As the deadline for final research papers approach, creating bibliographies and managing citations can be scary.   A single resource can be cited multiple ways, depending on the format of the resource, the style guide you are following, and the professor’s individual preference.  Failure to cite correctly can mean a lower grade.  Failure to cite all, can mean an F for plagiarism.  Here are a few tools to help you conquer your citation demons and master the art of creating a bibliography.

1. The Built-in “Cite” Button

Much like an “Easy” button, these simple tools are built into many of our research databases, including EBSCO and Proquest.  These tools, often embedded into your search results, can provide you with a simple way to create a citation from any resource you find within a database.   If you are in an EBSCO database, look for the “Cite” link in the Tools menu to the right of your research result.  In a Proquest database, select “Citation/Abstract” for access to the “Cite” link.   There’s even citation tools in Credo Reference, Opposing Viewpoints, and LexisNexis Academic. “Cite” links will provide you a choice of citations according to each style guide.  Simply select the appropriate style guide, and then copy and paste the citation for your bibliography.  Since these are machine-generated,  pay special attention to personal names, capitalization, and dates.  These will help you in constructing the resource, but you will still need to verify it is correctly formatted.

2. The OWL at Purdue

The Online Writing Center at Purdue has a long history of providing comprehensive assistance in APA, MLA, and Chicago style citations and research paper guidelines.  The OWL provides examples of citations in various formats, and it can serve as a quick, online reference tool to help you create accurate citations.  Hosted by the Writing Center at Purdue, the site is free to use and also includes general resources on writing.

3. KnightCite

This tool, created by a student of Calvin College, generates a citation based on the information you provide it and the style guide you wish to use.  Once you fill out the online form with title, authors, and other information, it will supply you with the citation formatted according to the latest version of APA, MLA, or Chicago.  This tool is free to use, but it will only generate the formatted citation for a bibliography or works cited page.  It cannot generate in-text citations or footnotes.

4. Style Guides

If you prefer to go straight to the authoritative style guides, the Library carries the latest editions of each of the major style guides.  These are available at the Reference Desk.

• MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing
• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (APA)
• The Chicago Manual of Style 

5. Your Professor

As authoritative as the above resources may be, nothing tops the guidelines your professor may have set forth for your particular class or assignment.  Some instructors establish their own rules for how citations should look, or they may require you to use a style guide other than MLA, APA, or Chicago.  Be sure to check your syllabus or assignment instructions for guidelines specific to your class.

If you have more questions, contact your stylish librarians at askalibrarian@atu.edu.  Don’t fear the bibliography and good luck on finals!

Fifty years ago, on November 22, 1963, the nation and the world were shocked by the news that the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated.  To mark this historic anniversary, we have highlighted some of the materials available in the Library’s collection regarding this event and the president.

•  JFK assassination files : newspaper clippings from 1963-68 (Collection).  This collection of clippings from the The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, The Nashville Tennessean, The Washington Post, and Life magazine were assembled following Kennedy’s assassination.  They include editorials, photographs, news, and reports of the investigation of the Warren Commission as it occurred.  These are assembled in two, three-ring binders in our Special Collections room.  Just ask at Reference if you would like to view them.

• Post JFK assassination Air Force One flight deck recording (Online Audio).  This audio recording is available online through the Government Printing Office website and consists of two hours of Air Force One flight deck recordings immediately following the assassination. The recording includes conversations between pilots, staff, and secret service agents regarding the incident and the disposition of the president’s body. The recording also includes the use of code names for some of the individuals involved.

• Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Online).  Available online from the National Archives, this represents the results of the Warren Commission’s investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

• JFK (Videorecording).  Directed by Oliver Stone, this is the story of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison whose investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy became an obsession.

• Profiles in courage (Book).  John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, written when he was a junior senator from Massachusetts.  It documents the true accounts of eight American patriots at different junctures in American History.

• JFK and the unspeakable (Audiobook). James W. Douglass sheds new light on the Kennedy assassination and its significance, taking listeners from the Oval Office to the fateful presidential motorcade in Dallas and exposing the “Unspeakable” forces behind it all.

• Four days in November : the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Book). Drawn from Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, this book is a historic account of the event and all the conspiracy theories it spawned.  Written by Vincent Bugliosi, famed prosecutor of Charles Manson and author of Helter Skelter.

• The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection (Online Collection).  Collection held at the National Archives and consists of the JFK Database, photographs, reports and other items.  Some of the items included digitized images of  bullet fragments and the windshield of the President’s limousine, the autopsy report, and eyewitness accounts, including Lady Bird Johnson’s diary on the assassination.

If you’re looking for that perfect horror flick to turn on tonight, look no further than the Library’s horror collections on DVD.  The selection is rather frightening:

• Friday the 13th

• Alien

• Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

• Cabin in the Woods

• Nightmare on Elm Street

• Night of the Living Dead

• The Omen

• Misery

• Nosferatu

• Nightmare Before Christmas

• American Horror Story, Season Two

• True Blood, Season Five

• Young Frankenstein

Didn’t see your favorite flick?  Try searching through the library’s catalog of videos through the Music Lab’s homepage.   You can also browse for titles using the keyword “Horror”.   Some films like Shaun of the Dead, The Exorcist, Halloween, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are on temporarily on reserve in the Music Lab Control Center–they can be checked out, but only for viewing in the Music Lab.  But the Library has many other classic and modern horror films you can take home  to frighten, horrify, disgust, and shock your friends.

The Music Lab is open until midnight, so creep, lurch, or shamble on in today and grab a film.

Travel back in time 100 years to the very beginnings of Arkansas Tech University through the pages of the yearbook, Agricola—newly digitized and now available through the Library’s website:

http://libguides.atu.edu/research/tools/othercollections/agricola

The Agricola was published from 1912-2006, as Arkansas Tech University’s yearbook.   Each yearbook features images and scenes of daily life, clubs and organizations, faculty members, athletics, and the buildings of Arkansas Tech when it was  known as the Second District Agricultural School (1909-1924).  Several include poetry, short stories, schedules of school events, and advertising from local businesses in the surrounding communities.

The online PDFs for the years 1912-1915, 1918, 1922-1924 can be full-text searched as individual PDFs, and a number of the original covers are also available online.

The physical copies of the yearbooks are currently housed at the Library, and most from 1912-2006 are still available for browsing and check-out.  Search our  online catalog for more details.  While not all of the yearbooks have been digitized, we have plans to add more to this collection as the year goes on.

In the meantime, travel to these first few years of Arkansas Tech history as told through the photographs, writings, jokes, and hairstyles of the students who were living it.  No Tardis necessary.

From Agricola, 1915, page 89.