citing e-texts summary dear linguists , here is the summary of responses i received in answer to my query about citing e-texts . firstly , though , i would like to thank the following people who kindly sent references and suggestions : keith schultz bruce nevin ismail s talib evelyn todd karl vogel helmer strik joel kristina harris loren allen billings stavros macrakis golge citak - seferoglu michael bernstein petur knutsson jane a . edwards , and allan c . wechsler * * * * * several people supplied the following references : 1 . li , xia & nancy b . crane ( 1993 ) _ electronic style : a guide to citing electronic information _ . meckler ( isbn 0-88736 - 909 - x ) approx . $ 15 . 00 . [ this reference seems to be the standard which most scholars currently follow ] 2 . apa style guide version 1 . 2 , revised july 14 , 1994 prepared by ron corio ( rcorio @ cabell . vcu . edu ) & maggi sokolik ( msokolik @ uclink . berkeley . edu ) adapted from : american psychological association . ( 1983 ) . _ publication manual of the american psychological association ( 3rd . ed . ) . _ washington , d . c . : american psychological association . 3 . _ the chicago manual of style _ 14th edition ( chicago : the university of chicago press , 1993 ) , pp . 633 - 4 , 699 . and loren allen billings gives the following reference : 4 . _ text encoding initiative _ . i ' m not sure who published it , but it is two volumes of everything you want to know about standardizing electronic texts . published in 1993 , i believe . jane edwards informs that : tesl-ej has prepared an electronic guide to preparing manuscripts according to apa ( american psychological association ) standards . this guide includes information on how to cite e-mail messages , online articles , as well as more traditional references . if you are interested in getting the guide , send a message to : listserv @ cmsa . berkeley . edu the text of the message should be the following line ( and nothing more ! ) get teslej - l apaguide teslej - l f = mail * * * * * jane then supplies a section from the tesl publication guide : note : the following is not a complete listing . if you have a reference or citation that does not fit the examples given here , please consult one of the reference works above . if you do not have access to them , contact one of the authors of this file . instructions include a reference list ( headed " references " ) at the end of the tesl-ej article that documents your sources and provides the necessary information to identify and retrieve each source . references must include only the sources that were used in the research and preparation of the article . a reference list cites specific works that support a particular article . a bibliography cites works for background or for further reading . apa journal style requires reference lists , not bibliographies . because of the limitations of ascii , certain typographical features cannot be displayed on screen . underscoring should be indicated by typing an underscore mark before and after the segment of text to be italicized or underlined . example : . . . in the journal _ language learning _ , diacritical marking , such as umlauts or accent marks , should be omitted . if the omission of these marks creates ambiguity or possible misinterpretation , this can be clarified via a footnote or parenthetical explanation . please note that the examples used in this document are for illustration only , and should not be used for actual citations . many are fictional or partly fictional . check all your sources carefully . i . in-text documentation citation within the text of a document refers the reader to an alphabetical reference list at the end of the article . apa format uses the author-date method of citation . the surname of the author and the date of publication are inserted at the appropriate point in the text . a . one work by single author 1 . if the name of the author appears in the text , cite only the year of publication in the text . shannon 's ( 1989 ) historical analysis . . . . 2 . otherwise , place the surname of the author and the year of publication with a comma separating the two . . . . lead to successful language learning ( chaudron , 1988 ) . 3 . within a paragraph you need not repeat the references to an author 's work as long as it cannot be confused with other work cited in the article . b . one work by two or more authors 1 . when a work has two authors , always use the surnames of both authors in all citations . join the two names by an ampersand ( & ) within parentheses , or by " and " within the text . . . . or simply ignore it ( hill & parry , 1988 ) . 2 . when a work has 3 - 6 authors , use the surnames of all authors in the first citation . in subsequent citations , include only the surname of the first author followed by " et al . " . . . process the text hierarchically ( armbruster , anderson & ostertag , 1984 ) . . . . 3 . when a work has more than six authors , use only the surname of the first author followed by " et al . " . . . on a test with exclusively open-ended questions ( pollit et al . , 1985 ) . c . works with no authors when a work has no author , cite the first two or three words of the reference list entry followed by the year . the first entry is usually the title . underline the title of a periodical or book and use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter . . . . on language use ( " world languages , " 1992 ) . . . . in the book ( _ language use _ , 1991 ) . d . specific parts of a source to cite a specific part of a source , include the page , chapter , figure , table , or equation in the citation . the words " page " and " chapter " are abbreviated in such citations ( see abbreviations ) . . . . and rewriting what is read ( freire , 1983 , p . 11 ) . abbreviations : chap . chapter ed . edition rev . ed . revised edition 2nd ed . second edition ed . ( eds . ) editor ( editors ) trans . translator ( s ) p . ( pp . ) page ( pages ) vol . volume ( as in vol . 