Sourcing in the Digital Age
Citations are integral to any piece of academic writing. If you’re crafting blog posts for school, you should apply and adapt standard citation methods. They allow credit to be attributed to the original creator, and add points of reference, should the reader be interested in pursuing the subject further.
The most commonly used citation formats are APA and MLA. For the contexts of Ryerson University and EID100 (Digital Skills and Innovation for the Global Economy), APA will be used for offline (analogue) content. There are many online sources that expand on the principles of citing, proper format, and the rationale behind the methods used. Purdue Online Writing Lab is highly suggested as a resource due to the scope of its content and frequent updates.
Most students have difficulty referencing content from a digital source when publishing on a digital platform.
Most courses focus on have students research an reference when writing for an analogue medium. Take the common written essay for example. All sources are expected to be placed in a bibliography at the end of the document. For EID100’s weekly modules are completed using blog posts that are shared using Twitter. Blog posts afford the user the ability to connect sources directly via hyperlink. Hyperlinks are elegant and efficient since users can dive deeper when exploring content by simply clicking.
Do not cite your blog posts as if they were essays. Blog posts are meant to grab someone’s attention and inform!
Best practices for digital citations for EID100 are derived through design thinking, a process where a solution is implemented through the perspective of the user. By simply thinking of yourself as the reader of a blog post, you can envision yourself reading an wanting to reference a mentioned source. Would you want to scroll to the bottom of a website (potentially loosing your position) in order to find a reference?
A Digital Citation Hitlist:
1. Source beneath your images
2. Hyperlinks for the win
3. A is for APA and analogue
Source Beneath Your Images
Pop quiz! Which of the following are sourced in the best possible way?
A: Source is a search engine and hyperlinked
B: Raw link (URL) is pasted
C: Creator’s name is sourced and hyperlinked
If you answered C, then you‘re correct.
- You must write the source beneath the image, where it would be referenced if someone wanted to know who took the photo.
- Use the name of the actual source, not a search engine or referral site.
- Hyperlink the text so the viewer and act upon the content immediately. Pasting full links is difficult for the reader to understand, and sometimes requires one to manually copy the link and paste it in their address bar if they aren’t automatically converted.
- Always give credit where credit is due.
If the image is not from a digital or link-able source, make sure to note where you got the photo at a minimum. This issue most commonly arises with screenshots. Let us know that you took the image and which platform you were on. In such a case, write a caption and state your name:
Hyperlinks For the Win
Hyperlinks are a brilliant innovation. Rather than having the user search online or visit a library to find some content, it allows the user to automatically jump to the point of reference. No beating around the bush. Hyperlinking is ideally applied when discussing a particular article, referencing a statistic, mentioning a something that you want your audience to be familiar with. Let’s use the company Rumie as an example.
The first time you mention a company by name, make sure to hyperlink the name to the company website.
For example:
Rumie is a non-profit that is focused on closing the digital divide. In order to reach their objective, Rumie runs two separate initiatives, the Rumie Tablet and the Learn Cloud.
Both of Rumie’s initiatives are hyperlinked to provide further detail on the activities. Hyperlinking is also helpful when introducing a term or concept that may be unfamiliar to the reader.
If All Else Fails… APA
If you are citing a non-digital source on your blog, resorting to APA is your best move. Direct quotes should be attributed to the author and placed within quotations. It must be clear which words are your own, and which you pulled from another source.
The direct quote, “The pen is mightier than the sword” (Bulwer-Lytton, 1839), would be fully cited at the end of the post using the APA format. APA in-text citation and referencing basics can be found using Purdue Online Writing Lab.
Ultimately, you must make finding the source easy for your reader. Do your best to attribute properly, while maintaining readability. Hyperlinks are an EID100 student’s best friend.
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