Citation Style

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dustdevil
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Citation Style

Post by dustdevil » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:50 am

So my undergraduate thesis is due tomorrow and I have everything done and all of the reference information typed, but I don't know what format to actually use for the references. MLA seems to be too liberal-artsy but AIP looks barren. I've looked around on the internet but the general consensus there is "be consistent." Is there a specific style?? I won't even start on thesis fonts here. :)

WakkaDojo
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Re: Citation Style

Post by WakkaDojo » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:50 am

LaTeX + BibTeX

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dustdevil
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Re: Citation Style

Post by dustdevil » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:44 am

Flay me but I'm not using LaTeX. Elaborate? What style does BibTeX use?

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Helio
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Re: Citation Style

Post by Helio » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:42 pm

Use IEEE

http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/find/citation/ieee.html

http://standards.ieee.org/guides/style/

Hope that helps. It is similar to citations in scientific papers. I used that for the paper in my GR class

nathan12343
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Re: Citation Style

Post by nathan12343 » Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:52 pm

Is this an astrophysics project? If it is, I would suggest AASTeX, the official format for Astrophysical Journal and all other AAS publications. You can get the packages from the AASTeX webpage: http://ucpjournals.uchicago.edu/AAS/AASTeX/

If you want to see an example of use I can send you a copy of the TeX files for my undergrad thesis.

mhazelm
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Re: Citation Style

Post by mhazelm » Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:54 pm

dustdevil wrote:Flay me but I'm not using LaTeX. Elaborate? What style does BibTeX use?
BibTeX uses the style you want it to. So basically, you stick all your references into a .bib file (you can find samples on the net and some sites allow you to download citations already formatted as BibTeX entries). The .bib file goes into the folder with all your other tex files. Then you need a style file, which has extension .bst, if I remember correctly. You can find the style files on the net. I used AIP formatting for my thesis - just downloaded the .bst file and stuck it in my folder with the other files. I think it works fine. But you can find .bst files for whatever type you want.

If you get stuck figuring out how to actually get the references to appear in your LaTeX output then PM me (I was stuck for a long time, because I didn't have time to go out and buy + read books, and was trying to learn it all by messing around. It's extremely easy once you know what to do). Now I just stick all my references into a .bib file, and I can use any/all of them in any/all papers I write, and I never have to format anything. Life is good. 8)

mhazelm
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Re: Citation Style

Post by mhazelm » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:02 pm

Oh, wait a second, if you're not already using LaTeX, then you will also need to figure that out. I was thinking you just needed help with BibTeX.

So you use LaTeX to write your document - you put in the text and math and whatever - and then it formats it all for you and compiles it into a nice looking document. The idea is that you, as the scientist/writer/whatever, shouldn't be spending your precious time swearing at Microsoft Word as it randomly moves your figures around, indents things when they shouldn't be, and have to go into the equation editor to add math stuff, which looks kind of funny and is always sized wrong. Instead you put in your text (just basic text, no formatting) and tell LaTeX how you want it to be structured. There's a bit of a learning curve as you must pick up the syntax, but it's not too bad if you have a couple of sample documents handy (you can use them for picking it up as you go, and your LaTeX vocabulary increases quickly).

Your life writing any sort of lengthy document will probably vastly improve if you switch to this from a word processor. Namely, you won't swear as much, and whatever you write (esp. anything with any sort of mathematical expression) will look glorious. Feel free to PM me if you need help with it; I'm not an expert, but I can help you get unstuck with the basics. I can also send you some samples to work with.

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grae313
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Re: Citation Style

Post by grae313 » Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:18 pm

mhazelm wrote:Oh, wait a second, if you're not already using LaTeX, then you will also need to figure that out. I was thinking you just needed help with BibTeX.

So you use LaTeX to write your document - you put in the text and math and whatever - and then it formats it all for you and compiles it into a nice looking document. The idea is that you, as the scientist/writer/whatever, shouldn't be spending your precious time swearing at Microsoft Word as it randomly moves your figures around, indents things when they shouldn't be, and have to go into the equation editor to add math stuff, which looks kind of funny and is always sized wrong. Instead you put in your text (just basic text, no formatting) and tell LaTeX how you want it to be structured. There's a bit of a learning curve as you must pick up the syntax, but it's not too bad if you have a couple of sample documents handy (you can use them for picking it up as you go, and your LaTeX vocabulary increases quickly).

Your life writing any sort of lengthy document will probably vastly improve if you switch to this from a word processor. Namely, you won't swear as much, and whatever you write (esp. anything with any sort of mathematical expression) will look glorious. Feel free to PM me if you need help with it; I'm not an expert, but I can help you get unstuck with the basics. I can also send you some samples to work with.
An excellent summary! :lol:

YF17A
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Re: Citation Style

Post by YF17A » Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:48 pm

I was forced by the DoE Journal of Undergraduate research to reformat my 20-page theory paper in Word, and indeed, I swore many times. I came this close to telling them that a real journal had already published my paper, so *** off, but I realized that for the sake of getting grants in the future it's best not to piss of anyone at the DoE.

By the way, if any of you plan on doing an internship at a DoE lab, don't play their silly games with their journal. It's not worth it.



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