The Rhetorical Purpose for Citing Sources in Technical Writing

• Place research within the context of other work on the subject. Answers the question: what is your research adding to this body of knowledge?

• Acknowledge conflicts with other research findings.Answers the question: why is your research challenging the findings of others?

• Provide support for critically important claims based on the evidence of others.Answers the question: where is the evidentiary support for this claim?

• Directs reader to bibliographical information.

• Helps readers discern what weight to give the evidence.

What Do Citations DO?

Documentation styles: discipline-, company-, organization-, publication-, and can even be culturally specific.

Direct citation. Author (and/or work) is identified directly and cited by parenthetical reference or through a footnote or endnote.

Indirect citation. Author (and/or work) is not identified but cited parenthetically or through a footnote or endnote.

Direct or Indirect?

HOW TO CHOOSE…?

Example: Two Styles of Direct Citation

• APA [emphasis on date]Brie (1988) showed that the moon is made of cheese. Cheddar (1990) reached the same conclusion.

• MLA [emphasis on page number]Brie showed that the moon is made of cheese (111-19). Cheddar reached the same conclusion (40-52).

Example of Three Documentation Styles that Use Endnotes

• Chicago [superscript number placed at the end of sentence.]– Brie showed that the moon is made of cheese.¹ Cheddar reached the

same conclusion.²

• CBE [superscript number placed closed to author’s name]– Brie¹ showed the moon is made of cheese. Cheddar² reached the

same conclusion.

• IEEE [uses brackets around superscript number placed close to author’s name or reference to research]– Brie[¹] Brie showed that the moon is made of cheese. Cheddar[²]

reached the same conclusion.

All Documentation Styles…

• In-text citation information (parenthetical or superscript) must be accompanied by a corresponding entry in a Works Cited, References List, or Bibliography where information about the source is provided.

• Basic elements of a bibliography (any documentation style):

– Name of author

– Name of text

– Date of text

– Publisher of text

For Citation Help

The Writing Center at Colorado State is a useful resource for understanding documentation styles.

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/researchsources/documentation/specific.cfm

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