Web+Research+7



=**Web Research 7 : Managing and Citing Search Results : Part 2**=


 * Aim:**

What are some guidelines for citing Internet and Web Resources?


 * Common Core State Standards:**


 * CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7** Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


 * CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.8** Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively; assess the strengths and limitations of each source in terms of the task, purpose, and audience; integrate information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and overreliance on any one source and following a standard format for citation.


 * Objectives:**

Students will learn guidelines for citing Internet and Web Resources.


 * Vocabulary:**


 * APA citation
 * MLA citation
 * Chicago


 * Introduction:**


 * Guidelines for Citing Internet and Web Resources**

There are several guidelines and styles for citing works correctly. No single uniform style has been adopted or is appropriate in every case. The styles used for citing electronic works sometimes differ from those of printed works, which have a long tradition of specific formats. Citations for works in print or on the Web have a number of common elements, however. These include the author's name, the work's title, the date on which the cited work was published or revised, and the date you accessed it.

When you're looking for the proper way to cite resources in a report or research paper, you must first see if there is a required or accepted citation style for your situation. If you're preparing a report or paper for a class, then check with your teacher. Three commonly used formats are APA (american Psychological Association) style, MLA (Modern Language Association) style, and the Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago). In general, researchers in the social sciences use APA format, while humanities scholars use MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style. Each of these organizations publishes a handbook or publication guide, and they also have Web sites that provide guidance on how to cite Internet resources.


 * Discussion:**


 * **URL Formats**

Unlike citations for printed works, a citation for a Web or Internet resource must have information about how to access it. This is often indicated through the work's URL. In addition to telling you where to access a work, A URL serves to retrieve the work. Everything on the Web has a URL, indicating where something is located and how to access it. You'll find it helpful to think of a URL as having the following form:


 * how-to-get-there:where-to-go/what-to-get**

or, in more technical language:


 * transfer protocol:domain name/directory/subdirectory/file name.file type**

For example, take this URL:


 * http://www.cs.rice.edu/~druschel/publications/PeerSpective-HotNets.pdf**


 * http** is the transfer protocol
 * cs.rice.edu** is the domain name (also called the host computer name)
 * ~druschel** is the directory name
 * publications** is the subdirectory name
 * PeerSpective-HotNets** is the file name and pdf is its file type

You probably already know some ways in which URLs are used. For example, all hyperlinks on Web pages are represented as URLs. Entries in bookmark and history files are stored as URLs. You type in a URL when you want to direct your browser to go to a specific Web page. When you cite a resource on the WWW, you will usually include its URL. You'll also want to include the URL when you're telling someone else about a resource, such as in an email message.


 * **The Dates Are Important**

You'll see that some citation examples for references to Web or Internet resources contain two dates: the date of publication or revision, and the date of last access. The reason some styles require both dates has to do with the nature of digital media as it's made available or published on the Web.

Works in print form are different from digital works; printed documents have a tangible, physical form. Web resources don't have a tangible form. It's relatively easy for an author to publish a work (the work usually only needs to be in a certain directory on a computer that functions as a Web server). It's easy to modify or revise a work. Furthermore, when a work is revised, the previous version is often replaced by or overwritten with the new version. Because of this last point, the most recent version is often replaced by or overwritten by the new version. The version you cited might not exist anymore. It is therefore sometimes necessary to include the date you accessed or red a work listed in a citation or reference. This depends on the style you are using. For example, MLA style requires the date you access the site, and APA style does not. In any case, you may want to keep a copy of the document in a file or print a copy of it to provide as documentation if someone questions your sources.


 * Ways to Find Out When a Page Was Modified**

To find the date a work was last revised, see if the date is mentioned as part of the work. You will often see a link like **Last modified: Tuesday, March 2, 2010** in a Web document, usually at the bottom of the Web page.

If you don't find this information on the Web page or you want to verify the date that is cited, you can try this technique for determining the date of a Web page. When you have a page loaded in your browser, type the following line of JavaScript code directly into the location bar:


 * javascript:alert(document.lastModified)**

This will activate a pop-up box that displays the time stamp. On many automatically generated Web pages, such as the Google home page or the Yahoo! home page, the time stamp will display the current time. If that happens, in your citation the date accessed and the date updated will be the same.

If you are unable to determine the date of the page, you can indicate this in the citation by inserting "n.d." in the appropriate place.


