15th ed of Chicago Manual of Style

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I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in professional papers. I see a new edition of the Chicago Manual of Style has been released. I live in a rural area far from a bookstore that might stock this item. Does anyone know if this edition gives adequate space to the issues and problems inherent in citing electronic media (e.g. web pages, newsgroup posts, data sets . . .)? Can anyone suggest other books or websites that address this topic? Thanks.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in professional papers. I see a new edition of the ... pages, newsgroup posts, data sets . . .)? Can anyone suggest other books or websites that address this topic? Thanks.[/nq]
A good place to start and maybe finish is Michael Quinion's World Wide Words . He has an article on citing online sources at
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/citation.htm . He gives a list of references, one of which is
Wainwright, Mark (Email Removed) MLA citation style for internet documents? Article
But my newsreader tells me it's unable to find that article. However, Google Groups provides seven hits on the string "MLA Citation Style".
Michael's article was "created 11 February 1998; last updated 27 October 2002".
Mark Israel touches on "citing online sources" in his AUE FAQ, but he does it only to point to the article at Michael Quinion's site that I've cited above.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in ... suggest other books or websites that address this topic? Thanks.[/nq]
Great! Thanks!

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} I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in } professional papers. I see a new edition of the Chicago Manual of Style } has been released. I live in a rural area far from a bookstore that might } stock this item. Does anyone know if this edition gives adequate space to } the issues and problems inherent in citing electronic media (e.g. web pages, } newsgroup posts, data sets . . .)?
It's got about two thirds of a page (section 17.270 on page 726) suggesting such things as a URL and an access date in addition to the normal citation information. I don't notice anything about newsgroups, but a minimum would seem to be the From, Date, Subject, Newsgroups, and Message-ID lines.
} Can anyone suggest other books or } websites that address this topic? Thanks.
Check with Bob Cunningham on this.

R. J. Valentine

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]} I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in } professional papers. I see a new edition of ... newsgroup posts, data sets . . .)? It's got about two thirds of a page (section 17.270 on page 726)[/nq]
Yes, but isn't it touched upon in many sections? You can search the manual for free online. Go to http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/search.html. It will tell you all the sections that have the word or words entered, but will not give the entry. If you type the word "Internet" into a search box, you will see plenty of results. Chapters 16 and 17 deal with documentation.

Matt

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[nq:2]I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in ... suggest other books or websites that address this topic? Thanks.[/nq]
I want to re-reply to your post after implementing the suggestions in this article. Part of the problem that I have is that many of the URLs I need to cite are prohibitively long. (This is a general problem with sharing links, hence the popularity of TinyURL and Snurl.) For now, the system outlined in this article will have to do. However, in the future I envision a system where authors cite a single .html document that provides a numbered list of the links and posts used throughout the paper. These numbers are then individually referenced throughout the paper's text. This seems much less unwieldy, and anyone who might check your sources must have a computer anyway. (Did that all make sense?)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]} I encounter difficulties when trying to cite electronic media in } professional papers. I see a new edition of ... don't notice anything about newsgroups, but a minimum would seem to be the From, Date, Subject, Newsgroups, and Message-ID lines.[/nq]
17.236, "Electronic mailing lists" could serve as a guideline fornewsgroups.
I think the inclusion of guidelines for citing electronic media was one of the main reasons for coming out with a 15th edition at all.

I've found it to be helpful in the editing work that I do.

-johns

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It's got about two thirds of a page (section 17.270 ... to be the From, Date, Subject, Newsgroups, and Message-ID lines.[/nq]
[nq:1]17.236, "Electronic mailing lists" could serve as a guideline for newsgroups. I think the inclusion of guidelines for citing electronic ... with a 15th edition at all. I've found it to be helpful in the editing work that I do. -johns[/nq]
If you have to cite a book that is online, I still think it is best to get the book. The Internet is a cheap place to publish and the "publishers" do not give a hoot for the finer things like italics and punctuation. I have to fact check quotations and I often see that the writers got them from a corrupt Internet source.
If a site reproduces facsimiles of old journals, I don't even think it is necessary to cite the site. It's equivalent to making photocopies at the library to me. Some may not agree with that practice.

I found the CMS hard to use when citing a site that has no connection to a book, but simply some site.
Matt

15th ed of Chicago Manual of Style

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