4 ) vols . volumes ( as in four volumes ) no . number pt . part tech . rep . technical report suppl . supplement geographical abbreviations : for the u . s . , states and territories in the reference list should use the official two-letter u . s . p . s . abbreviation . city names and country names should not be abbreviated . e . personal communications letters , memos , telephone conversations , etc . are not included in the reference list , thus are cited in the text only . include the initials as well as the surname of the author and provide as exact a date as possible . . . . according to d . b . cooper ( personal communication , april 15 , 1969 ) . f . references in parenthetical material if a reference appears within parentheses , use commas ( not brackets ) to set off the date . . . . the second level ( see figure 1 of cowell & ross , 1992 , for full explanation . ) ii . reference list a . complete reference list the reference list should be in alphabetical order by author 's surnames . with names including " de " , " von " , etc . , those names should be alphabetized according to the rules of the language from which they originate . each entry should be indented five spaces from the second line forward , and there should be a blank line between entries . b . apa style 1 . periodicals doyle , w . ( 1977 ) . learning the classroom environment : an ecological analysis . _ journal of teacher education , 28 _ , 51-55 . 2 . books a . entire books bishop , a . j . & whitfield , r . c . ( 1982 ) . _ situations in teaching _ . london : mcgraw - hill . b . article or chapter within a book heath , s . b . ( 1989 ) . the learner as culture member , in m . l . rice & r . l . schiefelbusch ( eds . ) , _ the teachability of language _ ( pp . 333-350 ) . toronto : paul h . brookes . 3 . technical and research reports cummins , j . ( 1981 ) . the role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students . in california state department of education ( ed . ) , _ schooling and language minority students : a theoretical framework _ . los angeles : california state university , evaluation , dissemination , and assessment center . 4 . proceedings of meetings and symposiums olson , d . r . , & hildyard , a . ( 1980 ) . _ literacy and the comprehension of literal meaning _ . paper presented at the conference on the development and use of writing systems , biefefeld , germany . 5 . doctoral dissertations and master 's theses besnier , n . ( 1986 ) . _ spoken and written registers in a restricted-literacy setting _ . unpublished doctoral dissertation . university of southern california , los angeles . 6 . unpublished manuscripts and publications of limited circulation parry , j . ( 1982 ) . _ popular attitudes towards hindu religious texts _ . unpublished manuscript . 7 . translations and non - english text translation : freud , s . ( 1920 ) . _ a general introduction to psychoanalysis _ ( j . riviere , trans . ) . new york : pocket books . non - english text : raynaud de lage , g . ( 1975 ) . _ introduction a l ' ancien francais _ , ( 9e edition ) . [ _ introduction to old french _ , ( 9th ed . ) ] . paris : societe d ' edition d ' enseignement superieur . 8 . reviews and interviews book review : rea , p . m . ( 1984 ) . [ review of _ issues in language testing _ by charles alderson and arthur hughes , eds . ] . _ language learning 34 , 3 _ , 175-188 . published interview : smith , d . ( 1990 ) . [ interview with wu leong ] . _ english yesterday 10 , 5 _ , 57-90 . 9 . nonprint media film : kirosawa , a . ( director & producer ) . ( 1970 ) . _ dodes ' kaden _ [ film ] . tokyo : films ltd . audio recording : carter , b . ( speaker ) . ( 1977 ) . _ the growth of english _ . ( cassette recording no . 222 ) . new york : audio associates . 10 . electronic media computer programs : sandford , j . a . & browne , r . j . ( 1985 ) . captain 's log : cognitive training system ( version 1 . 0 ) [ computer program ] . indianapolis : psychological software services , inc . online databases : _ the educational directory _ . [ online ] . ( 1992 ) . available : knowledge index file : the educational directory ( educ6 ) . ftp or telnet : kehoe , b . p . ( 1992 ) . _ zen and the art of the internet ( 2nd . ed . ) , [ online ] . available ftp ( or telnet ) : quake . think . com directory : pub / etext / 1992 file : zen10 . text articles available via e-mail : root , c . ( 1994 ) . esl and learning disabilities : a guide for the esl practitioner . _ tesl-ej 1 _ . available e-mail : listserv @ cmsa . berkeley . edu message : get teslej01 a - 4 teslej - l f = mail to cite e-mail messages : general format : author ( year , month day ) . _ subject of message _ [ e-mail to receiver 's name ] , [ online ] . available e-mail : receiver 's e-mail address . example : corio , r . ( 1994 , june 1 ) . _ apa guide deadline _ [ e-mail to margaret e . sokolik ] , [ online ] . available e-mail : msokolik @ uclink . berkeley . edu . * * * * * far as the location of a citation within an e-text is concerned keith schultz offers the following advice : 1 ) mention of context ; 2 ) character position of beginning within e-text 3 ) location given in paragraphs , lines , chapters , etc . naturally , these methods are not very effective or feasible for the human reader , but a human with a computer can very effectively find the given citations within an e-text within seconds given the above information . secondly , as e-text are generally located on mass storage ( disks ) they can be directly distributed with your article for reference . and not last but least the citation itself is a positional marker of the citation within the text itself if it is sufficiently large enough . finally , some noteworthy comments and common sense advice : keith also notes : " i would not cite any source without first knowing where it has come from and its source as it is far to easy to manipulate any e-text and pass it on without leaving any traces of foul play , other than it differing from the original . " on this same note , stavros macrakis states : " if the provenance [ of the e - text ] is not clear , i do n't know why you 'd want to cite the thing in the first place ! if i give you a half-dozen xerox copies without the necessary bibliographic information , you would be wise not to rely on them too much ! " and finally an important note on etiquette from evelyn todd : " if you wish to cite an item that you received via [ . . . e-mail lists ] , please consider if the posting was public or private and contact its author for permission to cite . postings can be considered as published material , but it is always wise to check with the author before assuming that widespread dissemination was intended . " [ i hope the evelyn and the other authors of the above comments do not mind my breaking this rule of etiquette here . ] i hope the information in this summary is of as much use to you all as it is to me and colleagues . thanks again to all those who contributed . " moce mada " jan tent department of literature and language school of humanities the university of the south pacific p . o . box 1168 suva fiji tel : ( 679 ) 313900 ext . 2263 fax : ( 679 ) 305053 e - mail : tent _ j @ usp . ac . fj