Vortician Citation Style Guide, First Edition

[Papa Liam 960]

Vortician Citation Style Guide

First Edition

Dr. Elibar'Indor

Vortician Society of Scholars and Artisans

79 SE

---

Preface:

     The Second Era signified a newfound sense of community and collectivity in the academic world. The Congress of Scholars has achieved a basic level of cooperation between academic guilds, thus making progress towards a more cohesive and collaborative generation of researchers. It is under the auspice of unity that we discover three themes which further define the academic profession: precision, novelty, and honesty. If one were to read literature archived by the oldest of libraries and academic societies, they too would note the presence of these themes. 

     The most serious scholars have always valued precision and empiricism. Faulty research or imprecise reasoning presented in academic works constitutes laziness or bad faith on the part of the authors. Precision concerns both the actual findings of scientific research as well as the presentation of those findings. Imprecision implies that the methodology used to conduct the research was illogical, or that the presentation of the findings were incomplete or misconstrued. Further, scholars strive for novelty in their findings. Publications which are reminiscent of prior academic work (either from the author themselves or another scholar) can be perceived as unoriginal. The objective of the author in creating novel academic literature is to contribute something new to the discipline; if a publication contributes no new knowledge, then the research is not considered novel (note that academics do publish book reviews which are not considered “novel” and do not necessarily contribute to the discipline, but these do not constitute research articles). Honesty, too, is a value reflected by this new generation of scholars. In formal academic publishing, it is now considered the gravest of sins to copy another’s academic work without crediting the original authors. Plagiarism is rightfully crowned as the cardinal sin of the academic world.

     Given these values central to the contemporary academic age, it is expected that the academic community would create a uniform citation style to credit the original authors in publications. After all, building a study which appropriately credits the original ideas of other authors both avoids plagiarism and allows the reader to view further literature on the topic. However, it seems that in academic publications, the authors merely allude to the works to which they refer to if they refer to it at all. As such, I find it appropriate to present a new citation style synthesized by myself, Dr. Elibar’Indor, the Master of Research at the Vortician Society of Scholars and Artisans. While my own work observes the social sciences, and examples in this guide will include my own publications, It is my hope that this guide will present eager scholars with an appropriate citation style to credit their academic peers. 

     This publication marks the first edition of the Vortician Citation Style Guide, as I expect to make subsequent revisions based on the criticisms of my peers. Please note that while I have published this guide under the auspice of the VSSA, and subsequently I have dubbed it as the “Vortician style” of citations, this is not a style endorsed by the Vortician Society itself. I do urge the VSSA to adopt this as the guild’s official citation style, as I find that a uniform citation style lends itself well to a more precise, novel, and honest academic community.

 

Section I: Format

Spoiler

Papers published using Vortician style should loosely follow a format similar to this publication. A title page should precede the text of the publication. This title page should be separated by a horizontal line, signifying the end of the title page and beginning of the study.

Each of the following title page elements should be included on their own line of text; the title, name of author(s), sigil of the affiliated organization, name of the affiliated organization, and the year of publication. Elements should be included in that order. Some publications may not necessitate particular elements. If an author is independent of any affiliated organization (colleges, research institutions, government offices, etc) then they may omit the sigil and name of their affiliated organization, opting instead to write only the title of their publication, name, and publication year.

 

Section I: In-Text Citations

Spoiler

In-text citations constitute references to other authors within the author’s own works. By making use of a parenthetical device, authors may separate their own text from that of the author’s. In-text citations should be included at the end of a sentence containing the content being cited and prior to the punctuation. As such, the most common form of in-text citations is structured as:

 

(Last name [section or page numbers], [year])

 

The last name of the authors is the only element necessary to a complete citation, albeit not an ideal one. Far too much academic literature omits the year of publication, and some do not include page numbers. Authors are expected to include only the elements which can be reasonably cited. As an example, I use Dr. Viction Trito’s book, Sovereigns of the South, to construct a hypothetical in-text citation:

 

"Although Minto Townsend was successfully crowned as the Sovereign of Talon’s Grotto, his prior criminal record in Yong Ping caused great unrest among the Li-Ren population (Trito 7, 75SE)."

 

Although there are no formal page numbers in Trito’s book, his writings are spread across two volumes and nine chapters. As opposed to citing page numbers, “seven” refers to the chapter number. If the work one is citing also omits page numbers, they may instead cite another logical identifier of content in the work: paragraph number, tables, chapters, or verses.

 

Multiple authors should be expressed in a similar fashion, with last names separated by an ampersand. The order of authors should be cited in the order they are listed in the publication. This example cites no particular work, but demonstrates the appropriate structure nonetheless:

 

(Trito & Indor 4, 72SE)

 

A publication may include multiple authors. When the number of authors in a publication exceeds two, instead make use of the abbreviation “et al” (an abbreviation of the Flexio phrase et alii meaning “all others”) in place of all authors’ names except for the first. Thus, if I am citing Viction Trito, Elibar’Indor and Edward Napier, I would include a citation similar to the one below:

 

(Trito et al. 4, 72SE)

 

There is an alternative to the parenthetical device which instead omits the author’s name from the in-text citation if they are mentioned directly in the text. If I refer directly to Edward Napier’s works as a subject of my text, I could make use of the following citation style:

 

"In his work, Edward Napier (1784FE) suggests details that the Angrámë were not only used as weapons in combat, but also held significant cultural importance to the Adunians (5)."

 

Section III: Bibliography

Spoiler

Every single in-text citation should be accompanied by an appropriate reference in the bibliography or reference list. The bibliography is included after the author’s text, and should be listed in alphabetical order of the author’s last name. The structure of the long reference should include the most precise elements of the work being cited, as such:

 

Surname, initial. (Year published) Title [and, if necessary, volume/edition number]. [Name of affiliated organization]. ((If you’re citing a forum post, include a hyperlink here))

 

A complete citation would look like the one below:

 

Indor, E. (36SE) Basic Principles of Modern Economics, Volume 1. Northern Geographic Society. ((Link))

 

If a work includes multiple authors, their names should be separated by a semicolon:

 

Indor, E; Trito, V. (36SE) Basic Principles of Modern Economics, Volume 1. Northern Geographic Society. ((Link))

 

Note that we italicize the name of the text to indicate a title, but not the volume or edition.

 

Section IV: Citing Collectives or Unknowns

Spoiler

In the event that one is citing an unknown author, the reference in the bibliography should simply exclude the author(s) name(s) and instead include all other known information. When referencing the work in-text, the author’s name should be replaced by the name of the text in quotation marks:

 

(“Title”, 1654FE)

 

In the event that one is citing a piece of work where an organization is listed rather than the authors, the authors name will instead be replaced by the name of the organization. This situation is common when citing government missives, public statements made by guilds, or collective announcements made on behalf of a larger organization. The full title of the organization should be included in the reference list. If the organization has an abbreviation, then the abbreviation should be used in-text. Using the Vortician Society of Scholars and Artisans as an example, an in-text citation would appear as:

 

(VSSA, 76SE)

 

 

---

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Indor, E. (36SE) Basic Principles of Modern Economics, Volume 1. Northern Geographic Society. ((Link))

Napier, E. (1784FE) The Adunian Histories, Part 1. Northern Geographic Society. ((Link))

Trito, V. (75SE) The Sovereigns of the South: A Compendium of the Leaders of Talon's Port, Talon's Grotto, and Vortice, Volumes 1-2. Vortician Society of Scholars and Artisans. ((Link))

[camocat9 1021]

Viction Trito smiles widely at the new system! "I certainly hope this becomes a staple among Almaris scholars... it would be far easier to track down other similar sources you may need!"