citing sources
Why citations? Writing to create new knowledge and understanding of the world is usually not an individual effort. It is, instead, analogous to joining a conversation in which everyone learns from everyone else. Your ideas join with the ideas of others to change the contours of what is known and unknown. Joining a knowledge creation conversation in writing requires that you acknowledge and respect the ideas and work of others through citation. Readers benefit from learning who and what has informed your work. Once they see and can evaluate the arguments being advanced and the evidence that supports or weakens your work, they can prepare themselves to join the conversation to create create new knowledge themselves. Or, maybe they just want to learn as much as they can about the ideas you and others are advancing. Thoughtful and careful citations are a gift to your reader and show your gratitude to those who have helped you understand the world.
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All citations should conform to the Society for American Archaeology Style Guide. In brief, in-text citations look like this:
(Smith 1999:24-27). Or: According to Smith (1999:24-27),.... In your list of "References Cited" use tabs to indent the year and subsequent lines; you do not need to replicate the idiosyncratic spacing presented in the Style Guide.
Page numbers from where, specifically, within a document you derived the information you are collecting are essential! So, all in-text citations must have page numbers.
One source that informs an entire paragraph: Can I use one citation at the end of a multiple sentence paragraph to indicate where I've obtained most of the information in the paragraph? Short answer: NO. Read more here; this is important!
EXAMPLES OF COMMON CITATION METHODS:
Article in a Journal, in References Cited:
Ashmore, Wendy
1991 Site-Planning Principles and Concepts of Directionality among the Ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 2:199–226.
In-text citation of an article in a journal:
(Ashmore 1991)
Article in a Journal - two authors, References Cited:
Kintigh, Keith W. and Scott E. Ingram.
2018 Was the Drought Really Responsible? Assessing Statistical Relationships between Climate Extremes and Cultural Transitions.
Journal of Archaeological Science 89:25-31.
In-text citation:
(Kintigh and Ingram 2018)
Article in a Journal - three or more authors, References Cited:
Spielmann, Katherine A., Margaret Nelson, Scott Ingram, and Matthew A. Peeples.
2011 Sustainable Small-Scale Agriculture in Semi-Arid Environments. Ecology and Society 16(1): 26.
In-text citation:
(Spielmann et al. 2011)
Chapter in an Edited Book or Monograph:
Manzanilla, Linda
1999 The Emergence of Complex Urban Societies in Central Mexico: The Case of Teotihuacan. In Archaeology in Latin America,
edited by Gustavo G. Politis and Benjamin Alberti, pp. 93–129. Routledge, London.
Website (electronic resources) with or without a date:
Treat web pages, electronic documents, and open data as published data, but cite the document accordingly as a single- or multiple-authored document or as one produced by a group or agency (no author specified).
In References Cited (with a date on the document)
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory
2001 XRF Information. Electronic document, http://www.obsidianlab.com, accessed April 12, 2021.
In References Cited (no date on the document; use date you accessed the document)
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory
2021 XRF Information. Electronic document, http://www.obsidianlab.com, accessed April 12, 2021.
In-text citation (with a date on the document)
(Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory 2001)
In-text citation (no date on document: use date you accessed the document:
(Northwest Regional Obsidian Studies Laboratory 2021)
Headings
Headings are essential for signaling to a reader where they are in your argument and should go descriptively beyond the perfunctory Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc. headings. Well crafted headings should signal the primary argument or theme of the section. Following the SAA Style Guide p. 13, headings are arranged in a hierarchy:
1) Primary heads: centered, bold with headline-style capitalization. EX: Vernacular Cabins of Southern Colorado
2) Secondary heads: flush left and set in italics, using headline-style capitalization. EX: Milled Lumber as a Temporal Indicator
3) Tertiary heads: typed as part of the paragraph, with a paragraph indentation, the head italicized, with headline-style capitalization, followed by a period, and followed by the beginning of the text. EX: Sawcut vs. Milled Lumber. Sawcut wood can be differentiated...
See the Style Guide for details on spacing and other details.
Citing a Source Cited by Another Author
When you want to use information provided by an author you are reading but that author is citing another author what do you do? You must NOT take the citation without checking the original author's work. This is how data, interpretations, arguments get distorted. In some cases (e.g., when you cannot gain access to the original source) you can signal to your reader that you are citing an author but did not check the source. This would be cited in your text as: (Johnson 2012:22 as cited by Smith 2020:19). Both the Johnson and Smith sources must be entered your References Cited list.
Common mistakes:
Climate and Weather Historical Summaries, Crestone, Colorado. Western Regional Climate Center, electronic resources
accessed September 10, 2018.
