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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.
- 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 |
| 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 |
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
- 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



