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Agroecosystems Site
  Citation Style
for electronic and print documents

Contents
  • Introduction
  • Citation Style for the Agroecosystems site
    1. Documentation of sources in the text
    2. Distinguishing between "Literature" and "Web Pages" .
    3. Citation of literature in print and of online journals
    4. Citation of Web Pages
    5. Listing of citations
  • Metatags
  • Cited Literature and Links
  • Introduction

    A major objective of the Agroecosystems class is to develop "Web Literacy" skills, which involves learning some core technical skills, and applying academic standards to use of the Web. Until the publication of The Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice Walker and Todd Taylor in 1998 1 there were no comprehensive guidelines for citing Web documents. Walker and Todd list five principles that form the logic of citation style and that required reconsideration in the light of the new phenomenon of publishing on the Web, and of the rapid and ongoing evolution of the Web. These are
    • The principle of Access
    • The principle Intellectual Property,
    • The principle Economy (brevity) ,
    • The principle Standardization
    • The principle Transparency

    The citation styles that has been adopted for the Agroecosystems site follow the styles suggested for scientific documents in the Columbia Guide with a few modifications which reflect different emphasis given to one or more of the five principles. Note that these styles pertain to the Agroecosystems site. Consult the Guidelines to Authors in academic journals for other styles - and follow the guidelines precisely! In most cases they will contain the same information that is advised below, but it may be presented slightly differently. Currently, only the latest edition (No, 5, 2001) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association2 appears to provide guidelines for electronic publications that are as comprehensive as those of Walker and Taylor (1998) 1 . Examples of the American Psychological Association guidelines can be seen at *APA STYLE - ELECTRONIC REFERENCES. 3

    Citation Style for the Agroecosystems site

    1. Documentation of sources in the text
    2. Distinguishing between "Literature" and "Web Pages" .
    3. Citation of literature in print and of online journals
    4. Citation of Web Pages
    5. Listing of citations

    1.Documentation of sources in the text

    In-text references to the printed literature should be cited as (Surname, year), or Surname (year). Use a semicolon between multiple references (for example: Butler and MacArthur, 1994; Smith, 1998). If the item is available without restriction on the Web, put an asterisk before the citation (*Surname, year). Also use this form of citation, with an asterisk, for research papers published in peer reviewed electronic journals that are only available electronically.

    In-text references to Web Pages other than those of journals posted on the Web should be cited as (*WEB PAGE TITLE or HEADING). They should NOT be presented as links within text; links are given with the full citations in the Cited Literature and Links section.

    The use of hypertext links within the text is discouraged  because highlighting of links can obscure other points of emphasis such as italicized or bolded terms and phrases. Also, if a web document is being revised and links are updated (as they should be at regular intervals), then it is much simpler to edit only the links within the citation section than it is to edit all references to citations. The asterisk indicates that the reference is available on the Web, and that the link is given in the citations section. Page headings or page titles are used to identify Web documents rather than authors because so often on the Web the nature of authorship is not straight-forward; these heading or titles are given in upper case to clearly identify that the item is a Web page title or heading.

    2. Distinguishing between "Literature" and "Web Pages"

    In general, the term "literature" will apply to
    1. documents that were prepared specifically for the print medium (even thought they may also be posted on the Web);
    2. reports and articles prepared for academic journals (including all scientific journals), regardless of whether they are distributed primarily via the Web or via the print medium.
    Such documents can usually be attributed to a specific author or authors, a date of publication can be specified, and once published, the original publication is not altered (except as new editions with new dates).

    In general the term "Web Page" (or Web Site) will apply to documents that were prepared specifically for publication on the Web (even thought they might also be distributed as printed materials) and that make use of low dpi graphics, navigational links, javascripts etc that are not normally features of the print medium.

    Such items are commonly regularly updated or modified or completely revised, often without specific notification or without attaching a date to particular changes; frequently, an author or authors cannot be identified, nor can a specific date be attached to define the particular version of the document except the date viewed.

    Some items will fall in between, and might be cited as literature or as a Web page. For example an essay may be posted on the Web as part of a Web site (rather than a journal that is accessible via the Web), but an author is specified, it was prepared for a particular purpose and will not be modified. In general such items are best cited as Web Pages, including in the citation, to author and date created as well as date viewed (see below).

    3. Citation of literature in print and of online journals

    Use the style illustrated by the following examples. (MacSeed articles are fictitious).

    • Smith, R.D., S.R. Donald, and P. MacSeed. 1998. The viability of bean seeds in sandy loam soil at Upper Hayfield, Nova Scotia. Journal of Seed Viability Science 154: 55-66.

      Bold the title of the paper, italicize name of the journal; spell out full name of the journal.

