Ratliff - Style Guide

8/14/2019 Ratliff - Style Guide

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Dr. Ratliffs Citation Style Guide

General Notes:

1. The body text should be 12-point, Times New Roman font and double-spaced.2. All footnotes/endnotes should be 10-point, Times New Roman font and

single-spaced.3. There should be one space between separate footnotes/endnotes.

a. Example:1New York Times, 15 August 2007.

2Ibid.

4. If several authors with the same surname are cited, include their first and lastnames in all citations.a. Example:

1

John Smith, My Days at Williamsburg, 6.2

Larry Smith, Why I Left Town, 8.

5. The following guidelines are for footnotes/endnotes only. A cumulativebibliography is not required.

6. Your term paper must include at least five (5) sources. No morethan one encyclopedia entry and one

internet webpage (total of 2 sources)

may be counted against the minimum

number of sources. However, once the minimumrequirements have been satisfied, you may include an unlimited number of

internet and/or encyclopedia sources.

A. Books Book citations contain the following items, listed in this particular order,with punctuation marks as indicated.

i.Authors Name [,]ii.Title and [:] subtitle, if any {Italicizedor Underlined}

iii.Edition. If the book is a revised edition, the title is followed by [,] and the editionnoted {edition abbreviated} 2

nded., Revised ed., &c.

iv.(Facts of publication) {all in parenthesis}1. [(] Place of publication [:]2. Publishers name [,]3. Date of publication [)] [,]4. Page number (.) {If there are multiple citations in the same note, a [;]

follows the page number.}

v.Example:1

John Q. Smith, Once Upon a Time in Lee County: Almost a Championship (New York:

Little, Brown Publishers, 2004), 2.


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vi.Subsequent citations of the same book.1. If the book and page are identical to the immediately preceding citation, Ibid

will suffice.

a. Example:1

John Q. Smith, Once Upon a Time in Lee County: Almost a Championship (New

York: Little, Brown Publishers, 2004), 2.

2Ibid.

2. If the book is the same as the immediately preceding citation, but cites adifferent page, use Ibid [.] [,] and the page number.

a. Example:1

John Q. Smith, Once Upon a Time in Lee County: Almost a Championship (New

York: Little, Brown Publishers, 2004), 2.

2

Ibid., 4.3. If citing a book that has been cited earlier in the same paper, list the authors

last name [,], an abbreviated title [,], and the page number [.].

7Smith, Once Upon a Time, 9.

B. Journal Articles Journal Article citations contain the following items, listed in thisparticular order, with punctuation marks as indicated.i.Authors Name [,]

ii.[]Title of article,[] {Entire title is enclosed in quotation marks and a comma isplaced inside the last quotation mark.}

iii.Journal Title {Italicizedor Underlined}iv.Volume or issue number {Arabic Numerals, 1,2,3,}v.[(] Publication Date [)] [,]

vi.Page number [.]vii.Example:

1John Q. Smith, Once Upon A Time in Lee County: Almost A Championship, Journal

of Alabama Studies 12 (August 2007), 29.

viii.Subsequent citations need include only the authors last name [,] the [] ArticleTitle [,] and page number [.]. Journal title is omitted.

ix.Examples:1

John Q. Smith, Once Upon A Time in Lee County: Almost A Championship, Journal

of Alabama Studies 12 (August 2007), 29.

2Ibid.

3Ibid., 4.


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4Jones, The Alabama Legacy, 10.

5Smith, Once Upon A Time, 30.

C. Newspapers Citations of newspapers include the following items, in this particularorder.

i.Newspaper Name [,] {Italicizedor Underlined}ii.If the paper is not a household name, omit the comma after the name and insert the

[(] city and state of publication [)], enclosed in parenthesis. [,]

iii.Date of issue, in this order: Day Month Year [.]iv.Examples:

1New York Times, 15 August 2007.

