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Spark 1 (Golash-Boza): Citing Sources

Incarceration & Gentrification

Why Cite?

  • Citations let your readers know where you got the information you used in your writing.
  • They give credit to your sources and situate your work within the context of your field.
  • Citing sources accurately and thoroughly demonstrates that you understand where your work fits in scholarly discourse and that you have reviewed literature relevant to your topic.

Citing With Google Scholar

  • To get citation information in Google Scholar, search for your article title or the article's author.
  • Click on the quotation mark icon under the information about the item that interests you.

 

  • From there, copy and paste the citation information you need, or click the links at the bottom to send citation information to a citation management tool such as RefWorks. RefWorks is a tool that the UC Merced Library pays for the University's faculty, students, and staff to use for their research.
  • Make sure to double-check the citation Google Scholar generates; while using this tool can save you time, it is not perfect.

Harvard Citation Style

Finding Known Items

Known item searching refers to finding a specific article, either based on a citation or title.

Article Level Strategies

1.  Look for the article title in Google Scholar.  For full-text, try clicking on the article title OR look under More for UC-eLinks/ Get it at UC.

2.  Look for the article title in UC Library Search.  Look for the green Available Online link or request form.

3.  Look for the article title in a major database in the article's subject area.  * This can be a little bit like a needle in a haystack!!

4.  Look in regular Google.  You may be able to find on the web IF someone has posted it.

Journal Level Strategy

5. Look for the journal title in the Journals tab.  Search for the journal title in the Journals tab on the library home page search box.  See if the journal is available. Is the date you need available? If so, drill down to the correct volume and issue number.