LITERATURE CITATIONS 



in PUBLICATIONS of the 

 FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Any discussion of the preparation of literature citations 

 is almost certain to encourage controversy, for nearly 

 everyone has his own idea of how a citation should be 

 written. This situation is understandable, since through the 

 years the various disciplines have developed editorial 

 policy in regard to citing references in their publications. 



We recognize that a literature citation can be correctly 

 given in more than one way. But the lack of consistency in 

 many manuscripts submitted to the Service clearly indi- 

 cates the need for definite instructions on the preparation 

 of citations for Service publications. 



In the following pages we shall outline editorial policy 

 in the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service with regard to the 

 preparation of citations. The objective of this discussion is 

 the submission by our technical writers of nnore consistent 

 and complete citations in their manuscripts. 



REFERRING TO THE LITERATURE 



It is a matter of common courtesy and technical exact- 

 ness to cite the work of another to which you have made 

 reference. How you make the reference will depend on the 

 format of the particular series for which you are writing. 

 Two types of reference are used in Service publications: 

 the author and year reference and the number reference. 

 In technical publications, for example, the Fishery Bulletin 

 and the Special Scientific Report, references are indicated 

 in the text by enclosing the year of publication and the page 

 number (optional) in parentheses when the name of the 

 author occurs naturally in the sentence, as Shapiro 

 (1950: p. 23); otherwise, the name of the author is also en- 

 closed in the parentheses, as (Moore, 1951: p. 137), 

 (Schaperclaus, 1941; Guthrie, 1942), (Bailey, Wynn, and 

 Smith, 1954), (Bailey et al., 1954), or (U. S. Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey, 1941). In Service publications of less 



Cover illustrated by Gustaf T. Sundstrom. 

 Approved for publication, April 27, 1961. 



