FSCI 500 Science Communication and Outreach

Citation management software

• EndNote - Build your personal database of references, organize them into groups, find and attach the full text of papers, and insert bibliographic citations in your papers in your chosen style. Free for students to download.
  • Guide to using EndNote
  • EndNote Essentials workshops are offered throughout the year.
  • EndNote Web - Sync between the software and online version of EndNote. Create an account from a computer on the McGill network.
• Zotero - McGill Library provides support for this free online citation tool.
  • Zotero workshops are offered throughout the year. They will be announced on the workshops page. 
  • Watch a Zotero video tutorial.

How can you capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future?

Use the Save Page Now function of the Wayback Machine.

The lifespan of a web page is surprising short but you can save it at the date and time of access into the Wayback Machine. The page, and outlinks, can be captured and added to Internet Archive, providing a link to how it appeared at the time. There is the added benefit of being able to compare the page at a later date to see any changes. You can sign in after creating a free account, in order to see all of the save options available.

Citations describe information resources (ex. journal articles, books, web pages, etc.) in a standard format. Citations styles differ in how they present information, but they all include the following basic elements: the title of the resource, who wrote it (author and/or editor), when it was published, where and by whom it was published (journal name, city, host of web page, etc.).

The McGill Library Citation Guide has loads of additional information including choosing a style based on your subject, information about citation managemenet software including EndNote and Zotero, and an FAQ on Citing and Referencing.

Below are some basic examples of citations in APA 7 style for different types of resources. The APA official site has a much more extensive list of examples.

 

Journal Article

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

 

Newspaper Article

Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html

 

Podcast Episode

Hannah-Jones, N. (Host). (2019, September 13). How the bad blood started (No. 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In 1619. The New York Times. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-4-how-the-bad-blood-started/id1476928106?i=1000449718223

 

PowerPoint Slide from Class Website

Mack, R., & Spake, G. (2018). Citing open source images and formatting references for presentations [PowerPoint slides]. Canvas@FNU. https://fnu.onelogin.com/login

 

Report by Government Agency, NGO, etc.

National Cancer Institute. (2019). Taking time: Support for people with cancer (NIH Publication No. 18-2059). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf

 

Wikipedia Entry

Oil painting. (2019, December 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oil_painting&oldid=929802398

 

Citing Information from Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions of Indigenous Peoples

• If the information has been recorded and is recoverable by readers, cite it in the text and include a reference list entry in the correct format for that type of source. It's important to maintain the integrity of Indigenous perspectives. 
• For Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions that are not recorded, provide as much detail in the in-text citation as is necessary to describe the content and to contextualize the origin of the information and use a variation of the personal communication citation. Capitalize most terms related to Indigenous Peoples. Because there is no recoverable source, a reference list entry is not used.

ex. We spoke with Anna Grant (Haida Nation, lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, personal communication, April 2019) about traditional understandings of the world by First Nations Peoples in Canada. She described . . .

• More information on citing Personal Communications and Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions in APA 7.

 

It's important to cite your sources for a variety of reasons. Citing your sources:

• Gives your work credibility by showing you've done your research
• Gives credit to the authors/creators of the sources you used
• Allows readers to go back to the original source
• Ensures you won't be accused of plagiarism!

Now you know why it's important to cite, check out the flow chart below for information on when to cite.