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Tracking down a citation
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Hannah: I have a list of suggested reading from my professor for my class on postcolonial literature. Now the only question is, how do I find the stuff on it? |
You've searched a database or two and you've found references to a couple of promising sources. Great! The next step is using the citations you've found to track them down.
Where are you in the process right now?
I need to:
Deciphering a citation
Before you can find a cited source, you need to understand what the citation is telling you to look for. Is it a book, chapter of a book, journal article, or another type of source like a dissertation or government document?
All reliable citations include the same basic information. Different citation styles arrange it in different orders, but here are the things you should be able to find out about a source from its citation:
- Name of the author or authoring organization
- Title of the article or book chapter
- Title of the book or journal in which an article is published
- Date of publication
- Name of the publisher, either a book press or a journal title
- Page numbers of articles or book chapters
The citation might provide more information than this, such indicating whether a source was found in print or online, but these are the basic facts you'll need to track it down.
Citations come in different forms depending on where you find them.
This is a sample citation of a book as it is found in the bibliography of an article:
| Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. New York: Verso, 1991. |
This is a citation for the same book as it is found in the results list of a search in the MLA International Bibliography:
Although a database citation looks a lot different from an article citation, it should provide you with the same basic information--and enough information for you to determine what type of source this is.
- Author: Benedict Anderson
- Title: Imagined Communities: Refelections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
- Date of publication: 1991
- Publisher: Verso
- Type of source: Book
- How do you know: Only has one title (no separate title for chapter or article), has no volume or issue number, lists a publisher and place of publication rather than a journal title
Chart of example citations for different types of sources
Type of citation |
Distinguishing features |
Article citation (APA style) |
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Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048. |
- has both an article title and a journal title
- has a volume number
- specifies page numbers
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Book citation (MLA style) |
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Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. |
- has only one title (in this style, capitalized and in italics)
- lists a publisher and place of publication
- does not specify page numbers, indicating it refers to the whole book
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Chapter of a book citation (Chicago style) |
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Chilson, Peter. “The Border.” In The Best American Travel Writing 2008, edited by Anthony Bourdain, 44-51. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008. |
- has a chapter title (in this style, set off by quotation marks
- also has a book title (in this style, capitalized and in italics)
- lists an editor in addition to the author of the chapter
- specifies page numbers
- lists a publisher and place of publication
|
Web site citation (APA style) |
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (2007). Mission could seek out Spock's home planet. Retrieved January 7, 2009, from PlanetQuest: Exoplanet Exploration Web site: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/planetVulcan.cfm |
- has a url
- lists date of retrieval in addition to date of publication
- may list an authoring organization instead of an individual author
|
Government document citation (MLA style) |
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Spires, David N. Orbital Futures: Selected Documents in Air Force Space History. 2 vols. United States Air Force. Washington: GPO, 2004. |
- publisher is the GPO (Government Printing Office)
- place of publication is Washington, DC
- may list a federal agency in addition or in place of an individual author
|
Dissertation or thesis citation (Chicago style) |
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Hostetler, Tara. “Bodies at War: Bacteriology and the Carrier Narratives of ‘Typhoid Mary.’” master’s thesis, Florida State University. |
- lists the name of university rather than a press or publishing journal
- in many styles, specifies if it is a master's thesis or PhD disseration
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