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Geology

Why cite?

Why cite?

The primary reasons for citing sources in a research paper are to give credit to the authors whose work you have drawn upon and to allow readers to track down your sources, should they wish to explore further. There are many style guides for formatting citations and creating bibliographies. The AIP (the American Institute of Physics) Style Guide is frequently used in physics, but your professor may specify another format.

Geological Society of America Reference Guidelines

While the citation style guidelines of the GSA are not as detailed as those of many of the other citations guides it does have some specific details that are worth noting.

  • With the GSA Style, quotations and borrowed phrases are indicated as such within the text, with the author's name and page number cited in parentheses. This variation is used instead of footnotes or endnotes.
  • When quoting or paraphrasing an author, begin the sentence by including the author's name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. At the end of the quote or paraphrase, include the page number(s) in parentheses. See example below:

    According to Smith (2008), "warmer ocean temperatures can lead to the development of stronger hurricanes" (p. 133).
  • If the name of the author is not included within the sentence, include the author's name and the publication year at the end of the sentence with the relevant page number(s). For example:

    "Warmer ocean temperatures can lead to the development of stronger hurricanes" (Smith, 2008, p. 133).

The full details of its requirements are available at the link below.

Reference Management Tools

Reference Management Tools

Resources for Scientific Writing

Resources for Scientific Writing

Help with Scientific Writing & Presenting

Help with Scientific Writing & Presenting