy for leading you to consult Forster. See Sources that Other People Suggested for more information. If you quote the same language Hoy did, even after consulting the original work yourself, it’s dishonest to pretend that Hoy did not lead you there. And, as discussed in Why Cite?, it’s also usually a mistake. There’s every chance that your discussion of Forster can be enhanced by incorporating Hoy’s attention, especially if you’re careful to extend or respond to his insights. You may be surprised how effective it can be both to give credit and also to differ with an author in the same gesture: “In his attention this passage, Hoy suggests…. But looked at in light of my previous argument, it seems clear that….” Bibliography Padding Besides wanting to claim credit for finding the significant passage, some writers might disguise their debt to Hoy as a way to pad their bibliographies. If you quote

Hoy in one place, but then quote Forster as if you read that text yourself, you can make it look as if you used two sources and not just one. Please resist this temptation. For one reason, you misrepresent the work you’ve done. But perhaps more damaging, if you quote without acknowledgment the exact passage another writer discussed, there’s a very good chance that your argument will be subtly turned in an unintended direction. You are much more likely to develop your own ideas— and therefore to grow as a writer and thinker—if you acknowledge the second author and respond to his or her use of the passage. See Why Cite? for more discussion about entering the ongoing conversation about a topic. Sources Suggested by Other People MLA: 1. My use of Bouvard here was prompted by Jessica Scott’s “Judgment Day Everyday.” Mercer Street, Ed. Alfred E. Guy Jr. 2001. 50-54. Print. [footnote mark] [brief explanation] [publication information—do not list Scott in Works Cited.] APA: 1. See Scott (2001). [footnote mark] [brief reference, and list Scott in References.] Chicago: 36. My use of Bouvard here was prompted by Jessica Scott’s “Judgment Day Everyday.” Mercer Street, Ed. Alfred E. Guy Jr. 2001. 50-54. [fn.#.] [brief explanation] [publication information—do not list Scott in Bibliography.] If the source you’re reading quotes another text, and you want to use that quoted material in your own essay, you must give credit to the author who originally selected the quotation. See Sources that Cite Other Sources for more information. But even if you focus on different parts of the second text, and make a different argument, you may still want to give credit to authors who lead you to other sources. In the example above, you may end up focusing on very different aspects of Bouvard’s text than Scott did, leading you to quote different passages and to make your own argument. But if it was reading Scott’s piece that gave you the idea to look at Bouvard, you may want to acknowledge her help. In the MLA example above, credit is given by the use of what’s called a discursive footnote (a footnote that adds information that isn’t part of the central argument). Since you don’t use Scott directly in the essay, you would include the publication information in the footnote, rather than in your Works Cited. In the APA example, only the author’s name and date are given in the footnote. In this instance, you would include the publication information in the References. But you can use the briefer version for MLA and the fuller version for APA; the format for this kind of acknowledgment is not rigidly defined. If you want to call even more attention to Scott’s influence, you could add the phrase that gives her credit directly into your paragraph. In that case, follow the instructions on how to cite that kind of source (in this case, an Article in a Book). Ultimately, every thing you read can lead you to something else, and it would be possible to go overboard in acknowledging the web of texts that have influenced you. But especially for beginning academic writers, it can be quite gratifying to make visible the conversation of ideas you’ve entered into and which has resulted in your current paper.

Critical Editions MLA: Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. 1532. Ed. & Trans. Robert M. Adams. Norton Critical Editions. New York: Norton, 1992. Print. [author, by last name.] [title.] [original publication date.] [editor & translator, by first name.] [series name.] [city of publication: publisher, year. medium.] APA: Machiavelli, N. (1992). The prince (R. M. Adams, Ed. & Trans.). Norton Critical Editions. New York, NY: Norton. (Original work published 1532) [author by last name, initial.] [(year).] [title] [(editor & translator.).] [series name.] [city of publication, state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods: publisher.] [(Original work published date)] Chicago: 37. Machiavelli, Prince, 45. [fn. #.] [quoted author, shortened title, page number.] [Shortened Chicago reference; see More Notes on Chicago Style for more information.] Critical editions print in one book a text as well as scholarly responses to it and other information useful to understanding the text (such as letters from the author). This kind of sourcebook is most common in the humanities, but may also be found in other disciplines. If you use material from a critical edition, you should cite it the same way you would cite an Article in a Book or a Preface, Foreword, or Introduction. But like Sources that Cite other Sources, critical editions can sometimes tempt a writer to pad his or her bibliography. In the example above, if you cite Machiavelli in one place, but then cite one of the critical articles as if you read its original publication, you can make it look as if you found sources in two different locations. Please resist this temptation. First of all, in nearly every case, disguising your use of the critical edition will constitute unnecessary busywork, as almost any professor who wants you to use critical sources will be glad to see you consulting a critical edition. And on a simpler level, it’s just wrong to deny credit to the editor of the critical edition for selecting the very readings that you’ve found helpful in developing your argument.