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Several bloggers noticed yesterday that the US National Library of Medicine (NLM, which is part of the NIH: National Institutes of Health) has a style guide for citing blogs:
- C. Sample Citation and Introduction to Citing Blogs
- Citation Rules with Examples for Blogs
- Examples of Citations to Blogs
Hat tips:
- Paul Kedrosky, Infectious Greed: Ooooh, Blogs are Now Authoritative, who cites:
- Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution How to Cite a Blog, who cites:
- Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing HOWTO cite blogs in formal academic medical papers, who cites:
- Joshua Schwimmer, Kidney Notes "How to Cite Blogs" by the NIH / National Library of Medicine
The NLM's definition of a blog isn't bad:
Blog is a contraction of Web log. A blog is a publicly available Web site that serves as a personal journal or sounding board for an individual or as an information tool for an organization. The blog owner posts messages and invites comments from readers. Entries or messages are displayed in reverse chronological order and the site is usually updated daily.
But the guide itself is several years late and still flawed.
Paul Kedrosky:
I don't think it makes sense to give a generic URL, rather than a specific one, but it's a start.
Alex Tabarrok:
Bizarrely, however, they include a space for "Place of Publication."
c18 in a comment at Marginal Revolution:
the style guide appears to be based on book format, when it should resemble a periodical. There should be an article title as well as the blog title
RADIOGUY in a comment at BoingBoing:
"blog on the Internet" ???
IIRC, blog is short for weblog, which implies the World Wide Web, which is most certainly on the Internet.
Where else would the blog be?!
Plus:
- includes the year the blog was founded (which is largely useless)
- omits the actual date of publication
I couldn't find a publication date for the document; I guess they follow their own bad advice.
If you wish to cite this publication, please use the following format:
Patrias, Karen. Citing medicine: the NLM style guide for authors, editors, and publishers [Internet]. 2nd ed. Wendling, Daniel L., technical editor. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2007 [insert Year Month Day]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine
Yet another gripe: the above sample omits the useful "cited" prefix. As is, it's not immediately clear which Year Month Day to insert (date found rather than date posted).
A style guide for citing blogs isn't new; here's The Columbia Guide to Online Style (CGOS) by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor, though it shares the flaw of linking to the blog's home page rather than the individual post's permalink and omits the useful "cited" prefix.
Humanities Style
Cite blogs or wikis similarly to citing mailing list or newsgroup postings, including the name (or alias) of the author, the title of the posting (if applicable), the title of the site, the date of posting, and the address of the site, followed by the date of access enclosed in parentheses.
Scientific StyleBartow, Ann. “Parody Is Fair Use!” Sivacracy.net. 26 Mar. 2006. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/ (30 Mar. 2006).
Include the name or alias of the author, the date of posting, the title or subject line of the posting (if available), the title of the site, the URL, and the date of access.
Bartow, A. (2006, March 26). Parody is fair use! Sivacracy.net. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/siva/ (30 Mar. 2006).
(Emphasis added.)
More useful, 2 items from Dennis G. Jerz (of Jerz's Literacy Weblog) back in 2003. Citing a Weblog Entry in MLA Style:
Jerz, Dennis G. "Citing a Weblog in MLA Style." [Weblog entry.] Jerz's Literacy Weblog. Seton Hill University. 11 Dec 2003. (http://jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/permalink.jsp?id=2000). 11 Dec 2003.
And Citing a Weblog Comment in MLA Style:
"Susan" (smgct1@comcast.net). "Oddly enough..." [Weblog comment.] N.d. "More Questionable Use of My Work." Dennis G. Jerz. Jerz's Literacy Weblog. Seton Hill University. 10 Dec 2003. (http://jerz.setonhill.edu/weblog/permalink.jsp?id=1998)
(See both posts for more details.)
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