2Clarion-Ledger(Jackson, Mississippi), 15 August 2007.

v.Subsequent citations follow the same guidelines as books and articles, exceptwhen the dates are different. City and state are not listed in subsequent citations ofthe same newspaper.

vi.Examples:1New York Times, 15 August 2007.

2Ibid.

3Ibid., 16 August 2007.

4Clarion-Ledger(Jackson, Mississippi), 15 August 2007.


6Clarion-Ledger, 15 August 2007.

D. Encyclopedia Entries -- Citations of encyclopedia entries include the followingitems in this particular order.

i.Title of Encyclopedia {Italicizedor Underlined} [,]ii.Edition {abbreviated as ed.} If edition number is not specified, list publication

year e.g. 1974 ed. [,]

iii.[s.v.] in Latin, sub verbo, which means under the word.iv. Entry title in quotation marks. {If the entry is signed (author identified), the

title is followed by a comma inside the last quotation mark and [ by authors name

.]. If the entry is unsigned, then a period follows the entry title and is placed insidethe quotation mark [ Alabama.].v.Examples:

Signed:

1Encyclopedia Britannica, 11

thed., s.v. Alabama Football, by Wallace Wade.


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Unsigned:


thed., s.v. Alabama Football.

vi.Subsequent citations1. Encyclopedia Title [,] and entry title. {Period inside quotation mark}2. Examples:


thed., s.v. Alabama Football, by Wallace Wade.


3Encyclopedia Britannica, Alabama Football.

3. If the citation is the same as the immediately preceding citation, [Ibid.] willsuffice.

E. Internet Citations For web pages that are unaffiliated with other sources, such asEncyclopedia Britannica and the like, the citation includes the following informationin this particular order.

i.Author {if listed} [,]ii.Page title {Italicizedor Underlined}

iii.[Type of Source] {inside brackets [ ]}iv.[(]Place of origin or publication[)] {in parenthesis, follows book format} [;]v.[Date viewed/accessed] {Date, Month, Year, in brackets [ ]} [:]

vi.URL [available from http://www..] [;]vii.INTERNET [.]

viii.Example:1 John Q. Smith, Once Upon A Time in Lee County: Almost A Champion [databaseonline] (Tuscaloosa, AL: Hit Em Again Publishers, 2007); accessed 15 August 2007:

available from http://www.thegoodoleboys.com/onceuponatime.html; INTERNET.

ix.Subsequent citations.3

Smith, Once Upon A Time [database online]: INTERNET.

A Word About Plagiarism

When an author fails to acknowledge that certain words, statistics, graphics, orthoughts are not his own, or were borrowed from someone else, he has committed

plagiarism. Artists, authors, writers, and researchers own their works, including the

original thoughts and ideas conveyed by the work(s), in much the same way that a potterowns the pottery that he creates or a carpenter owns the tables that he makes. When

someone includes anothers ideas or research in their own work and fails to credit the

author for his original work, they have effectively stolen something from un-credited

scholars/artists.


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Plagiarism is no laughing matter. In fact, it is a crime. If you are judged guilty of

plagiarism, even in high school, that finding will follow you for the rest of your life, evenafter you turn eighteen. For instance, a high school plagiarism finding can be a basis for

the denial of a US government security clearance, which makes you ineligible for many

federal jobs, such as in The Department of State, The Department of the Treasury, The

Department of Health and Human Services, The Department of Energy, The Departmentof Homeland Security, or The Department of Defense (including all branches of the

armed forces). Moreover, the federal government requires employees of many privatecontracting firms that do business with the government (engineering firms, construction

firms, accounting firms, and medical and legal services providers) to have security

clearances. You could be ask to acknowledge a plagiarism finding in many otherprofessional careers requiring professional certification as well (such as for Bar

Admission, Law Enforcement, or Teacher Certification). And because plagiarism is a

dishonest act, it could negatively affect a political career. Senator Joseph Biden, for

example, was forced to drop out of his first presidential bid after reporters discovered thathe had plagiarized several of his campaign speeches. Finally, you could be held liable for

copyright violations in a civil court. Bottom line, the potential for loss associated withplagiarism far outweighs any benefits.

