HOW TO RESEARCH YOUR DENTISTRY ESSAY
8. Deciphering citations

As you search indexes or read bibliographies, you will come across references to journal articles of interest (or to articles or chapters within books). If you aren't sure how to "decipher" these citations (or even figure out whether they refer to articles or books), here are a couple of examples which should help.

(Please note that writing your own citations within your essay, to reference your sources, is a totally separate matter, as was explained in Section 6, Keeping track of your sources.)

EXAMPLE: REFERENCE TO A JOURNAL ARTICLE

Mock D. The differential diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders. [Journal Article] Journal of Orofacial Pain. 13(4):246-50, 1999 Fall.

This citation tells us:

  1. The article's author is D. Mock.
  2. The article's title is "The differential diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders".
  3. The journal's title is "Journal of Orofacial Pain".
  4. The journal issue is numbered: volume 13, number 4.
  5. The pages are numbered: 246 to 250.
  6. The journal issue is dated: Fall, 1999.

A few clues that the above example refers to a journal article are:

EXAMPLE: REFERENCE TO AN ARTICLE WITHIN A BOOK

Turner CG II, Nichol CR, Scott GR. Scoring procedures for key morphological traits of the permanent dentition: The Arizona State University dental anthropology system. In: Kelly MA, Larsen CS, eds. Advances in dental anthropology. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1991: 13-31.

This citation tells us:

  1. The article's authors are C.G. Turner II, C.R. Nichol, and G.R. Scott.
  2. The article's title is "Scoring procedures for key morphological traits of the permanent dentition: The Arizona State University dental anthropology system".
  3. The book's editors are M.A. Kelly and C.S. Larsen.
  4. The book's title is "Advances in dental anthropology".
  5. The book's place of publication is New York.
  6. The book's publisher is Wiley-Liss.
  7. The book's year of publication is 1991.
  8. The article's page numbers are 13-31.

The clues that the above example refers to an article within a book are:

TIP:
Some citations abbreviate the title of the journal (e.g., J Dent Res stands for Journal of Dental Research).. To find out what a particular abbreviation stands for, see the Dental Library's Journal title abbreviations web page.

Next section: Following the trail

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