Study Guide
Citing Sources
I have one stylistic preference in citing sources. I despise the MLA and APA style, which puts parenthetical citations in the text of the paper. This is disruptive and inelegant. Use a footnote number and put the reference there.
Keep in mind the reason for footnotes: they are a courtesy to the reader. Your reader will wonder on what evidence you have based your assertion, or where that fact can be verified. Your footnote provides that, and it must be specific. For a book, you must include the author and title. Because scholarship changes over time, it's also relevant to provide the publication year. The name of the publisher and place of publication are not so important as they once were, especially since so many of them have gone out of business, but if you have that information you should include it. Finally, you must include the exact page number(s) where you found the specific information that led to the footnote in the first place. For journals the information requirements are the same, except that it's journal title, number/issue/year, rather than publisher and place.
There are lots of special cases: maps, special publications, series, manuscripts, etc., all of which have specific citation forms. It's not likely you will find need for such citations, but if you do, consult Turabian or the Chicago Manual of Style.
You can use endnotes or footnotes. I have no preference regarding that.
The format for online sources is still a little unsettled. I need the URI (also called URL or address) and it has to be valid. That is, I'd better be able to plug the address into my browser and get to a site. More importantly, I need to get to the exact page where the information was found. This is the same as citing a book and having to provide the page number.
For example, if a student were to cite my statement that Emperor Frederick II strong-armed Alice of Jerusalem for control of Cypress, and that student were to provide the citation of "crusades.boisestate.edu" you as the reader would be frustrated, for there are hundreds of pages at that address. The only correct form is the specific URI:
http://crusades.boisestate.edu/6th/05.shtml
I don't care if it's clickable or not. I know how to paste an address into my browser. I do, however, care that the address is both valid and specific.
The other element that you should provide in your Web citation is the date you read the page. Web pages change, and your reader will want to know whether that page was there last week or five years ago.