Re: [Groff] refer question

[Alejandro López-Valencia]

Mats Broberg wrote:

> > > I've begun work on adding refer capabilities to mom.  Using the ms 
> > > refer module as a starting point, I'm setting mom up to use MLA 
> > > bibliographic rules.
> > >      
> > MLA seems to be "Modern Language Association". What kind of 
> > status (official or unofficial) does this style have? I have 
> > never heard about it or seen it used.
> >    
>
> G'd morning,
>
> There are two major academic traditions to deal with bibliographic
> references - the Harvard system (or the Author/Date system) and the
> Oxford system (or the Footnote system). 
>
> http://www.kangan.edu.au/library/tips/bibliographies.htm
>
> Since both systems are ofte described in within the same style guide, I
> think it is better to refer to "systems of references" rather than
> actual style guides. For example, both the Harvard and the Oxford system
> are escribed in Chicago Manual of Style.
>  
And most publishing in science use either one or a variation thereof. I 
myself learned to write and expect reference listings and citations to 
follow the rules of the Council of Biology Editors (CBE), 
<http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/>.

There are good descriptions of both the citation-sequence and 
author-date styles in 
<http://writing.colostate.edu/references/sources/cbe/index.cfm> and in 
<http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/library/cbe.htm>. Notice that these two 
styles and their derivations are a lot more widespread in academic 
publishing than the MLA style. In fact the CBE styles are used in many 
fields of the humanities with the exception of USiAn English 
Language/Journalism departments, who prefer MLA or a derivative and 
USiAn Psychology departments, who  use the APA style just to be different.