9. Electronic Sources

Academic research has been changed forever by the availability of the internet and other electronic media; in fact, the changes are occurring so rapidly that it is difficult, even frustrating, to keep up with them. It is also challenging to scholars to evaluate and account for all the information available, especially given that internet sources that are available one day may disappear the next. In addition, the internet is a medium that defies traditional ideas of legitimization, such as authorship, copyright, authoritative opinion, and so on.

On the other hand, access to electronic information has also made much of the scholar’s task easier and swifter. It has “democratized” and freed information so that it is no longer the exclusive property of specialists. Voices that were never heard before may now participate in academic dialogue. And in any case, electronic media are here to stay.

Whatever the medium, the scholar’s responsibility to do thorough research, give credit where it is due, and help other researchers find the same material, remains the same.

9.1 Citing electronic sources

The question of how to use and cite electronic media in scholarly research is far from settled. In general, there are two categories of electronic media: physical entities such as CD-ROMs and various on-line sources.

In both cases, the information needed in notes and bibliographies is generally the same as for traditional sources and is set out in the same way. The main difficulty is in locating complete information.

9.1.1. Physical entities

• Author’s name (last name first in bibliographies)

• Title of document in italics (book) or quotation marks (article)

• Title of complete work (if applicable) in italics

• Original publication information (if available) in parentheses

• Name and description of source in brackets, e.g. CD, diskette, etc.

• Publication information of electronic source: city, publisher or vendor, date in parentheses

Note that all the original publication information available should be included for any material that was previously in print.

Examples:

9.1.1.1. A text on cd-rom:

N “Apostol’skiy simvol very,” Bolshaya Theological Library: Classical Christian Texts in Russian 1.0 [CD-ROM] (Odessa: Euro-Asian Accrediting Association, Elektronnaia khristianskaiia biblioteka, 2001).

B “Apostol’skiy simvol very.” Bolshaya Theological Library: Classical Christian Texts in Russian 1.0 [CD-ROM]. Odessa: Euro-Asian Accrediting Association, Elektronnaia khristianskaia biblioteka, 2002.

9.1.1.2. An issue of a previously published journal on cd-rom:

N Bratskiy vestnik No. 6 (1998): no page. History of Euro-Asian Evangelical Movement, Primary Sources 2.0 [CD-ROM] (Odessa: Euro-Asian Accrediting Association, Elektronnaia khristianskaia biblioteka, 2002).

B Bratskiy vestnik No. 6 (1998): no page. History of Euro-Asian Evangelical

Movement, Primary Sources 2.0 [CD-ROM]. Odessa: Euro-Asian

Accrediting Association, Elektronnaia khristianskaia biblioteka, 2003.