Please check off the
following and turn this form in with any written material that you turn in. You should continue to use this form for all
written materials, even after you leave Louisiana Tech. More information about these errors can be
found in the document below on references.
All of the references in the List of
References are explicitly cited in my report.
All of the citations in my
report appear in the List of References.
All journal references include 1. a complete list of the authors, 2. the
title of the article, 3. the name of the journal, 4. the volume number, 5. the page
numbers of the article and 6. the year of the article.
All references of book chapters include 1. a complete list of the authors, 2. the
title of the chapter, 3. the editor(s) of the book, 4.
the name of the book, 5. the
publishing company of the book, 6. the copyright date
of the book, and 7. the page numbers of the article.
All textbooks include 1. a
complete list of the authors, 2. the title of the
book, 3. the publishing company of the book, 4. the copyright date of the book, and 5. the
page numbers of the article.
All conference proceedings references include
1. a complete list of the authors, 2. the title of the article or abstract, 3. the
name of the proceedings (usually including the location of the
conference), 4. the
page numbers of the article or abstract and 5. the
year of the conference.
No references are cited as web pages. I.e. www.ucsb.edu/Roberts/Physiol265/ekg is
not an acceptable reference. If the web
page is a pdf of a published research article, you
should cite it as a journal article, not as a web page. Otherwise, you must find an alternative source.
If references are cited by number (i.e.
“Johnson et al.23 stated that …), the numbers follow a consistent
sequence. E.g., articles are
numbered according to the first time they appear and are sorted on the
reference page in that order.
If references are cited by date of
publication (i.e. “Johnson et al. (1999) stated that …), they are
sorted alphabetically by first author and date on the reference page.
Authors are referred to in the text by their last name
only. I.e. “Johnson et al. (1999) stated
that …,” not “Howard Johnson et al. (1999) stated that…” or “H. Johnson et al.
(1999) stated that ….”
I have placed any text copied word-for-word
from a source in quotations. I realize that to copy any text word-for-word
without a proper reference and without using quotations is plagiarism.
I have used direct quotes from sources sparingly
(or not at all).
I have correctly written “et al.” with no period after “et” and a period
after “al.”
If this is an article for a
specific journal, I have read the “instructions to authors” for that journal
and followed the instructions accordingly with respect to citations.
References:
1.
Any reference that is listed in the reference section must be cited in the text of
your dissertation, thesis, practicum, proposal or journal article. You
must not include a reference to a book or article simply because it is related
to what you are discussing. It must be
explicitly referred to in your text.
2.
Similarly, if a reference is cited in your report, it must be included in the
list of references with a complete citation.
3.
Use references primarily to back up specific
statements you make, not to back up entire paragraphs.
4.
You may use whichever reference format is
appropriate for your field of research.
However, your references must include the following:
A.
For references to journal articles
a.
A complete list of the authors of the article
b.
The title of the article
c.
The name of the journal
d.
The volume of the journal
e.
The page numbers of the article
f.
The year of the article
B.
For references to chapters in books of
collected authors
a.
A complete list of the authors of the article
b.
The title of the article
c.
The name of the editor of the book
d.
The title of the book
e.
The publisher of the book
f.
The page numbers of the article
g.
The year the book was published
C.
For references to textbooks
a.
The author of the book
b.
The title of the book
c.
The publisher of the book
d.
The page numbers being referenced
e.
The year the book was published
D.
For references to conference proceedings
and abstracts
a.
A complete list of the authors of the article
b.
The title of the article
c.
The name of the proceedings (usually including the location)
d.
The page number of the article or abstract
e.
The year of the conference
5.
Citations within your text must be appropriate to the format for the
citations at the end of the work. An example of the “author, date” format would
be:
“Nussbaum
et al. (1990) state that …,” or “Myocardial infarction is the result of
coronary artery thrombosis (Nussbaum et al., 1990).”
6.
Reference authors by last name. I.e. do not say “Richard Nussbaum et al.
(1990) state that ….” Instead say
“Nussbaum et al. (1990) state that ….”
7.
For numbered references, citations must be
made in the order of the list of references.
I.e., do not cite the reference numbered 14 before the reference
numbered 9. Example: Nussbaum et al.7
and Hodge et al.8 showed that …”
8.
If you are citing references by date,
alphabetize the list of references by first author and data. For example, Nussbaum (1994) will appear
before Nussbaum (1995). If the same
authors publish more than one article in the same year, then they can be
referenced by date and a following letter.
For example, “Nussbaum (1994a)” comes before “Nussbaum (1994b).”
9.
Remember that “et al.” is an abbreviation for “et alii,” so there is a period after al., but not after et.
10.
Avoid long quotes from an article.
Remember that you are digesting the information from a variety of
articles to make a point in your thesis.
Quotations are effective only when the information quoted is a matter of
opinion on the part of the author.
Consider the following examples:
a.
Fredrick et al. (1992) have shown that layer-by-layer assembly can be
used to coat bacteria. (effective)
b.
Frederick et al. (1992) have shown that, “bacteria can be coated through
layer-by-layer assembly. (not effectve)
c.
Frederick et al. (1992) say that layer-by-layer assembly is better than
any other method for coating microparticles.
(problematic)
d.
According to Frederick et al. (1992), “Layer-by-layer assembly is the
best technique for coating microparticles.”
(effective)
Form
a. is the standard method for citing verifiable information. Form b. is not effective because the quotes
tend to put distance between you and the authors. The suggest that, “The authors state this,
but I am only quoting them. I do not
have enough confidence to take responsibility for their statements.” Form c. is problematic because the statement
is subjective. Here you need to put some
distance between yourself and the authors’ opinion. Thus, form d. is more appropriate for this
statement.
11.
It follows from the above discussion that you should use direct
quotations only when you are quoting a subjective
opinion. Thus, direct quotes should
be used sparingly, if at all.
12.
You must never include a piece of an article (even one sentence) without
putting quotations around it and citing the reference
from which it came. Failure to do so is called plagiarism and is illegal. The statement
that “The author said everything that was important to my background section
and I did not feel that I could say it any better,” is not a valid excuse for
stealing another person’s work.
Furthermore, such an attitude indicates that you are not properly
digesting the material and its unique relevance to your own research project.
13.
Citations should be mainly journal articles with occasional references
to published proceedings or abstracts.
14.
References to the world
wide web are not to be
used! If the web page is a pdf
of an article that is published from a refereed journal, then you can cite the
journal article. Otherwise, you must
find an alternative source for the statement you wish to cite. There are two good reasons for this
requirement. 1) Web pages are not refereed, so there is no immediate way of
determining their truthfulness. 2) Web
pages are volatile. If someone goes back
to the same site 1 year from now, or even earlier, there is no guarantee that
the same information will be there.
Students are often tempted to cite the notes from professors’ courses
that are cited on the web. The
information found in such notes can usually be found in standard textbooks on
the subject, so it should not be difficult to find a textbook in the library that
is suitable for citation. Students may
also wish to cite material on the web site of a company, such as one which
manufactures a piece of equipment used in the study. Most of this information will be available in
publications produced during the development of the product or in the product’s
user’s manual. In either case it is
better to cite the published work or the user’s manual directly.