From the Citation Machine Website: “This online tool was originally created by David Warlick of The Landmark Project on October 29, 2000 and is part of the Landmarks for Schools Web site for teachers. The Citation Machine last experienced a major revision in January, 2004.”
The Citation Machine is a wonderful tool; however, remember that you need to recognize what type of resource you’ve located, and make the distinction between PRINT and ELECTRONIC sources. Each of the options on the list is a hot link; when you click on one of these choices, you will see a form, with various fields, or slots, specific to that type of resource. So, to get the best results, you need to select the option that best fits your resources, and then fill in as much information as you can.
Cherie’s note:
I have been using this online tool with
my community college students for the past two semesters and have found it to be
useful. My students love it because it is easy to use; I like it because it
helps them understand the documentation process a little better. This handout
explains how to use the Citation Machine; you are welcome to use it, as long as
you acknowledge David Warlick’s hard work (and mine!)
q First, gather the information you need on your resources (more details about this process later)
q Second, go to the URL for the citation machine. http://landmark-project.com/citation_machine/cm.php
q Third, select the type of resource you are looking at from the two main categories of Print or Electronic (it will work best if you have already copied and pasted the basic information for your sources into a new word document).
q Fourth, fill in the slots to the best of your ability. (You may want to go back to your source if too many of them are blank, since that will affect the overall accuracy of your citation.).
q Fifth, click on the button at the bottom of the form (make citations) to process. Your results will come up in two formats: MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association).
q Finally, you can copy and paste the resulting citations into word. You will need to some minor formatting and should check your results with an English Handbook or other online resources. I will take you through this process, step by step, later in the handout.
APA Style Documentation Guidelines for Electronic Sources (for nursing, education, business, psychology & sociology students) -- Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey. Available: http://www.westwords.com/guffey/apa_z.html
Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: Documentation Guidelines. From Duke University Library. Available: http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/citing.htm
MLA Style Documentation Guidelines for Electronic Sources -- Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey. Available: http://www.westwords.com/guffey/mla_z.html
Purdue University has one of the BEST Online Writing Centers (known as OWLS, by the way). Here is the link for their handouts on documentation. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_docelectric.html
APA and MLA don’t just refer to style guidelines; they both represent large organizations with a number of publications, including style guides which are periodically updated.
APA Style – you cannot get complete APA guidelines online. However, there are some helpful pages on their website, including these two: http://www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html http://www.apastyle.org/faqs.html
MLA Style -- http://www.mla.org/style While MLA does not offer its guidelines on the web, you can get some help from their Frequently Asked Questions section, at http://www.mla.org/style_faq
For example, the first form is for a source that is a web page.
The next form is for one of the items listed under print sources: a journal or magazine article. Notice how the two forms differ.
On the following page you will see that I found a source that I really like about how to use CD-Rom drives to back up data. I am lucky; I have two browsers installed on my office computer, so I can have the website open on one and go back and forth to the Citation machine on the other one. (If I didn’t have this option, I would spend some time first documenting my site by doing a copy and paste of key information into a new word document).
The web page is located at http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm so I open up a word document and begin to copy the information that I might need for this citation.
In general, one would look for the author of a document, the title of the document, the publication source (an online magazine, newspaper article, encyclopedia entry, personal posting on a discussion board, interview, personal or professional website), date of publication/posting the document online, and the date accessed from the source (if electronic). For more specific details, consult a Handbook, or locate the type of source it is on the Citation Machine list and notice the fields that come up on that form.
http://landmark-project.com/citation_machine/cm.php
I decide to choose web page; it seems the best fit for this article, which appears on a personal web page. By the way, I see a link back to a home page, so I click on it, and get the name of the webpage, which is Resources for CD-R.
Here is the information that I have copied and pasted:
http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm
E-mail me at cd-r@mrichter.com Return to Mike's home page
When the window/form comes up, I fill it in to the best of my ability. (The form changes according to the type of source selected). Here is the completed form.
So, next, I press the Make Citations button.
With the 2004, the results screen has changed. The information has expanded to include not only the citations that would appear on a Works Cited page (MLA style) and a References page (APA style), but also the internal citations, also called parenthetical citations because they appear in the text of a documented essay in parentheses.
Furthermore, keep in mind that which ever system you are using, you will need to put your list of citations into alphabetical order, by the last name of the author. If there is no named author you can also use the title of the document. Again, you will want to refer to a Handbook, or one of the documentation websites mentioned earlier, for more details.
Here is the top half of the new results screen, showing the MLA style citation, as well as the parenthetical citation. When you refer to your source in your essay, you will want to be sure to cite, or identify it. Your reader should be able to see your internal citation (Richter) and then flip back to the list of references and see the full citation there.
Sample #1
According to one website, “The most common cause of failure in writing CDs is the action or inaction of the operator,” (Richter).
Sample #2
Even expert users caution that brands may not be the best indicator of quality; what works in one machine may not be as good in another (Richter).
The bottom half of the screen, showing the APA citation, along with the parenthetical citation, appears on the next page.
In the yellow shaded box at the bottom you will see several notes regarding the need to do some minor formatting changes in the citations once they are copied and pasted into your word processor. There are also a couple of sample citations, showing the formatting.
So, I go to the results page and copy and paste the two citations into word. I indent the second and subsequent lines 5 spaces, and I am done. I would encourage you to take a look at a handbook, but if you have made an effort to put the information into the correct slots, or fields, your results should be fairly accurate.
MLA Citation -- Bibliographic Reference (for the Works Cited
page)
Richter, Mike. "Primer on CD-R ." 23 03 2003. 19 Feb
2004. <http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm>.
APA Citation -- Bibliographic Reference (for the References page)
Richter, M. (2003). Primer on cd-r . retrieved Feb 19, 2004, from Resources for
CD-R Web site:
http://www.mrichter.com/cdr/primer/primer.htm.
Prepared by Cherie Post Dargan
Updated May 3, 2005
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Email me at: cheriedargan@mchsi.com