    • Steinkraus, D. C. and S. Y. Young. 1999. Bacillus thuringiensis for use Against Armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Wheat. Florida Entomologist 82: 209-218. Journal at http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/  ARTICLE

      The following items enhance access for the viewer and should be provided if you accessed a journal via the Web

      1. Give the URL for the Home Page of the journal as shown and make it an active link.
      2. Add an active link for the particular article as ARTICLE. Do NOT show the URL for the article (these are often very long and complicated and viewers can find it via the journal home page, already given).
      3. If you know that the journal is available without restriction (i.e. to anyone with no special fees applied or requiring special registration and the journal clearly states that is the case), add "Access not restricted". If you are at all uncertain whether access is restricted, do not comment on access.
      Note that most of the journals accessed through the Dalhousie Library's electronic access system are restricted access and are available only if you access the system via on-campus computers or via special proxy-server arrangements. Also, many journals change which issues are freely accessible according to their marketing strategy, so that what's accessible at one time, may not be later.

      The Florida Entomologist states clearly that it is freely accessible on the Web. Unfortunately, that is not true of most scientific journals.


    • Smith, R.D., S.R. Donald,  and P. MacSeed. 2001. The viability of corn seeds in sandy loam soil at Upper Hayfield, Nova Scotia . In: P. MacSeed (ed.), Seed Viability. Hayfield Press, Upper Hayfield, Nova Scotia, Canada, pp. 41-47.

    • MacSeed, P. 1990. Collecting Seeds: A Manual. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

      Capitalize first letter of title words of books except for the, a, of. For chapters or journal articles, capitalize only first letter of first word unless it is a proper name; bold the article title, but not the book title. Italicize book titles. For major cities, the country is not required when you cite the place of the publisher, however, if the city is not well known, include state (for USA) and country; if in doubt, include country name

    4. Citation of Web Pages

    Use the style illustrated by the following examples. (MacSeed authored sites are fictitious).

    There are five components to the link citations:

    1. The first component is the Title of the Page as shown in the browser bar, or at the top of the page. Use whichever one is most descriptive. It is given in upper case, and is presented as a link to the page. Delete " The" or "A" where they occur as the first word unless deletion changes the meaning.
    2. The second component is the URL written out, inside brackets. This is presented because the reader may want to see it without having to click on the link; also if a visitor is printing out the page, the link is then visible.
    3. The third component identifies as possible the sponsor (Spons.), author (Auth.), maintainer (Maint. ), compiler (Comp.) of the site or page, whichever is most appropriate; or provide two or all of these items if it seems relevant and appropriate to do so.
    4. The fourth component gives the date of creation, modification (Mod.) or revision (Rev.) if such a date is clearly identified on the page. Give the year followed by the month spelled out in full and then the day, e.g. (1999, September 7). It is included in parentheses with the next component.
    5. The fifth component provides the date at which you last verified existence of the site or page in brackets; use this format: (Viewed 7 Sep. 1996). Abbreviate the month by first three letters.

    5. Listing of citations

    Provide the items in a bulleted list sorted first alphabetically according to authors' surnames and site titles or headings, and second chronologically. for example as follows:

    • FAO STATISTICAL DATABASES (http://apps.fao.org/). Food and Agriculture Organization, Spons. (Viewed 8 Jan. 2001).
    • MacSeed, P. 1990. Collecting Seeds: A Manual. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
    • Smith, R.D., S.R. Donald,  and P. MacSeed. 1998. The viability of bean seeds in sandy loam soil at Upper Hayfield, Nova Scotia . Journal of Seed Viability Science 154: 55-66.
    • Smith, R.D., S.R. Donald, and P. MacSeed. 1999. Weed seedbanks in meadows at Upper Hayfield, Nova Scotia. *Journal of Seedbank Science 154: 55-66. http://www.seedbank.ns.ca
    • VETCH IN HAYFIELD SEEDBANKS (http://www.hayfields.ca/seeddocs/vetch.html). P. MacSeed, Maint. (Mod. 2000, December 30; Viewed 8 Jan. 2001).

    3. Metatags

    Writers should put  key information concerning authorship, date posted etc. in the metatags even if it is also provided on the Web page proper.  

    The metatags are visible in the HEAD section of the source code, but are not visible in the page opened up in the browser. They are commonly used to provide key information abut the document that can be sought by search engines.

    Include the following items (substituting your information for the italicized parts).

    If there are several pages connected to a Home Page,  these metatags need go only on the Home Page.

    <META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Your name">

    <META NAME="Creation Date" CONTENT="21 Jun. 1988 ">

    <META NAME="copyright" CONTENT="&copy; year yourname ">

    <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="program">

    <META NAME="Last Modified" CONTENT="21 Jun. 1999 ">

    <META NAME="Title" CONTENT="Title of Your Page">

    <META NAME="Abstract" CONTENT="One or two lines max. ">

    <META NAME="Key Words" CONTENT="Provide key words ">

    Cited Literature and Links

    1Walker, J.R. and T. Taylor. 1998. The Columbia Guide to Online Style. Columbia University Press, New York.

    2American Psychological Association. 2001. Publication Manural of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition. American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.

    3 APA STYLE - ELECTRONIC REFERENCES (http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html) American Psychological Association, spons. (Viewed 8 Sep. 2001)

    Posted Feb. 12, 2001.
    Revised Feb. 9, 2002.
    Modofied Apr. 12, 2002