 * Determining Web Page Titles**

The title is what shows up as a hyperlink in the search results if you use a search engine. You may also find the title by selecting **View/Page Info**, or **View/Page Source**. The title is specified in the HTML source for the page and doesn't necessarily show up in the text of the document as you view it with a browser. There are cases when the title is uninformative or not descriptive. In these situations, the first main heading can be used. Some documents have no title. (if a document doesn't have a title, you can construct one by using the major heading or the first line of text. You should enclose this title in square brackets to show that you created it).


 * Determining the Author of a Web Page**

Look for the author's name at the top or bottom of a document. If it isn't there, there are a few things you may try.


 * If a document doesn't contain the name of the author or the institution, and there are no hyperlinks to Web pages that give that information, you can manipulate the URL to try to find it. For example, if you found material at the following URL, **http://scilib.ucsd.edu/howto/guides/patsearch/index.html**, and you wanted to quickly find out the name of the publishing body, you could truncate the URL back to the domain name. This would give you **http://scilib.ucsd.edu**, the homepage for this institution, which happens to be the University of California, San Diego Science & Engineering Library.


 * You may find the author's email address in the document. You can use the browser's **Find** function to locate the @ symbol. If an email address is found, you could send a message and ask the person for more information.


 * Open the Web page's HTML source information by selecting **View/Source or View/Page Source** from your browser's menu. Sometimes the author's name may be viewed there.


 * Differences Between Styles**

While most of the style guides agree as to which elements are essential for citation, they all have different ways of formatting the information. Some formats require the URL in the citation, and others do not. Some advise including the place of publication if the Web resource is a copy of a printed work. Some require the date when the site was last viewed, and others do not. There is, however, considerable agreement on the basic information to be included in a citation of a Web resource.


 * Citation Examples : Web Pages**

The major citation styles agree that the following elements should be included in a citation for a Web page:


 * Author's name
 * Document title
 * Title of larger of complete work, if relevant
 * Date of publication


 * MLA Style:**

United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Climate Change - U.S. EPA. //Environmental Protection Agency//, 3 November 2008. Web. 15 November 2008.

Note that the URL is not included, the title of the page is italicized, and the word "Web" is inserted between the date of publication and the date the page was viewed.


 * APA Style:**

United States. Environmental Protection Agency (2008 November 3). //Climate Change - U.S. EPA//. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

Note that APA style requires the URL in the ciation. Also note that if the Web site has a date, APA style does not require the date the individual viewed the site.


 * Citing a Web Page That is Part of a Larger or Complete Work**

Many Web pages are parts of larger works or projects. In each of these cases, you need to provide only the author and title of the individual document, but also the title of the larger work, its editor (especially when using MLA style), and the institution that sponsors the site (if applicable). In many instances, you'll want to include information about the complete work in order to put the document in its proper context and to credit the institution that has helped to make the work available.


 * Citation Examples**


 * MLA Style:**

Bales, Jack. "MWP: Willie Morris (1934-1999)." //Mississippi Writers Page//. University of Mississippi. 19 October 2007. Web. 15 November 2008.

Note that the sponsor of the site, the University of Mississippi, is entered after the title of the work.


 * APA Style:**

Bales, J. (2--7 October 19). MWP: Willie Morris (1934-1999). In J Padgett (Ed.) //Mississippi writers page//. Retrieved from the University of Mississippi Web site: http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/morris_willie/index.html

In this citation, we determined:


 * The title of the Web page was found at the top of the browser window. Because MWP is uninformative, we could, if we wished, change the title to simply Willie Morris. If we did so, we would be required to place square brackets around the title, indicating that we had changed it. But in this case, we have decided to leave the Web page title as MWP: Willie Morris (1934-1999). The date range indicates the years Mr. Morris lived.


 * The writer of this page was found by scrolling down to the end of the article.


 * Online Journal Articles**

An article in an online journal can be cited very much like any other Web resource. If you were citing an article in a journal, it would be reasonable to include the journal name, volume, issue, and date. If you were citing a resource from a printed journal, you would also include page numbers, but that doesn't usually apply in this case. The URL gives the location of the article. The citation should contain the following elements:


 * Author's name
 * Title of article
 * Title of journal, volume and issue numbers, date of publication
 * Date of last revision, if known and different from date of publication


 * Citation Examples**
 * MLA Style:**

Waters, John K. "Unleashing the Power of Web 2.0." //Campus Technology//. 1105Media, June 2008. Web. 16 November 2008.

Note that MLA requires the sponsor of the online journal be included as well, inserted after the title of the journal.


 * APA Style:**

Waters, J.K. (2008, June). Unleashing the Power of Web 2.0. //Campus Technology//. Retrieved from http://campustechnology.com/articles/63551/

Full-text journals that are part of proprietary databases, such as Factiva or Lexis-Nexis, will require more information as part of the citation. When in doubt about how to cite a particular online journal, read the manual of the citation style you are using, or ask a librarian for help.


