Guidelines to Citing Literature

• CITATIONS WITHIN THE TEXT
  • This is done whenever you give information or ideas in your paper that were originally documented by another author. You must always give credit where credit is due, otherwise you are plagiarizing.

  • The most common form of citing in the text includes the author(s)'s last name followed by the date (ie: Smith 1997). If there are two authors, you list both last names, followed by the date (ie: Smith and Wesson 1996). If there are more than two authors, then the first author's name is given, followed by the words et al., which means "and others". If more than one source is cited, then the earliest by date is listed first.

  • The following is given as an example:
    The sandhill crane (Grus canadensis) can be split into two major subspecies, one that is migratory, and one that is not (Bent 1926, Lewis et al. 1977). The migratory subspecies had a historic nesting range that covered from central Ohio west and north across the United States, Canada and eastern Siberia (Bent 1926, 1935, Johnson and Stewart 1972). According to Bent (1926), the non-migratory species' range covered Georgia south into the Gulf States and into Cuba.

• THE LITERATURE CITED SECTION
  • This is a formal, alphabetical listing of all sources used in your document. It is started on a separate page, placed at the end of your paper. Sources listed here must also be cited in your text (see above). The basic structure includes the author(s), date, title, journal name, volume, and pages. This structure does vary depending on the type of source (journal, book, thesis, web-site...)

  • Since there are several possible sources, we have given fictitious examples of how to list the most common.
    1. Journal Articles:
       • Anderson, H. R. 1972. Mating characteristics of the brown bat
         (Eptesicus fuscus). Journal of American Mammalogy 51:247-255.

       • Johnson, C. K., and R. S. Washington. 1989. Analysis of various
         sampling methods for aquatic invertebrate studies. Scientific Entomologist 3:48-77.

       • Johnson, C. K., A. B. Leonard, and J. J. Jackson. 1991. Population
         dynamics of Daphnia longirostris in Southern Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan Research 15:102-125.

    2. Book
       • Smith, A. Z. 1995. Ecological statistics. Academic Press, Los Angeles.

       • Wilson, K. C. 1988. The Practice and philosophy of microbiology
         techniques. 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.

    3. Pamphlet or Government Document
       • Cooley, S. 1993. Insect communities along the north slope of the Pryor
         Mountain range. U.S. Forest Service Technical Bulletin. WO-7:105-109.

    4. Article or Chapter in an Edited Volume
       • Campbell, J. S. 1997. Polar and alpine tundra. Pages 211-261 in F. E.
         Wielgolaski, ed. Ecosystems of the world. Vol. 3. Elsevier, Amsterdam.

    5. World Wide Web Sites
       List the following: (organization or author) (date viewed) (address)
       • Microbiology Clearinghouse. January 22, 1998.
         http://www.micro.bsu.edu/clearhouse.

  • If you have any questions, please see your instructor.