Documentation The Second Step in Academic Research

Documentation (Part – 1)

What is documentation?

  Documentation involves providing full publishing information about works we have quoted / used /
taken help of or referred to in any piece of writing.

Why should we use Documentation?

 To acknowledge the original author

 To provide a pointer for further reading by giving particulars of related texts

 To facilitate finding / locating the given text in a library

Documentation

Some Common Concepts…

Titles in Typescript and Manuscript

Typescript is any typed or machine generated text while manuscript is any hand – written text. The
titles of all books and periodicals are italicized in typescript and underlined in a manuscript .

Details given for documenting books and periodicals

i. Title of the book / periodical

ii. Date of Publication

iii. Place of Publication

iv. Name of Publisher

v. Any specific reference (like page no.)

Publication Facts

(a) Date of Publication is the same as year of publication for books. Date stands for “month or
season + year of publication” for periodicals.

(b) Publishing Details or publishing information includes date of publication, place of publication, and
the name of the publisher .

Capitalization of Titles

A. Down / Sentence style capitalization : only the first letter of the first word of the title and that of
 the sub-title , proper names and the personal pronoun “I” are capitalized. It is used in Author-
Date type of Documentation.

B. Headline / Title style capitalization : the first letter of each word except connectors are capitalized. It
is used in Documentary-Note system.

Two Major Systems of Documentation

Author-date system

Documentary-notes system

Author – date system

 Text Citation : brief identifying information

 Reference List : full bibliographical information and publishing details

Documentary-notes system

 Notes, which may be :

a. Endnotes / Back notes

b. Footnotes

c. Unnumbered notes

 Bibliography : gives full publishing details of each book or journal

Author-Date system vs. Documentary- Note system

Author-date system

The two parts of author – date system are text citation and reference list.

Here only brief identifying information is given in the text – citation. Full bibliographical and publishing
details are given in the reference list.

Documentary-note system

The two parts of documentary – notes system are notes and bibliography.

Full bibliographical details and publishing information is given in notes as well as bibliography.

Author-Date system vs. Documentary- Note system

Author-date system
The DATE OF PUBLICATION immediately follows the author’s name in the reference list thus enabling
easy location of entries.

Here , titles are given Sentence style or “Down” style Capitalization . (capitalizing only first letter of
main title , sub-title , all proper nouns and the personal pronoun “I” ).

Documentary-note system

The DATE OF PUBLICATION does not immediately follow author’s name. DATE is placed after the
publishing details are given .

All titles are given Headline or Title Capitalization . (the first letter of all words except connectors are
capitalized.)

Author-Date system vs. Documentary- Note system

Author-date system

In this system , often the sub – titles of books and often the entire title of an article is omitted .

Quotation marks do not enclose names of articles / chapters / short poems .

The name of the author is often abbreviated , i.e. , only initials are given .

Names of publishers and journals may be abbreviated.

Documentary-note system

In this system all the titles ( main title and sub – title ) are given in full. Titles of articles are also given
in full.

Quotation marks ( “ “ ) enclose titles of articles , chapters , short poems etc.

The names of authors are given in full , initials are not used .

Names of publishers and journals are also given in full.

Text Citation

Works by 2 or 3 authors :

(Finhull and Cosby 1990)

(Smith, Wessex and Gunter 1980)

Works by more than three authors :

 (Bovee et. al. 1992)

 The name of the first author, followed by ‘et. al.’ or ‘and others’ is used to cite works by more
than 3 authors.

Text Citation (contd.)

A specific page, section, figure etc. follows the date and is preceded by a comma:

(Klein 1987, 125)

(Klein 1987, sec 14.5)

(Byron 1980, 246-258)

(White 1995, 246, 250, 254)

Text Citation (contd.)

When a reference to both volume and page no. is required, a colon is used to distinguish between them.

(Watson 1989, 3:124)

(Garcia 1987, 2:168, 3:10-25)

Two or more references are separated by semi-colons.

(Light 1972; Rogers 1976)

Reference List

Author

Date

Title (‘down’ / ‘sentence’ style)

Titles of chapters / articles

Publication Details (place of publication and name of publisher, separated by a colon)

Reference List (contd.)

In case of one author, the name is inverted, and the surname comes first :

Wood, Julian R. 1985. Birdsong. New Haven, Conn : George Thomson.

For works by 2 or 3 authors, all names are included using ‘and’. Only the first name is inverted.

