Geology 2001/3001/4001:  Geology Seminar

 Referencing Sources in Written Reports

1.  Bibliography Preparation

Reference style for bibliography of scientific literature varies somewhat among the various scientific journals. Also in any one journal's style, referencing varies depending upon the nature of the reference: books, articles, websites.  The following are sample references for you to follow in creating the reference citations in your seminar papers according to the style we have chosen:

 a.  General Instructions: 

• author’s last name followed by first name initials;   if there is more than one author, the following authors are identified first name initials then last name.
• article titles begin with first word capitalized; further words in the article title are capitalized only if they are proper nouns
• book titles have all nouns capitalized
• if an article appears in a book, then the indications is by “In”, in the citation
• journal names are referenced in their entirety
• volumes and pages of journals are cited with volume number first followed by a colon and the journal pages

1.  Journal articles:

McGowan, C.  1997.   The taxonomic status of the late Jurassic ichthyosaur Grendelius mordax:  a preliminary
           report.   Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 17:428-430.

James, N. P., and C. F. Clappa.  1983.  Petrogenesis of Early Cambrian reef limestones, Labrador, Canada.  Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 53:1051-1096.

Bengston, S., S. Conway Morris, B. J. Cooper, P. A. Jell, and B. N. Runnegar. 1990.  Early Cambrian fossils from South Australia.  Association of Australasian Palaeontologist Memoirs, 9:1-364.

2.   Book compilation of articles: 

Feldman, R. M., and D. M. Tshudy.  Evolutionary patterns in macrurous decapod crustaceans from Cretaceous to early Cenozoic rocks of the James Ross Island region, Antarctica, p. 183-195.  In J. A. Crame (ed.), Origins and Evolution of the Antarctic Biota, Geological Society Special Publication 47. 

Rowell, A.  J.  1965.   Inarticulata, p. H260-H296.  In R. C. More (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas. 

3.  Books: 

Barthel, K. W., N. H. M.  Swinburne, and S. Conway Morris.  1990. Solnhofen:   A study of Mesozoic palaeontology.   Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.   236 p.

b. Electronic Information:  Websites:   (in seminar this fall we will not utilize “websites” for scientific literature; so this instruction and these examples are for future reference)  

The basic format for referencing www-derived information:

Author’s Lastname, First initial.  (date of publication or “NO DATE” if unavailable). Title of article or section used.
           Title of complete work.  Retrieved (month/day/year), the World Wide Web:   (full URL of site)

Example:                            

Gardner, C. A., K. M. Scott, C. D. Miller, B. Myers, W. Hildreth, and P. T. Pringle, 1995.  Potential Volcanic Hazards from Future Activity of Mount Baker, Washington.  USGS Open-File Report 95-489.  Retrieved October 5, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Baker/Hazards/OFR95- 498/framework.html

2.  Making reference to your sources in the body of your report:

In the body of your report, it is common to make reference to the source from which certain information was derived. If you will pay attention to the articles that you read, you will see how this is done. Most use parenthesis with the author's last name followed by a comma and the year of publication. I will make up some fictitious statements and reference them to articles above as examples. There are different situations in each quote/reference below.

Examples: 

The ichthyosaur is believed to have had a very limited range in North America (McGowan, 1997). 

Oolitic grainstones are only a minor lithology in the eastern part of the study area (James and Clappa, 1983). [Note the two authors names both listed.]

Mount Baker has a periodicity of erruption of about 20,000 years (Gardner and others, 1995). [Note that if more than two authors you put "and others"; some journals use "et al." instead.]

This species is missing throughout the western part of Great Britain (Rowell, 1965). [Note that you reference the author of the research paper itself, not the editor of the compiled book.]

3.  In-line referencing: 

It is permissible to reference only “in-line” with no other citation in the bibliography section. It is frowned upon and rarely used, but is permissible, especially when referencing a report such as the USGS  Data-Report.   Such an “in-line” reference should appear as follows (an example of a sentence in the body of your report with in-line reference): 

Normal annual precipitation for Iowa is approximately 32 inches per year (U. S. G. S. Water-Data Report IA-89-1).”