 * Recording Citation Information**

When doing research on the Internet, it's smart to record the document information by either printing the resource or making it a favorite so that you can return to the resource easily, or saving your resources to an online bookmarking service like Delicious. Keeping a record, no matter which service you decide to sue, is a good habit to get into. Recording the Web page title and URL accurately is important so you do't have to write it down and risk losing it.

There are some services that assist you in creating citations. One of these is Citation Machine, at http://citationmachine.net. You simply select which citation style you are using and add the bibliographic information into the form; a citation will be created in that style.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a service to help you create bibliographies that are formatted according to the citation system you choose? There are some such commercial services, such as RefWorks, EndNote, and Reference Manager. But recently some new free services have arrived on the scene, and it might be useful for you to know about them. One is called BibMe, and you can access it at http://bibme.org. BibMe is very easy to use and there is no need to download software on your computer in order to use it. Another is Zotero, and it's also impressive. Zotero was developed by the Center for Histoty and New Media at George Mason University, with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Mellon Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Zotero is a Firefox extension, and currently can only be used in certain versions of Firefox, Netscape, and Flock. It is not currently available in Internet Explorer.


 * In-Class Activity:**

1) Write a citation to the following document: "Online Social Networks, Virtual Communities, Enterprises, and Information Professionals" using MLA style. //Hint:// This is an online journal article.

2) Go to **http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/fcc-unanimously-approves-use-television-white-spac** and write a citation to the document at that address, using APA style. //Hint:// This is a blog posting.

3) Suppose you are doing a research project for a mythology class on the significance of the butterfly in Greek mythology. Go go Google to find resources on your topic. Do a Web search and look at some of the pages retrieved in your results list. Choose two of the pages in your results list that are relevant to your topic and write citations for them in MLA format.

4) Now return to your results retrieved in question 3 and write citations for those same articles in APA format. (Find a site that gives examples of APA style documentation - you may have luck using "Karla's Guide to Citation Style Guides."

5) Access the following site and write a citation for the page in APA format and in MLA format: @http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/hurricane/index.shtml

6) Now we'll try a citation for an online journal article. Access the article at **http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0441.asp** and write a citation to the article in APA format.

7) What differences do you see in the requirements for MLA and APA citations of Internet resources? Does one seem more useful than the other?


 * Further Resources:**

There are several very good Web pages with information about citing Web and other electronic resources.

The following Web pages have links to several other sources on the subject:


 * **@http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/netciteFARQ.html**
 * **@http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html**

The Web pages in this list contain information about specific styles for citations:


 * APA Style Help, **@http://www.apastyle.org/apa-style-help.aspx**
 * What is MLA Style? Modern Language Association of America, **@http://www.mal.org/style**
 * Research and Documentation Online, **@http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc**
 * Documenting Electronic Sources: Online Guides to Citing Electronic Sources - The OWL at Purdue, **@http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/584/03**

These two Web pages contain good, thoughtful discussions about citing work from Web or other electronic sources:


 * Citing Electronic Information in History Papers, Maurice Crouse. **@http://history.memphis.edu/mcrouse/elcite.html**
 * General Guides - The Library - University of California, Berkeley, **@http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Help/guides.html**


 * Summary:**

These lessons outlined several ways for you to manage your research using social bookmarking services.

These services make it easy for you to organize Web resources for yourself and perhaps share them with others.

Citing references or writing a bibliography is usually part of creating a research report.

There are several style guides provided by organizations for citing both print and electronic resources.

These lessons present guidelines and tips, with examples, from some of these style guides, for documenting or citing information obtained from the Web.

Citations for documents and other information found on the Web or the Internet usually include the URL.

A URL includes the names of the Web server and the file or directory holding the information.

The URL therefore tells you which Internet protocol to use to retrieve the information and where the information is located.

You need to be precise when writing a URL, as a computer will be interpreting it.

Style guidelines usually suggest that a citation include the author's name, the works title, the date the information was last revised, the date the information was accessed, and the URL.

The date of access is included because it's relatively easy to modify information on the Web and the information may not always be the same as when it was accessed for research.

We discussed methods for determining the date of access and the title of the Web document.


 * Summary Activity:**

3-2-1

Name 3 new things you learned from the lesson.

Name 2 areas in which you are still confused.

Name 1 way you might apply what you've learned to another area.


 * Source:**

Hartman, K. and Ackerman, E. (2010). //Searching and researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web//. Sherwood, OR: Franklin, Beedle & Associates.