Citation information

PLEASE CITE US when you are publishing and submitting research based on Hiphop Archive and Reseach Institute material.

Please understand that the information provided here is being provided at no cost to you. We are supported through a number of funding sources and individuals committed to hiphop and the scholarly and social and cultural work that are part of hiphop culture. We attempt to verify all information. However, sometimes information may not be reliable and it may change before we have an opportunity to make the necessary adjustments. If you notice any problems regarding accuracy, please notify us immediately at: info@hiphoparchive.org

When citing the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute for academic purposes please include the following information:

  • Page name: (Example - Artists, Bibliography, Scholarship)
  • Author: (Example - Holler If Ya Hear Me contributors, Hiphop Bibliography)
  • Source: (Example – Contributor name, Link name, etc.)
  • Publisher: The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute
  • Date of last entry/revision: Month/Day/Year (if available)
  • Date retrieved: Month/Day/Year

About Citations – Don’t Bite!

Most citation styles will likely require the full article URL. The citation style may request the full date and time of the article revision you are using. Using incorrect citations or not citing at all is the same as an MC biting a lyric and pretending it is his or her own! When writing about something you learned about and found somewhere else, you must recognize and give the citation. We have included some of these links about writing and citation styles that might help you. They are: APA Style, MLA Style and Chicago Style. They also include information about writing papers in general. (We apologize that some of them are unnecessarily complicated)

APA Style

(American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. Their general URL is: http://apastyle.apa.org/ The information on electronic media is: http://www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.html

General Statement from APA home Page:

When editors or teachers ask you to write in “APA style,” they do not mean writing style. They are referring to the editorial style that many of the social and behavioral sciences have adopted to present written material in the field.
Editorial style consists of rules or guidelines that a publisher observes to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written material. Editorial style concerns uniform use of such elements as

  • punctuation and abbreviations
  • construction of tables
  • selection of headings
  • citation of references
  • presentation of statistics

as well as many other elements that are a part of every manuscript.
The American Psychological Association has established a style that it uses in all of the books and journals that it publishes. Many others working in the social and behavioral sciences have adopted this style as their standard as well.
APA’s style rules and guidelines are set out in a reference book called The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Please note that when researchers talk about APA style, they may be referring to APA’s system of citations in text and reference format. If you are unsure, you should clarify with your instructor or editor how they define “APA style.”

MLA Style

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. For more information About MLA style go to: http://www.mla.org/style

General Statement from MLA Style home Page:

The Modern Language Association does not publish its documentation guidelines on the Web. For an authoritative explanation of MLA style, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (for high school and undergraduate college students) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (for graduate students, scholars, and professional writers).

The style recommended by the association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers concerns itself with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources. MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century.

MLA guidelines are also currently used by over 125 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines with circulations over one thousand; by hundreds of smaller periodicals; and by many university and commercial presses. MLA style is commonly followed not only in the United States but in Canada and other countries as well; Japanese translations of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers appeared in 1980, 1984, and 1988, and a Chinese translation was published in 1990.

Chicago Style

Chicago Style is used to cite articles and information in the humanities and social sciences. Their general URL is: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/

General Statement from Chicago Style home Page

The Chicago Manual of Style presents two basic documentation systems, the humanities style (notes and bibliography) and the author-date system. Choosing between the two often depends on subject matter and nature of sources cited, as each system is favored by different groups of scholars.

The humanities style is preferred by many in literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in notes and, often, a bibliography. It accommodates a variety of sources, including esoteric ones less appropriate to the author-date system.

The more concise author-date system has long been used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text, usually in parentheses, by author’s last name and date of publication. The short citations are amplified in a list of references, where full bibliographic information is provided.

Below are some common examples of materials cited in both styles. Each example is given first in humanities style (a note [N], followed by a bibliographic entry [B]) and then in author-date style (an in-text citation [T], followed by a reference-list entry [R]). For numerous specific examples, see chapters 16 and 17 of The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition.

Online sources that are analogous to print sources (such as articles published in online journals, magazines, or newspapers) should be cited similarly to their print counterparts but with the addition of a URL. Some publishers or disciplines may also require an access date. For online or other electronic sources that do not have a direct print counterpart (such as an institutional Web site or a Weblog), give as much information as you can in addition to the URL.