Sayre School Department of History: Notes on Documenting Sources and Other Hints for Research
Sayre School Department of History:
Notes on Documenting Sources and Other Hints for Research Projects.
Introduction:
1. Whenever you do a research-based paper for a SayreSchool History course, you must document the sources of your information in two forms.
A. In the body of your paper.
B. In a list of Works Cited (formerly known as a Bibliography)
2. Depending on the assignment and the desire of your History teacher, smaller-scale research projects will most commonly only require a List of Works Cited.
Here are the guidelines you must follow in documenting your sources in each of these categories.
Citing Sources
If you are writing a research PAPER, you must be able to show where your information comes fromin the body of the paper. You must be able to cite sources in the following circumstances:
1. If you use an original idea from a source, whether you quote or paraphrase it
2. If you summarize original ideas
3. If you quote directly
There are several methods for citing sources: endnotes, footnotes and parenthetical citations. When you go to college, different disciplines (eg. English, Psychology, History) will have very specific preferences and guidelines for which of these they want you to use.
In the Sayre History Department, we require that students use footnotes, using the Chicago Documentary-Note (or Humanities) Style. [1]
What is a footnote? Why should I use footnotes?
Your footnote is actually a set of directions, or a map to the source of your information source. The basic premise of any citation is that if a reader wants to know where you got your information, they should be able to find it by reading your footnote and following its path to the source of your information. If they can’t locate the information the way you have cited it, then you have done it wrong. If you fail to cite, or if you cite something in the wrong way, you can be accused of misleading your readers, and this can lead to accusations of plagiarism. Sloppiness is no excuse – you need to follow very specific guidelines for exactly how to cite your sources.
How do I do footnotes according to the Chicago Documentary Note (Humanities) Style?
You will get some instruction on citing sources, but there are some pretty basic guidelines to follow when you footnote.
1. The first time you cite a source, you must use a complete citation which includes author, title, publication information and page number(s) referred to. For example, look at footnote number 2 below.[2]
- The University of Georgia’s WritingCenter offers an excellent guide on how to use the University of Chicago Manual of Style format (more commonly known as the “Chicago Style.”) The link to this very useful, student-oriented site is:
- keep in mind that you will be using the Documentary-Note (or Humanities) Style. You can click on the link in the first paragraph
2. After your first full citation of a source, you can abbreviate. See Footnote 3.[3]
3. When in doubt, ask your teacher how to cite. Chances are, someone else is wondering, too.
4. When in doubt about whether to cite, Cite!
Creating a List of Works Cited.
Don’t you mean “Bibliography”?
Not really, unless you ONLY use books as your sources. In the days when people only used books, this was called a Bibliography. {Latin word for book: “Biblos”}Nowadays we use more than books, so the name of this list has changed to reflect that.
What needs to be on my “List of Works Cited”?
Any work you used in your paper, for background reading or anything else, even if you haven’t cited it in your footnotes, must be in your list of Works Cited.
How do I cite sources on this page? Is the format the same as it is for footnotes?
The format for citingyour sources in the list of Works Cited is very similar to the form for footnotes, but does differ by excluding parentheses for the publisher’s information. Be sure to refer to the guidelines for the
In what order do I list my sources in my list of Works Cited?
In compiling your list of Works Cited, your sources must be organized alphabetically by author.
If there is no author, use the first letter of the first word of the entry, according to the Chicago Documentary-Note (Himanities) Style’s guidelines.Remember that this list may be larger than the one of works you have quoted, because here you include all sources you read and used as background.
Where does my list of Works Cited belong?
The list of Works Cited should start on a fresh page and is the last item in your term paper after the title page and the paper itself.
[1] This is what a footnote looks like. To make one in Word, go to the “Insert” menu, click on “Reference,” and select “Footnote.” It will automatically place your footnotes at the bottom of the page and re-number them for you as you add, subtract and move notes. If, in editing your text, you move paragraphs around, Word will automatically place your footnotes in the right place and number them for you. It is incredibly easy to use.
[2] Alderman, Ellen and Kennedy, Caroline. In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action. (New York, 2002) 302.
[3] Alderman and Kennedy, p. 105.