Document reference

A document reference (hereinafter, the Reference) is a brief identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a report or another document. The Reference is a conditional part of document's body or text matter; it is included if references are provided. When the Reference is included, it functions as a part of document's structural metadata.

Description

The ANSI/NISO Scientific and Technical Reports standard details,

The conditional references section, if used, appears as the last section of the body and begins on a new page in print publications. This section may also be called “Sources,” “Works Cited,” or “Bibliography,” depending on the nature of the referenced materials.

To help readers use and assess referenced materials, all references include the following elements: name of author(s)/creator(s), title of referenced work, and publication data or digital-access information. If a government document is referenced, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) number is included, when available, to facilitate user access to the report.

References are prepared according to the accepted practice of the discipline of the primary author/creator of a report. Three basic reference forms, each with its own advantage, are commonly used for reports. The number-identification system of citing material allows readers to locate references easily in a printed document. For this form, references are numbered consecutively with Arabic numbers in order of their first appearance in the text keyed to appropriate places in the text and fully identified in the successively numbered list of references.

In the second form of referencing, the author-date format, authors' names, and dates of publication or creation are cited in the text in parentheses and keyed to an alphabetically arranged list of references. The author-date style helps readers to associate facts and ideas with their originators and date of origin.

In the third form of referencing, publications may be noted in the context of a footnote, endnote, or referenced link within a report and the complete bibliographic reference, which can also include the title, author/creator, publisher, date, and location of the publisher, including specific page numbers with a document (for example, a journal article), may be included in the back matter in a bibliography.

If figures and tables are obtained from referenced material, the sources are identified in source or credit lines that are part of the figure(s) or table(s). A source or credit line contains adequate descriptive data to enable readers to verify the location of the original figure(s) or table(s). If the figure or table is used in its complete presentation (that is, both content and form), “Source” would be an appropriate lead-in to the citation. If either the content or form is modified, “Adapted from” would be appropriate lead-in wording. Such sources are not further identified in the list of references unless an additional reference to them appears in the text of the report.

References may include information gathered from a Web page or site. Most citations of material from Internet sources should follow rules for journal articles. Example:

Virillio, Paul, "Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!" CTHEORY,

URL: http://www.freedonia.com/ctheory/, September 27, 1995.

The URL or other path information appears instead of the volume and number cited for a conventional journal. It is frequently useful to the reader to know the date when the material was accessed. In such cases, “Accessed [date]” would be appropriate wording. Examples:

• Bailey, C. W., "Electronic Serials and Related Topics: A Brief Discourse," message to multiple recipients of list VPIEJ-L (VPIEJ-L@VTVM1 .BITNET), April 23, 1992.
• Carlyle, Paul, "Do Electronic Journals Make Sense?" message distributed on Internet by Paul Carlyle, RAND, June 1995 (e-mail carlyle@rand.org).
• For other views on game theory, see Sadim Adan, http://www.unkx.com/xxx.yyy, last modified September 19, 1995. Accessed November 17, 1999.

Applicable rules

According to the ANSI/NISO Scientific and Technical Reports standard,

Indent the first line of a reference and align subsequent lines flush with the left margin.