Contents
- Introduction
- Handling Citation Questions: The Basics
- Handling Citation Questions: Go Deeper
- Handling Tricky Citation Questions
- Making Referrals
- Appendix 1: Recommended Citation Guides and Websites
Depending on the time available with the student and your level of comfort with a citation question, you may wish to apply the following best practices in your chats.
Point Students to Reliable Citation Guides and Websites
- If the institutional citation guide does not include rules or examples that address the student’s specific citation question, point them to reliable guides and websites.
- Questions to help you determine if a guide is appropriate:
- Is it published by an academic institution or organization?
- Does it use the most recent version of the citation style?
- Has it been updated recently?
- Is it clearly laid out and easy to navigate?
- See Appendix 1 for a list of recommended citation guides.
Teach Students How to Find and Use Citation Guides
- Teach students “how to fish” by showing them how to find, evaluate, and use citation guides and websites with confidence.
- In addition to sending a link to a guide, explain how you found it and why you chose it.
- When referring to guides and websites, provide the page number or section heading to help students find the relevant rule or example themselves.
- Point students to the guide’s navigation menu so they can find examples for other types of resources.
- Encourage them to bookmark the guide, especially if they will be using the style often.
Teach Students the Parts of a Citation
- Take advantage of teachable moments to explain citation guidelines and to define the parts of a citation.
- For example, you may need to familiarize them with DOI numbers.