Writing Guides Print-Friendly Page

Citing Sources within Your Document

The in-text citation should follow a parenthetical format emphasizing authors and dates of publication and interact with end documentation by pointing to a specific entry in an adjoining Appendix. The reason being, these are important benchmarks denoting relevancy and validity in the engineering fields.

In some cases, chapters, paragraphs and page numbers are required. Placed inside parentheses, the citation appears just before the period at the end of the sentence. In the case of quoted material, between the final quotation mark and the period at the end of the sentence.

Enough information should be included in the cited material that your reader will comprehend your point without further follow-up of the original source. If you are citing the results of an experiment, for instance, be sure to explain the results. When necessary, define your terminology. Remember, you've read the original source and are summarizing it for your readers.

For a complete explanation of in-text author/date citation procedures, please consult our guides to the APA (American Psychological Association) or the Chicago Manual of Style (Author/Date). Either of these styles will satisfy the requirements but the main thing is to remain consistent. Pick your style and stick to it.

Appendix Formatting Tips

Begin your end documentation on a new page at the end of your document. For instance, if your paper is 6½ pages long, the Appendix should begin on page 8, not halfway down page 7.

Note: Unless informed otherwise, you can count on your instructor not counting the Appendix in the total page count of an eight page assignment.

The page itself should be formatted in the following way:

• The title of the page--Appendix--should be centered one inch from the top of the page.
• Double space between the title and the first entry, then double space all entries.

Individual entries should be formatted in the following way:

• The first line of an entry is flush with the left margin.
• When the entry has a second line, give that line a hanging indent five spaces in from the margin.
• Entries are listed alphabetically by author: last name first.
• Enclose paper, report and book chapter titles in quotation marks.

Bibliographic information should be presented, as necessary, in the following order:

• Author(s); last name first and initials.
• Year of publication.
• Title of paper, report, book or book chapter.
• Name of periodical or journal; volume number, issue number or month.
• Name of publisher.
• City and State where published.
• Page numbers.

Appendix Entry Examples

Anonymous and Untitled Sources

1. Anonymous Books

Moody's municipal & government manual. (1988). Moody's Investors Service, New York, NY.

2. Anonymous Reports

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (1991). "Evaluating scour at bridges." Rep., Hydr. Engrg. Circular No. 18: FHWA-IP-90-017, Washington, D.C.

3. Anonymous Newspaper Stories

"Educators, practitioners to provide focus for 1995 ASCE education conference." (1993). ASCE News, 18(1), 1.

4. Untitled Item in Federal Register

Federal Register. (1968). 33(No. 146; July 27), 10756.

Papers

1. Two-Part Papers

Frater, G.S. and Packer, J.A. (1992a). "Weldment design for RHS truss connections. I: Applications." J. Struct. Engrg.,ASCE, 118(10), 2784-2803.

Frater, G.S. and Packer, J.A. (1992b). "Weldment design for RHS truss connections. II: Experimentation." J. Struct. Engrg.,ASCE, 118(10), 2804-2820.

2. Paper in Foreign Journal

Ireland, H.O. (1954). "Stability analysis of Congress Street open cut in Chicago." Geotechnique, London, England, 4(4), 163-168.

3. Paper in ASCE Journal

Pennoni, C.R. (1992). "Visioning the future of civil engineering." J. Profl. Issues in Engrg. Education and Practice, ASCE, 118(3), 221-233.

4. Papers in Proceedings

Eshenaur, S.R., Kulicki, J.M. and Mertz, D.R. (1991). "Retrofitting distortion-induced fatique cracking of non-composite steel girder-floorbeam-stringer bridges." Proc.,8th Annual Int. Bridge Conf., Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburch, PA, 380-388.

Books

1. Authored Books

Michaelson, Herbert B. (1990) How to write and publish engineering papers and reports. Oryx Press, Phoenix, AZ.

2. Anonymous Books

Moody's municipal & government manual. (1988). Moody's Investors Service, New York, NY.

3. Translated Books

Melan, J. (1913). Theory of arches and suspension bridges, D.B. Steinman, translator, Myron, C. Clark, Chicago, Ill.

4. Edited Books

Zadeh, L.A. (1981). "Possibility theory and soft data analysis." Mathematical frontiers of the social a policy sciences, L. Cobb and R. M. Thrall, eds. Westview Press Inc. Boulder, CO, 69-129.

Reports

1. University Reports

Duan, L., Loh, J.T., and Chen, W.F. (1990). "M-P-f-based analysis of dented tubular members." Struct. Engrg. Rep. No. CE-STR-90-27, School of Civ. Engrg., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN.

2. Anonymous Reports

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). (1991). "Evaluating scour at bridges." Rep., Hydr. Engrg. Circular No. 18: FHWA-IP-90-017, Washington, D.C.

Building Codes and Standards

1. Building Codes

International Conference of Building Officials. (1988). Uniform building code. Whittier, CA.

2. Standard

ASTM. (1991). "Standard practice for the use of the international system of units (SI) (the modernized metric system)." E380-91a, Philadelphia, PA.

Other Sources

1. Doctoral Theses

Chang, T.C. (1987). "Network resource allocation using an expert system with fuzzy logic reasoning," Ph.D. Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, CA.

2. Discussions

Vesilind, P.A. (1992). "Discussion of 'Guidance for engineering-design-class lectures on ethics,' by Richard H. McCuen." J. Profl. Issues in Engrg. Education and Practice, ASCE 118(2), 214-215.

3. Works in Foreign Languages

Duvant, G., and Lions, J.L. (1972). Les inequations en mechanique et en physique. Dunod, Paris, France (in French).