In article <Pine.3.89.9702191151.A11812-0100000 at bluestem.prairienet.org>,
smeissne at PRAIRIENET.ORG ("Scott T. Meissner") wrote:
> In reply to my previous posting
>> Dr. David Kramer suggested the following sites for
> information on how to cite internet sources:
>> \ http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html> \ http://www.beadsland.com/weapos>
The American Psychological Association has citation styles for web
documents as well. I don't have the URL for the Web source of these
citations handy at home, but will find and post them, if desired.
>> 2) Given the shifting nature of the net how can
> I check if the citations given are valid? Web pages
> come and go, and information in existing ones is
> constantly being updated. Going to the printed
> literature at least anchors the citation to a
> physical unshifting item that can be checked. What
> is the value, for example, of citing something that
> can not be found weeks or years from now?
>In our senior seminar, we allow students to utilize web documents and to
cite them in a modified APA style. The citation needs to include, in
addition to the URL, the name of the responsible individual (when
available), and certainly the date the cite was visited. As with printed
literature, we require that students have available a hard copy
(photocopy, print-out) of all of their references so that if a question of
interpretation or content should arise, we can request that copy from
them.
Too, we discuss the differences between peer-reviewed and non-reviewed
publications, and generally include web sources in the second group. Thus
far, we've not seen any real problems with the kinds of information the
students have used.
John Bohmfalk
Biology Dept.
Hastings College
Hastings NE 68902
jbohmfal at hastings.edu
