Peninsula College Library Biblio-Bits: Citing

Showing posts with label Citing. Show all posts

20080626

Computer-Generated Bibliographic Citations: Can Machines Get It Right?

For decades we have been trying to get computers to correctly format bibliographic citations. Can machines get it right? Some programming is now doing a good job, but any machine-generated citation should be checked for accuracy, as tweaking is sometimes required.

Computer-Generated Bibliographic Citations is a brief tutorial (PDF format, 130KB, 13 slides) which covers why citation is important, compares formatting in a few bibliographic styles (APA, MLA, CHICAGO, CSE, NLM, AFS), lists a few programs which generate citations, and compares machine-generated citation accuracy for APA citations generated by WorldCat and Zotero.

20071015

NLM Adds "Citing Medicine" to NCBI Bookshelf

In the 21st century, technological advances have created a whole new world of medical citations. To give authors, editors, medical librarians and others a guidebook for navigating that world, the National Library of Medicine is pleased to announce the publication of Citing Medicine: the NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, available free of charge on the NCBI Bookshelf.

Citing Medicine provides guidance for citing 26 types of published and unpublished material, ranging from print books and journal articles to blogs and wikis.
--from the NLM announcement of the 2nd edition, 2007.

20070730

New Study on Student Internet Citation Confirms Link Rot

I have just read an interesting article: HOVDE, K. (2007). You Can't Get There from Here: Student Citations in an Ephemeral Electronic Environment. College & Research Libraries. 68, 312-321.

The article is available in print, but is not available on the surface Web, or in our Library databases. As of today, the July 2007 issue of College & Research Libraries has not been indexed by our Library databases. But, as I say, the article is available in print, in the periodical room of the library. Think of all you miss (or have to wait for), if you just rely on Web-based information. Now, to the article.

Hovde did a study of 1,666 student citations to "Internet resources" from 529 freshman English composition papers. For a 1999 sample, seven months after submission of the papers only 38% of the links led to the document cited. For a 2004 sample only 45% of the links accessed the document. Seven years after the 1999 citations were submitted only 9% of the links were successful. Hovde writes: "...the Web is an unstable medium. The sine qua non of a paper's references is stability."

As such the surface Web is subverting the scholarly enterprise which depends upon providing proof of authority, and a "published trail of evidence" which can be verified.

Heaven help us if students start citing fluff from the blogosphere... or MySpace!

20070727

References for College Papers

References for College Papers is Steven Dutch's overview of what is and what is not acceptable to reference in college-level writing in his geology classes at the University of Wisconsin (for example, when "The Internet" is and is not an acceptable source).
How to let your Professors Know you are Familiar with College Writing

Start early to locate sources.

Cite scholarly references only.

Cite recent materials.

Use accepted referencing styles.

Faculty Reading Recommendations

ARANA, M. (2006). Cellophane: a novel. New York, Dial Press.
BERNSTEIN, C. (2007). A woman in charge: the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. New York, Alfred A. Knopf.
BESCHLOSS, M. R. (2007). Presidential courage: brave leaders and how they changed America, 1789-1989. New York, Simon & Schuster.
FRIEDMAN, T. L. (2007). The world is flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century [version 3.0]. New York, Picador.
GORE, A. (2007). The assault on reason. New York, Penguin Press.
OBAMA, B. (2006). The audacity of hope: thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. New York, Crown Publishers.
RITTER, S. (2007). Waging peace: the art of war for the antiwar movement. New York, Nation Books.
WARD, P. D. (2007). Under a green sky: global warming, the mass extinctions of the past, and what they mean for our future. New York, Smithsonian Books/Collins.
WEINER, T. (2007). Legacy of ashes: the history of the CIA. New York, Doubleday.

Librarian's List: Selected Stage Conceptions

BECK, D. E., & COWAN, C. C. (2004). Spiral dynamics. Developmental management. Cambridge, Mass [etc.], Blackwell Business.
COMMONS, M. L. (1989). Adult development: comparisons and applications of developmental models. New York, Praeger.
FEUERSTEIN, G., & GEBSER, J. (1987). Structures of consciousness: the genius of Jean Gebser-- an introduction and critique. Lower Lake, Calif, Integral Pub.
GHOSE, A., & DALAL, A. S. (2001). A greater psychology: an introduction to Sri Aurobindo's psychological thought. New York, Jeremy P Tarcher/Putnam.
GILLIGAN, C. (1982). In a different voice: psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press.
KEGAN, R. (1982). The evolving self: problem and process in human development. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press.
KOHLBERG, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: the nature and validity of moral stages. San Francisco, Harper & Row.
LOEVINGER, J., & BLASI, A. (1976). Ego development: [conceptions and theories]. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers.
MILLER, M. E., & COOK-GREUTER, S. R. (1994). Transcendence and mature thought in adulthood: the further reaches of adult development. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield.
PERRY, W. G., JR. (1999). Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.
PIAGET, J., GRUBER, H. E., & VONÈCHE, J. J. (1977). The essential Piaget. New York, Basic Books.

Faculty Retreat Books for Discussion Groups (Fall 2007)

ANGIER, N. (2007). The canon: a whirligig tour of the beautiful basics of science. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company. (suggested by Dan Stengel)
DUMAS, F. (2003). Funny in Farsi: a memoir of growing up Iranian in America. New York, Villard. (suggested by Dan Yezbick)
GOLEMAN, D. (2007). Social Intelligence The New Science of Human Relationships. Bantam Dell Pub Group. (suggested by Aleilah Lawson)
LEDERMAN, L. M., & TERESI, D. (2006). The god particle: if the universe is the answer, what is the question? Boston, Houghton Mifflin. (suggested by Jeff Zirul)
MACMILLAN, M. (2007). Nixon and Mao: the week that changed the world. New York, Random House. (suggested by Steven Olson)
ROSE, M. (2005). Lives on the boundary: a moving account of the struggles and achievements of America's educationally underprepared. New York, N.Y., U.S.A., Penguin Books. (suggested by Janet Lucas)
SPENGLER, O., WERNER, H., HELPS, A., & ATKINSON, C. F. (1962). The decline of the West. New York, Knopf. (suggested by Wes Cecil)

Librarian's List: Social Epistemology

LACKEY, J., & SOSA, E. (2006). The epistemology of testimony. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
MCINNIS, R. G. (2001). Discourse synthesis: studies in historical and contemporary social epistemology. Westport, Conn, Praeger.
REMEDIOS, F. (2003). Legitimizing scientific knowledge: an introduction to Steve Fuller's social epistemology. Lanham, Md, Lexington Books.
SPINDEL CONFERENCE, HENDERSON, D. K., & TOLLEFSEN, D. (2006). Spindel Conference 2005. Social epistemology. Memphis, Tenn, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Memphis.

Librarian's List: Tat Tvam Asi and Potpourri

JACOBY, S. (2004). Freethinkers: a history of American secularism. New York, Metropolitan Books.
KELLY, E. F., & KELLY, E. W. (2007). Irreducible mind: toward a psychology for the 21st century. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield.
KRIPAL, J. J. (2007). Esalen: America and the religion of no religion. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
MAXWELL, N. K. (2006). Sacred stacks: the higher purpose of libraries and librarianship. Chicago, American Library Association.
SCHROEDER, G. L. (2001). The hidden face of God: how science reveals the ultimate truth. New York, Free Press.
WILBER, K. (2007). The integral vision: a very short introduction to the revolutionary integral approach to life, God, the universe, and everything. Boston, Shambhala Publications.

Peninsula College Library Biblio-Bits