Thanks to those of you who responded to my query re proper procedures for quoting and citing electronic information. Len Piotrowski's and Tim Scarlett's links to web sites were very useful. Jack and Anita recommended a book entitle ELECTRONIC STYLE GUIDE (will try to find a copy). From these suggestions, I have drafted the following for submission to the SHA Copy-editor: -------- 46. Electronic Sources, unpublished on the Internet (World Wide Web, FTP, and Gopher sites; Listserv, Usenet Group, and E-Mail messages): Author's Last name, First Name and Initial [Author's Internet Address] Year or n.d. Title of Site or Page, or Subject of Message [Internet Address]. Date of site/page creation/update, or date of message. <Should this note be included? NOTE: It is incumbent that scholar's referencing electronic sources maintain a copy of the information as cited, treating the source as a personal communication. [see DISCUSSION below]> World Wide Web Clouse, Robert A. 1996 American Fur Company District Headwquaters, Mendota, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Historical Society, Archaeology, Excavations On-line [http://www.umn.edu/marp/dig/site1.html]. FTP ???? Gopher ???? Listserv Message Steen, Carl [[log in to unmask]] 1997 Re: Button marks - help. [[log in to unmask] 22 January 1997. Usenet Group ???? E-Mail Message Ross, Lester A. [[log in to unmask]] 1997 Book Review Reply and Glass Beads. Personal communication to Brooke Arkush [[log in to unmask]]. 24 January 1997. In-text citation for all electronic references: (Author Date) --------- DISCUSSION: Concern is expressed for the ephemeral nature of these references. Carl Steen noted that perhaps electronic sources should be cited as personal communications. Our traditional methods for citing references is based upon a paradigm that citations will lead us to published references which can be relocated at a library or archive, or within a scholar's personal correspondence. Inherent with this paradigm is the assumption that printed materials have a long shelf life. Not so with electronic data which accessed a few months or weeks ago may no longer be available. As with the receipient of written correspondence, should it be incumbent upon the scholar who uses electronic data to download or print a copy for their own files for future reference? It seems rediculous to cite sources which are extinct and may never be retrieved. The above draft format for references is appropriate for citations, but are such citations futile gestures if the data is not archived? Any thoughts would be appreciated. LAR