CS 4960
Fall 2006
Information on Citation of Sources
(Borrowed liberally from Dr. John
Sarraille's CS
4960 course description, with permission.)
How to Cite Your Sources of Information
It is very important to good scholarship and intellectual honesty that
you accurately and fully report the sources of information you employ
in preparing your report.
Your List of References
Make a list of references. In the list, cite all your sources of
information whatever be their form: written word, audio, image, video,
material artifact. Attach the list to the end of your written report.
The references in a list are always numbered or tagged in some way so
that you can specify exactly which one you mean when you speak or write
about them.
Each item in your list of references is a guide to your reader.
The reader may want to examine your source material. You must
describe each of your sources so that the reader will be able to find a
copy of the source as easily as possible.
Here are some specific rules for citing a book, article, or web page:
- An entry for a book must include the
title, author, publisher, edition number, date of publication, and
ISBN. Some books are on-line. For example, many books that are in the
public domain are on-line. If you accessed the book on-line then you must
also cite the full URL.
- An entry for an article in a periodical must
include the name of the editor of the issue of the periodical, the
title of the periodical, the date of publication of the issue of the
periodical, the name(s) of the author(s) of the article, the title of
the article, and the page numbers where the article is located. If you
accessed the article on-line, then you must also cite the full
URL.
- If you want to use a web page as a reference, rule 1 or
rule 2 may apply. If not, then you must diligently search the
web page and the appropriate related pages (e.g. a link to "home" or
"about us") for the following information: author, date the page was
last updated, date you viewed the page, the full URL, and any
additional information you think may help your reader find the
information and/or get an idea of its quality. The URL should be
"stable." If it appears that the page will only be available
temporarily, then it is not appropriate to use it as a source.
Citations for other forms of writing, audio, video, images, and
artifacts should be made along the same lines.
Look here for a great deal of very useful additional information:
Restrictions on Sources:
Two of your sources must be either book(s) or
article(s), citable as described above.
WHEN YOU MAKE DIRECT USE OF A SOURCE
Direct use of source text means direct quotation or close
paraphrase. The term also applies to other kinds of "art." For example,
if you insert an image from one of your sources into your work, that is
direct use of a source. If you slightly modify or copy someone's
art and then insert it into your work, it is still considered direct
use.
In the type of writing you are assigned to do for this class, it is
permissable to make limited direct use of source material.
However, it is very seldom appropriate to make extended direct use of
source material.
For example, it is seldom appropriate to quote or paraphrase a long
passage of text from a source. It is seldom proper to include copious
numbers of diagrams and images from source material.
You must include acknowledgement with each direct
use of a source.
You must place quotation marks ("") around any text that
you copy directly (quote) from a source.
You must place the acknowledgement in very close proximity to
the place in your writing where you have used the source. The
acknowledgement must indicate which source you used and where
to find the material within the source. You may use an in-line comment
or a footnote to identify the location.
For example, if you number the items in your reference list like this:
[1] Comer, Douglas E. 1999. Computer Networks and Internets, 2nd ed.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-083617-6.
[2] Sobell, Mark G. 1995. Unix System V: a practical guide, 3rd ed.
Boston, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-7566-X.
Then you can identify the location of a quote with a simple in-line
comment like this:
As Comer states on page 158 of [1]: "To achieve high bit rates over
conventional twisted pair wiring, ADSL uses an adaptive technology in
which a pair of modems probe many frequencies on the line between them
..."
DEFINITION: To Plagiarize
From: The American Heritage®
Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. Houghton
Mifflin Company.
Last accessed 8/28/06
http://www.bartleby.com/61/43/P0344300.html
- Transitive Verb:
- To use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as
one's own.
- To appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from
(another).
- Intransitive Verb:
- To put forth as original to oneself the ideas or words of
another.
If you make direct use of a source without acknowledgement,
then you are plagiarizing.
Do not plagiarize any part of what you
write for this class, or what you present visually or orally.
Penalties
If there is compelling evidence of plagiarism, I will withhold credit.