Citing+Electronic+Sources

[|Library of Congress Guide to Citing Electronic Sources]

Who Said That? How to Cite Electronic Resources
It is very important for you to understand the need for, and purpose of, giving credit to the sources that you use in the research process. We have discussed the concept of plagiarism. Plagiarism is using others' ideas or words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. One very important way to responsibly use information, but to is avoid plagiarism is to know the basic rules to avoid plagiarism.

The basic rules to avoid plagiarism:Give credit whenever you use1. another person's idea, opinion, or theory. 2. any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—that are not common knowledge. 3. quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words. 4. paraphrases of another person's spoken or written words.

**I FOUND IT ONLINE!** More and more of you are growing up with computers, are using electronic resources in preparing research papers and projects. Those electronic resources can include e-mail; Web sites; listservs; newsgroups; online chats; online encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, and directories; electronic books, articles, journals, magazines, and other publications; online databases; gopher documents; FTP (file transfer protocol) files; software; and video games. So far, no one method of citing those resources has been agreed upon. The styles are still evolving. Here are three reference formats from the three most widely used guides, as well as one created specifically for students. We used the MLA Style in the computer lab. Each of these guides contains slight variations in style, but all agree on one point: When in doubt about whether to include an element (a URL, a site name, an e-mail address, a printed source, or the name of an author, an editor, or a site developer), PUT IT IN. If a reader can't locate and verify a source, the reference is meaningless. These sites list all types of electronic sources, not just "entire website" as we learned in class.

[|The Library of Congress Electronic Citing]


MLA Citation Format (MLA Handbook, 6th ed., section 5.9.2) Structure: Title of Site. First name Middle name Last name. Electronic publication information. Sponsoring institution or organization. Day Month Year of access. Example: Library of Congress. U.S. Govt. 31 July 2005 .
 * 1) Title of the site (underlined or italicized).
 * 2) Editor first name middle initial last name (if given).
 * 3) Any electronic publication information available, including version number, date of electronic publication (original posting) __or__ latest update.
 * 4) Name of sponsoring institution or organization.
 * 5) Date of individual access and electronic address.