Formatting Citations Using ProQuest

1
Formatting Citations Using ProQuest

• Sandra Pesce, Librarian
• San Diego Miramar College

2
What Were Going To Do

• This tutorial will go over how to format
  citations in MLA style, using the automatic
  functions in ProQuest.
• When you find an article in ProQuest that youd
  like to use in your term paper or speech, you
  must give credit to that author for any ideas of
  his/hers you might use to support your work.
• To show your reader where you found that
  information, you will create a Works Cited page,
  or bibliography. This page will appear at the end
  of your paper, and is made up of citations.
• Whats a citation? Read on.

3
Whats a Citation?

• No, were not talking about a parking ticket or a
  moving violation.
• A citation is a brief description of an
  information source (like an article, book, or web
  site). It includes such items as
• the authors name, article title, publication
  title, volume, issue, page(s), and date of
  publication.
• Note When using an electronic database like
  ProQuest, you must also include information
  specific to ProQuest and the library you were
  using. (More on this to follow.)

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An Example of a Citation

• Heres what a citation describing an article out
  of ProQuest might look like
• Ridge, Tom and Bob Graham. "Are We Safer Since
  9/11? " New York Times Upfront 6 Sep. 2004 29.
  Children's Module. ProQuest. Miramar College
  Library/LRC, San Diego, CA. 29 Aug. 2004
  lthttp//www.proquest.com/gt.
• If this looks difficult, dont worry. ProQuest
  has developed a tool that takes a lot of the pain
  out of putting one of these together. Read on for
  more information.

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ProQuests Citation Machine

• ProQuest has a really neat feature built into it
  that is essentially an automatic citation maker.
  Or a citation machine, if you will.
• Using this feature will save you much time. It
  will pull the descriptive information from the
  article for you. No muss, no fuss.
• To use this feature, follow the directions on the
  next slide.

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Lets Try It

• First, find an article in ProQuest and open it.
• Your next move is to do the following tasks, in
  this order
• Step 1. Mark the document to create a citation
• Step 2. Choose the bibliography option
• Step 3. Choose the formatting options
• Step 4. Look over your results
• Step 5. Fix errors that do not fit MLA style
  guidelines
• Step 6. Copy paste to finish
• Lets go!

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1. Mark the Document

• Once you have found an article, click in the text
  box to mark the document.
• Go to the My Research tab to select the
  bibliography option.

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2. Choose the Bibliography Option

• Click on the Create Your Bibliography link to get
  to formatting options.
• Your marked article is in the Marked Documents
  section of the screen.

a
b
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3. Choose the Formatting Options

• Choose the radio button for Format Citations
  Only
• Choose the radio button for Citation Style MLA.
• Click the orange Print button.

a
b
c
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4. Look Over Your Results

• Click cancel when the print dialogue box shows
  up. You dont need it.
• Read the Attention notice, which warns you to
  check this citation against the instructions that
  follow in the rest of the screen.
• The red font indicates items you need to include
  describing your library.

a
b
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Wait! Youre Not Done Yet

• Remember, you are using a citation machine. As
  with any machine, errors can happen. And the
  citation machine is no exception.
• You must check the results of your labors against
  a style guide, specifically, the MLA Handbook for
  Writers of Research Papers.

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5. Fix Errors in Citation

• How do you know what to look for? Compare it to
  the MLA Handbook, which indicates how to cite an
  article from a library subscription service in
  section 5.9.7.a. (If you dont have the MLA
  Handbook, you can follow the directions partly
  shown at the bottom of the screenshot on slide
  D.)

Here is the citation as copied and pasted from
ProQuest Tom Ridge, Bob Graham. "Are We Safer
Since 9/11? " New York Times Upfront 6 Sep. 2004
29. Children's Module. ProQuest. INSERT
Library name or system, City, State. 29 Aug.
2004 lthttp//www.proquest.com/gt Here it is again
after being edited to conform to MLA
guidelines Ridge, Tom and Bob Graham. "Are We
Safer Since 9/11? " New York Times Upfront 6 Sep.
2004 29. Children's Module. ProQuest. Miramar
College Library/LRC, San Diego, CA. 29 Aug. 2004
lthttp//www.proquest.com/gt.
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Things to Look For

• ProQuest citations usually need corrections on
  the following items
• the order of the first authors name
• extra periods or periods out of place
• incorrect punctuation (commas, semicolons,
  periods)
• incorrect access date (this appears just before
  the URL for ProQuest)
• missing the period at the end of the citation
• And dont forget to include the name
• of the library you were using, and the
• city and state in which the library is located.

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6. Copy Paste to Finish

• To get the citation from the screen to your
  paper, do the following
• With the ProQuest screen still open, highlight
  the citation and right-click on it to copy.
• Paste the citation into a word processing
  program.
• Fix the errors, as mentioned in the previous
  slide.
• Highlight and copy the corrected citation.
• Paste the corrected citation into your Works
  Cited page.
• Now you are finished! Unless you want more info.

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Further Information
For more information on how to use ProQuest, go
to http//training.proquest.com/trc/training/index
.htm For more information on MLA format
guidelines, see Diana Hackers website at
http//www.dianahacker.com/resdoc

• Printed works on MLA style
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of
  Research Papers. 6th ed. New York Modern
  Language Association of America, 2003.
• Hacker, Diana and Barbara Fister. Research and
  Documentation in the Electronic Age. 3rd ed.
  Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2003.

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Activity

• How much do you remember from this tutorial?
• Match wits with the computer and find out!
• Go to Order of Parts in ProQuest Citations
• (Clicking the link will open a new window.)
• Have fun!