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Citations

A citation is a short description of a book or an article or some other resource. You need to understand citations in order to locate items that you may need for your project. You need to be able to write a citation in order to give proper credit to your sources in the bibliography and/or notes of your project.

• Understanding a Citation from a Library Catalog or Database
• Recognizing Citations in Bibliographies and Notes
• Writing Citations
• Understanding Plagiarism

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Understanding a Citation from a Library Catalog or Database

• Book citation from Cameo:

Note the year of publication. Is it recent or ancient? Note number of pages. Note that it is illustrated (ill.). Bibliograpical references could lead you to other citations. Subjects are terms added by librarians. Use them to search for related materials. You need to know the library (HUNT in this case), the call number and the location to find a book.

• Article citation from the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals:

Search terms are highlighted. You will need the name of the periodical (Architectural Record) the date (Aug 1997), the volume (185), and the page numbers (54-65) to find an article. Note the year of publication. Is it recent or ancient? Note the length of the article. Is it long enough to be useful? Note the wide variety of illustrations listed under Details. Descriptors are terms added by librarians. Use them to search for related materials. Ignore these numbers.

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Recognizing Citations in Bibliographies and Notes

You will also find citations in the bibliographies and notes of books and articles and other sources. These examples will help you distinguish between book and article citations written in the format of the Chicago Manual of Style, which is recommended by the School of Architecture. These examples also demonstrate the preferred format for writing citations of books and articles using the Chicago Manual of Style:

• Book Citation in a bibliography:

  Morgan, William N. Precolumbian Architecture in Eastern North America. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999.

• Book Citation in a note:

  Robert Venturi et al., Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977), 20.

• Article citation in a bibliography:

  Morshed, Adnan. "A Tale of Two Symbols." Thresholds 23 (Fall 2001), 8.

• Article citation in a note:

  Ralph E. Griswold, "From Fort Pitt to Point Park: A Turning Point in the Physical Planning of Pittsburgh," Landscape Architecture 46 (July 1956), 195-197.

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Writing Citations

The sources below provide detailed guidance in writing citations for the bibliography and/or notes of your project. They also provide direction in spelling and punctuation, the treatment of numbers, quotations, illustrations, tables, foreign languages, mathematical symbols, abbreviations, and so on. The Chicago Manual of Style is recommended by the School of Architecture.

• The Chicago Manual of Style Online
• The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
  HUNT REF-1 PE1408 .C5 15th 2003
  A comprehensive source for citing sources and for other questions about writing. Includes updated directions for citing internet resources. The online version includes the interactive Chicago Style Q&A and the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide.

• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
  HUNT FA-REF-4 LB2369 .T8 2007
  A guide appropriate for university-level writing based on The Chicago Manual of Style. Unfortunately it is somewhat out of date and not a good source for citing internet resources.

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Understanding Plagiarism

Academic work at American universities like Carnegie Mellon requires you to properly cite the sources that you consult in your research. To not do so may be plagiariam. See:

• Academic Integrity