August 26, 2008 at 12:39 pmIs it possible to add a website to the list of sources of academic work
A discussion on this topic began this summer on the defense of graduation work at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, where I work.
On the one hand, a point was made that calling a website a source of information is the same as calling a bookcase a source of information. You can find many different elements on websites: widgets, navigation links and buttons, counters, advertising banners. From this point of view, the sources should be called specific documents posted on the website, and not the website itself. Indeed, historians do not call any archive the source! Sources for them are archive materials .
On the other hand, let's try to define a website. In my opinion, a website is a system of navigationally integrated web pages hosted on a single domain or generated by scripts that are accessed through a single domain. Do you agree? If not - I am waiting for objections in the comments. A system of navigationally integrated web pages is more like a book or magazine than a bookcase. The magazines also have “navigation elements” (content, page numbers), advertising, and other elements other than documents directly containing information about the subject of the study. At the same time, I was taught to put an article from a journal in the list of sources in the case when I draw information on the subject of research from this particular article, and the entire journal, if I take information on the subject of research from the journal as a whole. For instance, if I try to identify the main areas of international relations that are of interest to such an international organization as UNESCO, it is obvious that for this it makes sense to refer to the periodicals of this organization. And the periodicals themselves (and not just the articles printed in them) can be considered sources of information.
This year, the graduate work on the topic “Web sites of representative offices of foreign cultural centers in St. Petersburg as tools for interacting with the public” was defended at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University. Of course, the main sources of information for this work were the websites themselves.
But if your research, for example, is devoted to the topic “Definitions of the term“ website ”in public discourse”, and you got here from a search engine, having learned that there is a phrase “website definition”, it’s unlikely that you’re in the list of sources Habrahabr should be introduced. Your source is a topic under the heading “Is it possible to add a website to the list of sources of academic work”, available at habrahabr.ru/blogs/study/38098
The text is written based on myAcademic FAQ
On the one hand, a point was made that calling a website a source of information is the same as calling a bookcase a source of information. You can find many different elements on websites: widgets, navigation links and buttons, counters, advertising banners. From this point of view, the sources should be called specific documents posted on the website, and not the website itself. Indeed, historians do not call any archive the source! Sources for them are archive materials .
On the other hand, let's try to define a website. In my opinion, a website is a system of navigationally integrated web pages hosted on a single domain or generated by scripts that are accessed through a single domain. Do you agree? If not - I am waiting for objections in the comments. A system of navigationally integrated web pages is more like a book or magazine than a bookcase. The magazines also have “navigation elements” (content, page numbers), advertising, and other elements other than documents directly containing information about the subject of the study. At the same time, I was taught to put an article from a journal in the list of sources in the case when I draw information on the subject of research from this particular article, and the entire journal, if I take information on the subject of research from the journal as a whole. For instance, if I try to identify the main areas of international relations that are of interest to such an international organization as UNESCO, it is obvious that for this it makes sense to refer to the periodicals of this organization. And the periodicals themselves (and not just the articles printed in them) can be considered sources of information.
This year, the graduate work on the topic “Web sites of representative offices of foreign cultural centers in St. Petersburg as tools for interacting with the public” was defended at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University. Of course, the main sources of information for this work were the websites themselves.
But if your research, for example, is devoted to the topic “Definitions of the term“ website ”in public discourse”, and you got here from a search engine, having learned that there is a phrase “website definition”, it’s unlikely that you’re in the list of sources Habrahabr should be introduced. Your source is a topic under the heading “Is it possible to add a website to the list of sources of academic work”, available at habrahabr.ru/blogs/study/38098
The text is written based on myAcademic FAQ