Wood, Julian R., and Joseph Galway. 1984. Calm in Ireland. Boston : Stronghope Press.
Reference List (contd.)

Titles of chapters, articles and other short pieces are set in Roman type without quotation marks. This
element ends with a period, followed by ‘In’ and the title of the book.

Kaiser, Ernest. 1964. The literature of Harlem. In Harlem : A community in transition. edited by J.H.
Clarke. New York : Citadel Press.

Rules for Reference List

References are arranged in a single alphabetical list.

All works by one author are listed together in chronological order.

A ‘3-em dash’ replaces the name of the author / editor / compiler / translator in successive works by the
same person.

A single author entry comes before a multi-author entry beginning with the same name

Documentation The Second Step in Academic Research Documentation (Part – 2)

Documentary-notes system

 Notes, which may be :

a. Endnotes / Back notes

b. Footnotes

c. Unnumbered notes

 Bibliography : gives full publishing details of each book or journal

Unnumbered Notes

Source notes

Copyright notice

Permission of copyright holder to reprint

Identification of authors in a multi-author work by background, qualification, affiliations etc.

Acknowledgement of aid.

 Used before numbered notes, are placed on the first page of a chapter or before the endnotes.
Endnotes

Placed at the back of the book / report in a section titled ‘Notes’, after the ‘Appendices’ and before the
‘Bibliography’.

May be placed at the end of a chapter or article if the author is different for each chapter / article.

Arranged by chapter number, with chapter no. or title (or both) given as sub-heading.

Running Heads are used to facilitate the location of specific notes.

e.g. “Notes to pages 50 – 54”

Footnotes

Placed at the bottom of the page and sequentially numbered page-wise.

A ratio of 3:1 is usually maintained between the text and footnotes.

The number of footnotes and the length of individual footnotes have to be limited as each footnote
should appear on the same page as the reference to it.

Information included in a note entry

Author

Title (in Headline Capitalization)

Place of publication

Name of publisher

Date of publication

Specific details (like page no.)

Sample Note Entry

3. Henry Hughes, Act of Privy Council in England (New Jersey : Berret Kuhler Publisher Inc. ,
2000) , 90 – 96.

 Note Number . Author, Title ( Place : Name, Date ) , Page no.

Note Entry for periodicals include…

Author

Title of article within quotation marks

Title of periodical (in italics)

Publishing Details [Volume no., Date of publication(month, year)]

Specific Details (like page no.)

Sample Note Entry for Periodicals

7. Noel Robertson, “The Dorian Migration and Corinthian Ritual”, Classical Philology 75 (1980) :
19-20.

 Note Number . Author, “Title of article”, Title of Periodical Volume no. (Date) : Page no.

Bibliography

A list of books or other references used while preparing a scholarly work.

Rarely includes all the works in the field – hence called “Selected Bibliography”

Placed at the end of the book before “Index”.

An author’s note about the sources listed and the list of abbreviations used may precede the entries.

May be an alphabetical list or a list divided into sections according to the kind of material.

Information included in a bibliography entry

Author (surname first)

Title (full title with sub-title, in Headline Capitalization)

Place of publication

Name of publisher

Date of publication

 Editor / Compiler / Translator is placed after Author.

 Edition No. , Volume no. / Volume title are mentioned after Title.

Sample Bibliography Entry

Blackfoot, Emery . Chance Encounters. Boston : Serendipity Press, 1987.

 Surname, First Name . Title . Place : Name , Date .

Bibliography Entry for periodicals include…

Author (surname, first name)

Title of article within quotation marks

Title of Periodical

Issue information (Volume no., issue no., date of publication)

Page reference (inclusive page no.s)

 Month and Year of issue are given in parentheses after volume no. and issue no. (if any) and
issue no. is given within parentheses after the Volume no.

 If parentheses are not used, issue no. is preceded by a comma and ‘no.’

Sample Bibliography Entry for Periodical

Robertson, Noel . “The Dorian Migration and Corinthian Ritual”. Classical Philology 75 (1980) : 1-22.

Rules for Bibliography

All sources are arranged in alphabetical order by author’s names.

All works by one author are listed together in chronological order by date of publication or in
alphabetical order by title of publication.

A ‘3-em dash’ replaces the name of the author / editor / compiler / translator in successive works by the
same person.

A single author entry comes before a multi-author entry beginning with the same name.