Citing the digital age

Recently, I have been paying close attention to the many formats, styles, and methods used to cite references in journal articles and textbooks. In fact, habitually, when reading an article or chapter I will read the abstract or introduction and go directly to the bibliography. There is something to be appreciated about a well referenced work; and truly, if you can find one great one that is well referenced, you may have in your hands hours of already completed research on your topic. Not to mention, if you are not familiar with your topic, you may be able to identify some of the seminal works associated. Going back to my title, I just picked up a copy of the 2007 AMA Manual of Style . This manual of style was updated this year after almost ten years! Needless to say, the types of information being cited have changed dramatically over the past 10 years. In fact, in terms of how to cite a work; decisions have become more complicated. First of all, if you were hoping to have a good, clean looking bibliography with authority given to a proper name and a five to ten word title -- you can forget about it. The URL has effectively destroyed aesthetic value of the bibliography. I find myself constantly struggling with the dilemma of adding or leaving out the URL. Of course, with a Web ref you don't really have a choice, but journal articles can be referenced just fine without having to include the URL. But then again, if it is not included, I am obviously not including a direct access channel to that piece of information. Half-heartedly, I make my decision to include URL's on open access articles and try to get used to citations ranging from 2 - 10 lines of text! Like a good style manual, the AMA manual devotes several pages to dealing with all kinds of new formats of information. It addresses identifying ownership for web pages, listing on-line conference proceedings, full on-line databases, on-line newspapers, and yes listserves. Anyway, for the citation expert, there are all kind of new challenges out there. Citations remain as important and helpful as ever, and serve the research process in several ways. Oh yes, the nice people at OCLC via WorldCat will even do the formatting for you!

APA
Iverson, C. (2007). AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chicago (Author-Date)
Iverson, Cheryl. 2007. AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harvard
IVERSON, C. (2007). AMA manual of style: a guide for authors and editors. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

MLA
Iverson, Cheryl. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Turabian
Iverson, Cheryl. AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.