CITING SOURCES Based on Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students by Patrick Rael

WHY USE CITATIONS? A citation is the part of your paper that tells your reader where your source information came from. This is one of the most important elements to your paper. In order to evaluate your argument, your reader must be able to consult the same sources you used. Proper citing is crucial to making a credible and persuasive argument, and to conforming to professional standards of proof.

USE OF THE NOTE FORMAT Citations in history papers can take the form of either footnotes or endnotes. History papers should not use the parenthetic citation style common to literature and social science papers. History footnotes do not perform the following other functions of footnotes and endnotes: –They do not provide space to clarify your use of complex data or arguments. –They do not expand on points you believe do not merit lengthy consideration in the body of your text. –They do not directly address the arguments of other historians.

HOW FOOTNOTES WORK Each time you quote a work by another author, or use the ideas of another author, indicate the source with a footnote. A footnote is indicated in the text of your paper by a small arabic numeral written in superscript. Each new footnote gets a new number (increment by one); do not repeat a footnote number you've already used, even if the earlier reference is to the same work. The number refers to a note number at the bottom of the page (or following the text of the paper, if you are using endnotes). The note contains the citation information for the materials you are referencing.

WHAT MUST BE CITED Acknowledge the sources of quotations, paraphrases, arguments, and specific references. Do not cite sources for common facts or knowledge, e.g. the colonists declared independence in Arcane or debated historical facts need to be cited. Cite the source for any claim that appears to contradict common knowledge, e.g. most colonists were loyalists (a very controversial claim). Cite matters of interpretation, such as another author's ideas as to why the colonists declared independence. If you are in doubt about citing "common knowledge" information, err on the side of citing; even unintended failure to cite sources constitutes technical plagiarism.

SHOULD YOU USE FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES? Either of these is fine. Most history books are now produced using endnotes, which are commonly thought to provide cleaner looking pages. Again, do not use parenthetical citations!

BASIC FOOTNOTE/ENDNOTE FORMS Historians follow the Chicago Manual of Style

BASIC FORMAT FOR A PRINT BOOK 1.Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America (New York: Penguin, 2001), Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967), Gary Nash, The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness and the Origins of the American Revolution (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979), 123.

WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY 1.Ira Berlin, “The Revolution in Black Life” in Beyond the American Revolution: Further Explorations in the History of American Radicalism, ed. Alfred F. Young (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993), Bernard Bailyn, “The Central Themes of the American Revolution: An Interpretation,” in Essays on the American Revolution, ed. Stephen G. Kurtz and James H. Hutson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1973), 3-31.

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS 1.T. H. Breen, “Ideology and Nationalism on the Eve of the American Revolution: Revisions Once More in Need of Revising,” Journal of American History 84 (June 1997): Alfred F. Young, “George Robert Twelves Hewes ( ): A Boston Shoemaker and the Memory of the American Revolution,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 38 (Oct. 1981): William W. Freehling, “The Founding Fathers and Slavery,” American Historical Review 77 (Feb. 1972):

ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE 1.Sean Wilentz, “The Power of the Powerless,” The New Republic, December 23-30, 1991, Edmund S. Morgan, “ The Second American Revolution, ” New York Review of Books, June 25, 1992, Pauline Maier, “ It Was Never the Same after Them, ” New York Times Book Review, March 1, 1992, 1,

ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER For newspaper articles, page numbers are not necessary. A section letter or number, if available, is sufficient.

ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER 1.Lynne V. Cheney, “ The End of History, ” Wall Street Journal, October 20, 1994, sec. A, Eastern edition. 2.Douglas Martin, “ Lawrence W. Levine,73, Historian and Multiculturalist, Dies ” New York Times, October 28, 2006, sec. B.

SOURCE QUOTED IN ANOTHER SOURCE 1.Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (New York: Random House,1965), 11, quoted in Mark Skousen, The Making of Modern Economics:The Lives and the Ideas of the Great Thinkers (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2001), 15.

SHORTENED FORMS IN SUBSEQUENT REFERENCES The first time you cite a work, you must provide complete bibliographic information. In subsequent references, use a shortened form. There are two acceptable methods of shortening a reference. 1. Breen, Bailyn, Ideological Origins, Berlin, 367.