Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Why having good citations matters. John Stephens grammar I wrote a research paper earlier this week and I had an online source with no author. The source title began with a number. In the work cited do I put this source at the bottom? top? or do I just go on to the next letter of the title? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=19640#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=19640#Comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:05:44 GMT Dan Harasty grammar When weakness are a strength: You mention that electronic sources "may not be around when you need them in the future". While that is true, consider the upside as well: that electronic source are "more likely to be accessible by all" (say, than a reference to an obscure, print-only journal); "more likely to be timely" (tracking current events); and "more likely to be updated when errors are found" (try to do that with a million printed copies in circulation). As for credibility, well, your comments apply equally well to printed works... and subjectivity like having an "official sounding name" or "having an official seal" can be the implements of pulling the wool over unwary eyes in either medium. Finally, you MISSED a FANTASTIC opportunity to mention "Why Bother to Cite At All": it is precisely the question of credibility. Short of having conducted the research personally myself, I can't KNOW if the cancer statistics I cite are accurate... but if I present some, cite their source, and draw some conclusions for a new public policy or medical procedure, then as an author and commentator, I am to a greater degree buffered from criticism if at a later time my proposals are logically sound but based on erroneous data. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12464#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12464#Comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:19:49 GMT WallyV grammar GG, I am a long-time listener and big fan of your podcast. Thanks! I also wanted to offer the www.easybib.com site. My two high school kids use it all the time and find it very helpful in finishing up those important projects. -- WRV http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12447#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12447#Comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:36:38 GMT David grammar Hi! First comment, long-time listener (like since 'cast #1) - I think your show is great! Anyway, I had just listened to this episode and happened to be browsing some Firefox add-ons when I came across this one: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3504 I haven't used it (mostly because I just came upon it, and I don't have a lot of need for citations at the moment), but I thought some of your listeners might like to try it. It apparently does web citations, content archiving, searching, and organizing all within a free Firefox add-on. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12390#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12390#Comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:20:45 GMT Grammar Girl grammar Hi, Milly. Simple tense can be past or present. In other words there are two types of simple tense: simple past and simple present. In the sentence you are asking about, "are" goes with "examples." It's plural because I gave multiple examples. I can see how it could be confusing though since there are two kinds of simple tense. I suppose I could have said, "Here are some examples of sentences in the simple tense," or "Here are some examples of the simple tenses." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12380#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12380#Comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:23:21 GMT Milly grammar Hi GG. I was reading the episode on the decision to write a novel in Present Tense, and came across the following sentence in your presentation, First here are some examples of simple tense so we're all on the same page. Why is it simple tense and not tenses? You used are, therefore, I assume you were referring to a plural state. Please explain. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12379#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12379#Comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:54:01 GMT Susan G grammar Thank you, Grammar Girl. I will always remember that directive. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12375#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12375#Comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:15:59 GMT Grammar Girl grammar Hi, Sita. I covered "different from" versus "different than" on this page: http://tinyurl.com/25gcok http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12373#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12373#Comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:42:01 GMT Grammar Girl grammar Hi, Susan. You should write "one of the wives" or "one of the men." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12371#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12371#Comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:39:25 GMT Grammar Girl grammar Hi, Eric. I'm not aware of any agreed upon solution to the long URL problem. I like to use tinyurl.com because it shortens the URL but still points to the original page. On the other hand, if that site ever goes down, the URL information will be lost forever. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12370#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx?commentid=12370#Comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:38:10 GMT Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:05:44 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/citing-podcasts-and-websites.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us