referencing conventions

Stevenson/Whitmore: Strategies for Engineering Communication 1 of 35

Referencing Conventions

Give credit to others for ideas and words Important feature of scholarship Vary from one field to another Require attention to detail Involves citations and reference lists


Acknowledgements

Use for general contributions to a document Keep the acknowledgement short and direct

Example: “I would like to thank John Smith for contributing

his expertise in the area of hydraulic erosion to

this report.”


Footnotes

Use smaller font (8 or 9 point) to distinguish it from the text.

Use 1.5 to 2 inch horizontal line to separate footnote from text.

If more than 2 or 3 footnotes, number them; if only a few notes, use symbols such as * or †.

Avoid footnotes if using footers; if you must use them, leave 1/2 to 1 inch blank space between footnote and footer.

If possible, avoid more than one footnote per page.


Citations

Citations provide just enough information for a reader to find the source of an idea or quotation in a reference list.

Two common types of citations: Numbers or Author/Date

Using numbers saves space, but provides little information

Designing a robust controller requires a nominal model of the controlled plant [1].

[10, 11, 12] propose alternative models.


Author/Date Citations

Author/date system acknowledges authors’ ideas and words by last name(s) and year of publication.

This information is useful to someone who knows the literature in the field.

Recent research (Black & Johnston 2002) supports this explanation.

One expert claims that such groups “can be the forward-thinking, value-oriented, leading bodies we claim them to be” (Carver 1997).


Citing Sources

Two or more publications by same author(s) in same year • (Chan 1999a; 1999b) • Use these letters after dates in reference list.

More than one author• Two authors: (Santos and Martin 2001) • Three authors: (Smith, Trinh, and Matsui 2001) for

first reference. (Smith et al. 2001) for subsequent references

• Four or more authors, et al. for all references: (McManus et al. 1998)


Citing Sources

More Than One Source Cited

Separate sources with semi-colons

(Vincent 1998; Wong 2000; Young and Rawicz 2001)

If more than one source by the same author, give name once and then just dates

(Carver 1986; 1992, 1995, 2000)


Citing Sources

Author Unknown

Substitute association, corporation, government agency, or other group.

If group name is in sentence, omit from citation.

(NRC 1999)These estimates are based on data provided by the National Research Council (1999).


Citing Sources

Additional Information

To help readers find information, include volume, page, section, equation numbers, etc.

Separate this additional information from the date with a comma

(Singh 2001, 55) to refer to a single page(Jones 2002, 63-65) to refer to more than one page(Xu 1999, sec 11.5) to refer to a relevant section(Peterson 2000, eq. 10) to refer to an equation


Citing Sources

Unnecessary Information.

Omit any information already given in the text.

Saif first proposed this method in 1994 (45-51).


Citing Sources

Unconventional Sources

For interviews, personal letters, mail or e-mail exchanges, provide full name and nature and date of communication.

(John Brown, letter to the author, July 2000)(Bill Smith, telephone interview, 10 Sept 1999)(Susan Eaglets, e-mail exchange, Aug-Sept 1998)(Aaron Bates, e-mail to the author, 4 Nov 2000)


Citing Sources

On-line Sources

Provide author/date, author, short title, or name of organization much as for text-based sources.

Only use URL as the citation if the item is not in your reference list and the site is stable.

If not including item in reference list, provide enough information for a reader to locate the information.(XYZ Inc., Thermistor Price List, accessed 22 May 1999 <http://www.xyz.nz/~thermistors/pricelist/>


Placing Citations in Sentences

Whenever possible, place citations at the ends of sentences or before a punctuation mark.

Take care that citations are placed to clarify the points they support.

Which of the following sentences is unclear?

Researchers (Lightfoot and Jackson 1998) have reported findings that support this alternative explanation.

Researchers have reported findings that support this alternative explanation (Lightfoot and Jackson 1998).


Quoting Sources

If you borrow even a phrase from another writer, acknowledge the source and use quotation marks.

Incorporate short quotations into your sentences:

One of the requirements is that “Each bid must be accompanied by a certified check or cash to the among of nine thousand dollars” (Brantwurst

1989, 46).


Quoting Sources

For a longer quote, omit quotation marks, single space, indent, and put citation after the period:

Eric Brantwurst notes the following requirement:

Each bid must be accompanied by a certified check or cash in the amount of nine thousand dollars. All

certified checks must be drawn on some responsible bank doing business in the city of Vancouver, and shall be made payable to the City of Vancouver. (1989, 45)


Quoting Sources

How to quote a passage that contains a quotation depends on whether or not the quotation is part of a sentence:

As part of a sentence:

Dagwood Brunster recalls an extraordinary engineering feat: “Sam Williams, the chief engineer, shrieked at all of the layabouts who were drinking coffee laced with rum, ‘Get off your duffs, or I’ll recall your engineering licenses, and throw you overboard to boot!’” (1999, 47).


Quoting Sources

Quoting within an indented quotation

Dagwood Brunster recalls an extraordinary engineering feat:

Sam Williams, the chief engineer, shrieked at all of the layabouts who were drinking coffee laced with rum, “Get off your duffs, or I’ll recall your engineering licenses, and throw you overboard to boot. Move it before you lose it!” Shortly, they were all back at work, sweating profusely under the warm Arctic summer sun. (1999, 47–48)


Quoting Sources

Sometimes you need to make changes to quotations so they match the grammar of your sentence.

Indicate changes by placing them in square brackets.

As Humphrey’s explains, “Major investors [were] pleased with [the President’s] successor.”

