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Identifying a citation

Elements of a Citation

All citations basically give the same information: a title, author, and source information, which may include journal titles, conference names, book publishers, or other information, depending on what kind of resource the citation points to.

Every citation should include the title of the item itself, whether it be an article or a book chapter. An author might be an individual, a group of individuals, a corporation, a department in the government, or an institution.

Book citations include...

  • publisher and place of publication.
  • only one title
  • one author or set of authors or editors.

Examples:

Title: Introduction to the law of Lesotho : a basic text on law and aspects of judicial conduct and practice / ed. by George W.K.L. Kasozi
Volume(s): Vol. 1
Author(s): George W.K.L. KasoziYear: 1999
Publisher: [Maseru] : Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Rehabilitation

Taras, Ray, ed. National identities and ethnic minorities in Eastern Europe: selected papers from the fifth World Congress of Central and East European Studies, Warsaw, 1995. [Book or Monograph] Macmillan (London) (ISBN 0-333-69553-4). St Martin's (LC 97-44223) (ISBN 0-312-21346-8) $65, 1998 xii+228p.

TI: Aspects of American printmaking, 1800-1950
AU: (Edited by) O'Gorman, James F.; Hitchings, Sinclair; Adams, Clinton; Hall, Elton W.; Cox, Richard
SO: Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. 1988, 245 pp. 108 illus. ISBN: 0-8156-2427-1

Step Two -- See if Penn owns the Book

Book chapter citations include:

  • publisher and place of publication
  • page numbers
  • authors and a title followed by the word "in" and another set of authors (or editors) and titles.

Examples:

Amott, Teresa.
The soul of tierra madre : Chicana women.
In: Amott, Teresa and Matthaei, Julie. RACE, GENDER AND WORK: A MULTICULTURAL ECONOMIC HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1991, p. 63-93.
Author
Grossvogel, David I.
Title
Ionesco: Symptom and Victim
Book Citation
The Dream and the Play: Ionesco's Theatrical Quest. Lazar, Moshe (ed.). viii, 176 pp.
Source
Undena. Malibu, CA; 81-92, 1982
TI: The spatial transformation of postwar Philadelphia
AU: Beauregard,-Robert-A.; Beauregard,-Robert-A. (Editor)
SO: Atop-the-urban-hierarchy. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.. pp.195-238
Gee, James Paul. Thinking, learning, and reading: The situated sociocultural mind. [Chapter] Kirshner, David I. (Ed); Whitson, James A. (Ed). (1997). Situated cognition: Social, semiotic, and psychological perspectives. (pp. 235-259). ix, 323pp.

Step Two -- See if Penn owns the Book

Article citations include

  • A journal name or newspaper title. It might be listed as "source" (SO:) In some databases, you will only find an abbreviated journal title.
  • volume number
  • issue number
  • date
  • one author or set of authors
  • page numbers

Examples:

Moses, Robert P. Remarks on the Struggle for Citizenship and Math/Science Literacy. [VIEWPOINTS (Opinion Papers, Position Papers, Essays, etc.). JOURNAL ARTICLES] Journal of Mathematical Behavior. v13 n1 p107-11 Mar 1994.
Anderson, Daniel. Stephens, Philip. Anthony Hecht Bomb. 62:28-33. 1998 Winter
Learning from Philadelphia: Venturi, Scott Brown, biblioteca restaurata / Robert Venturi.
drawings, photos., plans, sections, site plans.
In: Abitare 1992 Nov., n.312, p.[146]-152,204.
Verene, D.P. (1969). Hegel and Cassirer: The Origins of the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Journal of the History of Ideas 30:346.

Step Two -- See if Penn owns the Journal

Dissertation citations include...

  • Reference to Dissertation Abstracts Intl.
  • University and Date
TITLE (ENGLISH): Deconstructing solitude: penitentiary discourse in antebellum
America
AUTHOR(S): Burrage-Kathleen-Louise
PUBLICATION YEAR: 1995
SERIES TITLE: Dissertation, Washington State University
PUBLISHER: Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 247p.
TI: THE PUBLIC PARK MOVEMENT IN BROOKLYN, 1824-1873
AU: SIMON, D. E.
SO: PH.D. DISSERTATION, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (1972), 257PP. (DISSERTATION
ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL: ORDER NO. 72-31,132).

Step Two -- See if Penn owns the Dissertation

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