FOR Powerpoint Presentations:
*******
All citations should conform to the Society for American Archaeology Style Guide. In brief, in-text citations look like this:
(Smith 1999:24-27). Or: According to Smith (1999:24-27),.... In your list of "References Cited" use tabs to indent the year and subsequent lines; you do not need to replicate the idiosyncratic spacing presented in the Style Guide.
Page numbers from where, specifically, within a document you derived the information you are collecting are essential! So, all in-text citations must have page numbers.
One source that informs an entire paragraph: Can I use one citation at the end of a multiple sentence paragraph to indicate where I've obtained most of the information in the paragraph? Short answer: NO. Read more here; this is important!
EXAMPLES OF COMMON CITATION METHODS:
Article in a Journal, in References Cited:
Ashmore, Wendy
1991 Site-Planning Principles and Concepts of Directionality among the Ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 2:199–226.
In-text citation of an article in a journal:
(Ashmore 1991)
Article in a Journal - two authors, References Cited:
Kintigh, Keith W. and Scott E. Ingram.
2018 Was the Drought Really Responsible? Assessing Statistical Relationships between Climate Extremes and Cultural Transitions.
Journal of Archaeological Science 89:25-31.
In-text citation:
(Kintigh and Ingram 2018)
Article in a Journal - three or more authors, References Cited:
Spielmann, Katherine A., Margaret Nelson, Scott Ingram, and Matthew A. Peeples.
2011 Sustainable Small-Scale Agriculture in Semi-Arid Environments. Ecology and Society 16(1): 26.
In-text citation:
(Spielmann et al. 2011)
Chapter in an Edited Book or Monograph:
Manzanilla, Linda
1999 The Emergence of Complex Urban Societies in Central Mexico: The Case of Teotihuacan. In Archaeology in Latin America,
edited by Gustavo G. Politis and Benjamin Alberti, pp. 93–129. Routledge, London.
Website (electronic resources) with or without a date:
Treat web pages, electronic documents, and open data as published data, but cite the document accordingly as a single- or multiple-authored document or as one produced by a group or agency (no author specified).
In References Cited (with a date on the document)
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory
2001 XRF Information. Electronic document, http://www.obsidianlab.com, accessed April 12, 2021.
In References Cited (no date on the document; use date you accessed the document)
Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory
2021 XRF Information. Electronic document, http://www.obsidianlab.com, accessed April 12, 2021.
In-text citation (with a date on the document)
(Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory 2001)
In-text citation (no date on document: use date you accessed the document:
(Northwest Regional Obsidian Studies Laboratory 2021)
Headings
Headings are essential for signaling to a reader where they are in your argument and should go descriptively beyond the perfunctory Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, etc. headings. Well crafted headings should signal the primary argument or theme of the section. Following the SAA Style Guide p. 13, headings are arranged in a hierarchy:
1) Primary heads: centered, bold with headline-style capitalization. EX: Vernacular Cabins of Southern Colorado
2) Secondary heads: flush left and set in italics, using headline-style capitalization. EX: Milled Lumber as a Temporal Indicator
3) Tertiary heads: typed as part of the paragraph, with a paragraph indentation, the head italicized, with headline-style capitalization, followed by a period, and followed by the beginning of the text. EX: Sawcut vs. Milled Lumber. Sawcut wood can be differentiated...
See the Style Guide for details on spacing and other details.
Citing a Source Cited by Another Author
When you want to use information provided by an author you are reading but that author is citing another author what do you do? You must NOT take the citation without checking the original author's work. This is how data, interpretations, arguments get distorted. In some cases (e.g., when you cannot gain access to the original source) you can signal to your reader that you are citing an author but did not check the source. This would be cited in your text as: (Johnson 2012:22 as cited by Smith 2020:19). Both the Johnson and Smith sources must be entered your References Cited list.
Common mistakes:
- placing a single citation at the end of a paragraph that is filled with content from one or more authors (see above; there is a method for solving this!)
- missing date accessed from electronic resources/webpages
- no knowing the difference between a "Figure" and a "Graph" - almost everything is referred to as a "Figure" -- including photos.
- putting a citation at the end of a sentence rather than when an author is first mentioned in the text. For example, "Smith describes the process of extracting water from rocks (Smith 1999:21-25). This is incorrect; instead, present the citation this way: "Smith (1999:21-25) describes the process of extracting water from rocks."
- Missing labels for the x or y axis or missing caption citations if the figure contains data from others.
- Missing the year for a citation in the "References Cited" section. See this example with a missing year:
Climate and Weather Historical Summaries, Crestone, Colorado. Western Regional Climate Center, electronic resources
accessed September 10, 2018.
FOR Powerpoint Presentations:
- All images that are not your own must be cited with the URL and/or photographer.