On rare occasions, you may want to note an error in a quotation by using [sic].

Before you use this convention, assess its affect [sic] on your readers.


Reference Lists

Prepare a reference list if you have more than a few sources in a document; otherwise consider using footnotes

Refer to the list as References in the Sciences and as a Bibliography in the Humanities

Create an alphabetical list by author’s last name for the author/date citation system

Organize a list according the numbers assigned to sources for a numbered citation system

Pay careful attention to details such as punctuation, capitalization, indentation, and the use of quotation marks and italics


Reference Lists

Two works by the same author (or by the same authors in exactly the same order)

Burnett, R.E. 1993. Conflict in collaborative decision making. Professional Communication: The Social Perspective, eds. N.R. Blyler and C. Thralls. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 144-162.

------. 1997. Collaboration in workplace communication. Chapter 5 in Technical Communication, 4th ed.

Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 85-114.


Reference Lists

Journal articles

Harney, M. 2000. Is technical writing an engineering discipline? IEEE Trans. Prof. Commun. 43:2, 210-212.

Markus, L. 1994. Electronic mail as the medium of managerial choice. Organization Sci. 5:4, 504.


Reference Lists

Articles in collections other than journalsBarchilon, M.G. Sept. 1998. Technology’s impact on online résumés. Proc. Int. Professional Communication Conf. Quebec City, Que. Canada.Burnett, R.E. 1993. Conflict in collaborative decision making. Professional Communication: The Social Perspective, eds. N.R. Blyler and C. Thralls. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 144-162.Robey, D., M.C. Boudreau, and V.C. Storey. 1998. Looking before we leap. Electronic Commerce: Papers from the Third International Conference on Management of Networked Organizations, eds. G. St Amant and M. Amani. 275-290.


Reference Lists

Unpublished conference papers

Divsalar, D. and J.K. Omura. June 1979. Performance of mismatched Viterbi receiver on satellite channels. Presented at Int. Conf. Commun., Boston MA.


Reference Lists

Unpublished theses or dissertations

Newland, P.A. 1990. Understanding Designers’ Knowledge Acquisition Processes: A Potential for Enhancing Information Transfer. PhD dissertation. Portsmouth Univ., Portsmouth, UK.


Reference Lists

Books

Austin, J.L. 1975. How to Do Things with Words, 2nd ed., J.O. Urmson and M. Sbisá editors. Cambridge

MA: Harvard University Press.

Berners-Lee, T. and M. Fischetti. 1999. Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor. New York: Harper Collins.


Reference Lists

On-line sources

Conventions still evolving Include as much of same information as for text-based

source as possible Include date you accessed site and the URL


Reference Lists

Web articles

Beverley, C. 1993. The ethics of technology in education. 30 Aug. 2000 <http://rgfn.epcc.edu/

programs/trainer/ethics.html>


Reference Lists

Published articles accessed on the web

Whitbeck.C. Fall 1996. Problems and cases: New directions in ethics 1980-1996. 30 Aug. 2000 <http://www.onlineethics.org/essays/education/

index.html>.


Reference Lists

On-line publications

Greenleaf, G. June 1996. A proposed privacy code for Asia-Pacific cyberlaw. Journal of Computer-

Mediated Communication, ed. A.W. Branscomb. 2:1. 30 Aug 2000 <http://www.ascusc.org.vol2/issue1>.


Reference Lists

On-line discussion groups

Adamowski, T. Writer’s resource. IEEE PCS Online Discussion Forum. 14 Dec. 1999 <http//ieeepcs.org/

wwwboard/>,


Sample Reference List


Variations

Referencing conventions vary among disciplines, fields, publications, and companies

Wise, Penelope. “Money Today: Two Cents for a Dollar.” No Profit Review 2 (1987): 123-42.

Wise. P. Money Today: Two cents for a dollar. No Profit Rev. 2: 123-42.

Wise. P. 1987. Money today. No Profit Rev. 2: 123-42.

Wise, P. 1987. No Profit Rev. 2: 123-42.


Disciplinary Differences in Ref. Lists

Arts/Humanities Style Science/Social Science Style

Author’s given name spelled out Only uses initials for given names

Date of publication at the end Date after author’s name

Titles of publications in full Titles of publications abbreviated

Full titles for books and articles Subtitles usually omitted

Article titles in quotation marks Titles not in quotation marks

Main words in titles capitalized 1st word, proper nouns capitalized


IEEE Style

[1] B. Oakley, II, “HyperCard courseware for introduction to circuit analysis,” in Proc. ASEE Annu. Meet., 1991, pp. 496-500.

[2] Microsoft Video for Windows, Microsoft Corp. 232-100-901, 1994.

[3] K.L. Conway, “Putting technology in its place: the classroom,” Institute for Academic Technology, Spring 1991, p. 5.

[4] P.R. Keller and M.M. Keller, Visual Cues, Los Alamitos, CA, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1993.


ASEE Style

1. Tonso, K.L. “Becoming Engineers While Working Collaboratively: Knowledge and Gender in a Non-Traditional Engineering Course,” part of Margaret Eisenhart’s Final Report to the Spencer Foundation entitled “The Construction of Scientific Knowledge Outside School,” 1993.

2. Lunsford, A. Ede L., “Why Write . . . Together: A Research Update,” Rhetoric Review, 5, 1986, pp. 71-76.

3. “Learning Together Makes a Difference,” The Teaching Professor, June/July 1995, p. 5.

referencing conventions

Documents