 |
A New Proposed Website Citation Method |
In 2019, we are amid a major historical development change. The modern Internet revolution started in the 1960s. The world-wide web is the largest expanding library. Changes in business, science, medicine, the arts, social networks, literacy, and more are occurring every day.
In 2001 when updating Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy: How Cancer is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day, Fourth Edition, 2002.[1] I checked references and resources from Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy: How Cancer is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day, Third Edition, 1997.[2]
Imagine my surprise when I discovered most references were incorrect. Some organizations were no longer in business. Others had moved from physical locations to virtual websites. The Internet had arrived. This event took place when the internet was in its so-called first generation. Now with the present generation Z, change is more drastic.
I wrote the new Appendix section titled, Useful Web Addresses. Many of those links may be outdated and incorrect. A problem with printed books.[3]
Webpage articles that need citations can be problematic. Adding citation hyperlinks within the page to the bottom of the page, may create long and cumbersome content. This is a mobile device design consideration. Another option is to create a separate bibliography webpage when there are several linked pages acting as a book chapter.
-
While checking an article on the British Medical Journal[4], I discovered a new simplified version of citing references.
Notice the differences among these three journal articles. The first published in 1997, the second published in 2002 and the third published in 2018.
-
(1997)
Wolfe, Frederick, et al. “A Prospective, Longitudinal, Multicenter Study of Service Utilization and Costs in Fibromyalgia.” Arthritis & Rheumatism, vol. 40, no. 9, 1997, pp. 1560–1570., doi:10.1002/art.1780400904.
(2002) Zuther, Joachim. “Is There a Role for Traditional Massage Therapy in the Treatment and Management of Lymphedema?” National Lymphedema Network; Apr/Jun 2001: 3-4,26.
(2018) Wang, Chenchen, et al. “Effect of Tai Chi versus Aerobic Exercise for Fibromyalgia: Comparative Effectiveness Randomized Controlled Trial.” Bmj, 2018, doi:10.1136/bmj.k851.
- In the article by Amy Price: The unintended consequences of tai chi for fibromyalgia.[5]
-
There are no periods used in author names.
Citation numbers are in brackets within the text line instead of using superscript,
There are no internal hyperlinks.
- Advantages to writing the citations in this example are:
-
- 1. Much easier to code the page. When browsers make updates, the changes may affect the display. Web sites and web pages may become unreadable.
- 2. Avoids the problem of the super/subscript hyperlink causing text display issues. Sometimes the text line breaks up because of super/subscripts. This may become an issue when printing or resizing the page.
- 3. There are concerns about page display worldwide due to different devices, browsers, and bandwidth. A quick test regarding how many shades of white exist.
Create a simple html page with the tag for body bgcolor = white or the ffffff hex color. Display the page using different browsers and devices. Prepare to be amazed!
- 4. No dreaded period. A period in UNIX means, Do it again. The World Wide Web obeys UNIX rules. 97% of internet devices use variants of UNIX. The endless loop possibility created by the period exists. Some coders when there is a web address at the end of a sentence ignore adding the period and leave an extra space. Others place a space between the web address and the period.
Because there is no concordance on how to cite medical articles, The British Medical Journal offers several choices. The bmj.com provides several citation manager choices: BibTeX (win & mac); EndNote (tagged); EndNote 8 (xml); RefWorks Tagged (win & mac); RIS (win only) and Medlars. The web designer and maintainer must plan for the possibility any of these formats may disappear at any moment.
Innovate and Expand Modern Writing
Internet publishing is valuable for health and scientific topics. A paper printed text cannot change. My coauthored cancer books [6,7] are in library collections. Some information is wrong and outdated. I cringe when I see them. Remember, sometimes the standard cancer therapy of yesterday may be dangerous. One must prepare for dynamic change, when designing websites for multiple devices. How to update a website, with backwards compatibility is a constant issue. The proposed citation method is a useful tool for modern web publishing.
- Works Cited
-
1. Dollinger, Malin, et al. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy: How Cancer Is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day. Andrews McMeel Pub., 1997.
2. Dollinger, Malin, and Malin Dollinger. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy: How Cancer Is Diagnosed, Treated, and Managed Day to Day. Andrews McMeel Pub., 2002
3. “Table of Contents for Everyone's Guide to Cancer Survivorship.” Table of Contents for Gender, Sex and Translation, catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0718/2007019862.html.
4. “The BMJ: Leading General Medical Journal. Research. Education. Comment | The BMJ.” The BMJ: Leading General Medical Journal. Research. Education. Comment | The BMJ, bmj.com/.
5. Price, Amy, “The unintended consequences of tai chi for fibromyalgia” https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2018/03/21/amy-price-the-unintended-consequences-of-tai-chi-for-fibromyalgia/
6. Rosenbaum, Ernest H., and Isadora R. Rosenbaum. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Supportive Care: a Comprehensive Handbook for Patients and Their Families. Andrews McMeel Pub., 2005.
7. Rosenbaum, Ernest H., and Isadora R. Rosenbaum. Supportive Cancer Care: the Complete Guide for Patients and Their Families. Sourcebooks, 2001.
|
|
You are welcome to share this © article with friends, but do not forget to include the author name and web address. Permission needed to use articles on commercial and non commercial websites. Thank you. Search CancerLynx |
|