To avoid committing plagiarism, you should document all quotations,

arguments, evaluations, and insights that you have used or borrowed from another source.The three most common types of unintentional plagiarism are:

Material from a source not acknowledged.

A paraphrase that is too close to its source.

Statistics that are not attributed to a source.

A writers words and ideas not kept distinct from those of the source.1

More on plagiarism from Diana Hacker,A Pocket Style Manual, 2nd

ed. (Boston: BedfordBooks, 1997), 92-5.

Your research paper is a collaboration between you and your sources. To be fairand ethical, you must acknowledge your debt to the writers of these sources. If you

dont, you are guilty of plagiarism, a serious academic offense.

Three different acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and

borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3)failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words.

The only exception is common knowledge information that your readers could

find in any number of general sources because it is commonly known. For example, thecurrent population of the United States is common knowledge in such fields as sociology

and economics; Freuds theory of the unconscious is common knowledge in the field of

psychology.As a rule, when you have seen certain information repeatedly in your reading,

you dont need to cite it. However, when information has appeared in only one or two

sources or when it is controversial, you should cite it. If a topic is new to you and you are

1Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, The Holt Handbook, 3

rded. (Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace

Javonovich College Publishers, 1992), 589.


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not sure what is considered common knowledge or what is a matter of controversy, ask

someone with expertise. When in doubt, cite the source.

Enclosing borrowed language in quotation marks. To indicate that you are

using a sources exact phrases or sentences, you must enclose them in quotation marks.

To omit the quotation marks is to claim falsely that the language is your own. Suchan omission is plagiarism even if you have cited the source.

Example:

Original Source

No animal has done more to renew interest in animal intelligence than abeguiling, bilingual bonobo named Kanzi, who has the grammatical abilities of a

2 -year-old child and a taste for movies about cavemen.

-- Eugene Linden, Animals, 57.

Plagiarism

According to Eugene Linden, no animal has done more to renew interestin animal intelligence than a beguiling, bilingual bonobo named Kanzi, who hasthe grammatical abilities of a 2 -year-old child and a taste for movies about

cavemen.1

_____________________

1Eugene Linden, Animals, 57.

Correct Usage

According to Eugene Linden, no animal has done more to renew interestin animal intelligence than a beguiling, bilingual bonobo named Kanzi, who has

the grammatical abilities of a 2 -year-old child and a taste for movies about

cavemen.1

_________________________

1Eugene Linden, Animals, 57.

Putting summaries and paraphrases in your own words. When you

summarize or paraphrase, it is not enough to name the source; you must restate thesources meaning using your own language. Your are guilty of plagiarism if you half-

copy the authors sentences either by mixing the authors well-chosen phrases without

using quotation marks or by plugging your own synonyms into the authors sentencestructure. The following paraphrases are plagiarized even though the source is cited

because their language is too close to that of the source.

Original Source

If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also

startling news for animal behaviorists.-- Davis,Eloquent Animals, 26.

Unacceptable Borrowing of Phrases


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The existence of a signing ape unsettled linguists and startled animal

behaviorists. 1_________________________

1Davis,Eloquent Animals, 26.

Unacceptable Borrowing of Structure

If the presence of a sign-language-using chimp was disturbing for

scientists studying language, it was also surprising to scientists studying animalbehavior. 1_________________________


To avoid plagiarizing an authors language, resist the temptation to look at the

source while you are summarizing or paraphrasing. Close the book, write from memory,

and then open the book to check for accuracy. This technique prevents you from beingcaptivated by the words on the page.

Acceptable Paraphrases

When they learned of an apes ability to use sign language, both linguists

and animal behaviorists were taken by surprise.1_________________________


According to Flora Davis, linguists and animal behaviorists were

unprepared for the new that a chimp could communicate with its trainers throughsign language.1_________________________


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Ratliff - Style Guide