Citing electronic copy AND the hard copy (fwd)

[Margaret Gross]

Douglas

In trying to come up with an answer your question, I asked myself what
is it that you are asking, and so distilled the query to the very
purpose of citations. Citations  are used to credit authors for their
intellectual contribution, and to provide traceability to the document
for purposes of veracity and verification. It is the identifying
particulars of the document, as well as where it resides that must be
cited. Therefore IMO, it is the document URL only, that is required. The
URLs of content providers, be they First Search, Dialog, Lexis-Nexis,
etc., all of which serve up full text documents, need not be provided.
The fact that these are all accessible via the Internet, makes the
Internet the means of communication and document delivery. 

Having said all of the above, I still have great reservation about the
longterm utility of document URLs. Reference to a paper document is
static and immutable. References to document URLs lead to broken links
as soon as the content provider alters his directory structure.

Good luck,

-- 
Margaret Gross 
Manager, Library & Information Resources
Spar Aerospace Ltd.
Space Systems 
21025 Trans Canada Highway
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Qc
Canada H9X 3R2
http://www.spar.ca
work: mgross at spar.ca
home: mgross at cam.org
FAX (514)425-3048
TEL (514)457-2150 ext. 3259


Douglas Cornwell wrote:
> 
> Thanks Ilene and Janice.  The information provided here is what I have
> used as the basis for teaching my classes.  However, my question really
> focuses on the fact that now First Search is available on the Interent,
> so does this require that we should cite both First Search as the online
> service and the URL from which the article comes from as it falls among
> the many other URLs on the Internet?  The information provided here seems
> to separate out citing an online service and then citing an Internet
> page.  What I am asking about is the method of citing when it is both an
> Internet page with an URL and it is part of the First Search service
> because First Search is now on the Internet.
> 
> This situation could come up with First Search, especially, because it
> offers full text articles.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Doug Cornwell
> 
> Douglas Cornwell
> E-Mail:  dougc at pb.seflin.org
> Alternate E-Mail:  cornwell_d at popmail.firn.edu